UMass women’s basketball survive Central Michigan comeback bid in 74-72 win

AMHERST — The UMass women’s basketball team held on through a late Central Michigan comeback attempt to take home a 74-72 victory at the Mullins Center on Saturday afternoon.

Up by nine points with 90 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Chippewas forced two turnovers, helping put together a 6-0 run over 45 seconds of play and shrink the lead to 70-67 for the Minutewomen.

With the clock as its friend, UMass held the ball as much as possible down the stretch, converting four more important points and milking the last 45 seconds down for the win.

“As uncomfortable as it is in those moments, I was good with us getting challenged, because it gave us an opportunity to respond,” Minutewomen head coach Mike Leflar said. “Really great team win [Saturday].”

Yahmani McKayle scored the final four points for UMass, putting together an impressive fourth quarter as she’s done time and time again this season. After struggling through the first 30 minutes of the game, the sophomore came through when her team needed it most.

Through the first three quarters of play, McKayle was 2-of-12 from the field, only scoring four points. The big fourth-quarter explosion included 14 points, shooting 3-of-5 from the field and getting to the free-throw line eight times for an 18-point performance.

Adding on a season-high nine assists along with five rebounds, the standout game from the Minutewomen’s leading scorer on the season was one of her most impactful of the season to this point.

“I think just the offense opening up, and my teammates being in the right positions for me to get open lanes [led to the big fourth quarter],” McKayle said. “… I think in the first half offensively, things weren’t going my way. So I just wanted to be able to showcase my other efforts that I give to the team. Assists and stuff like that, getting my teammates open shots.”

UMass played a strong first half defensively on Saturday, limiting Central Michigan to just 19 points through the first two frames. Despite the Chippewas bouncing back for 53 points in the final 20 minutes, the Minutewomen relied on the big lead they earned early on, and got the necessary stops in the end.

With 41 rebounds on the day, UMass found ways to both create second-chance points for itself, while bringing down boards on the defensive end to limit similar opportunities for Central Michigan.

“Defending and rebounding is a big part of our game plan all the time,” Leflar said. “We want to be the best rebounding team on the floor every single night. We talk about it enough. We work on it enough.”

Lilly Ferguson impressed on the rebounding front for the Minutewomen, finishing her day with a season-high 11 total rebounds, including eight on the offensive end.

“I can always count on [Ferguson] to come in and give us a spark, especially on the glass,” Leflar said. “That’s who she is, and that’s a good way to be.”

On the offensive end, Ayanna Franks was close behind McKayle in scoring with 16 points of her own, hitting three shots from behind the arc in the process.

On a night where UMass struggled from outside to the tune of 6-of-24 (25%) from deep, Franks finding her touch gave her team the ability to stay versatile.

“All I just have to do is keep shooting, and my teammates found me,” Franks said. “I put in all the work in practice and outside of that, so [it’s] just staying confident and knocking them down.”

With the win, the Minutewomen improve to 11-3 overall, and 3-1 in the Mid-American Conference. UMass is back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 14, hosting Akron at the Mullins Center for its annual field trip day. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m.

“There are, there are choices you have to make during a game, sometimes related to attention to detail and defensive detail or offensive detail, and other times it’s like, are we being competitive?” Leflar said. “… And we made enough really good choices [Saturday] to get the win, and I think our team deserved it.”