Women's Basketball Falls to UMass Dartmouth, 82-71

DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth women's basketball team posted an 82-71 victory over visiting Bridgewater State University on Tuesday evening at the Tripp Athletic Center.

UMass improves to 6-2 on the season, while Bridgewater State falls to 5-3.

Senior guard Jordan Moretti (Johnston, R.I.) paced UMD with game-high totals of 17 points and six assists to go along with four rebounds and a pair of steals. Senior forward Shaelyn Carreiro (Fall River, Mass.) added 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting and a team-best nine rebounds (three offensive) for the Corsairs, while sophomore forward Faye Veilleux (Wrentham, Mass.) checked in with 11 points and four boards.

Junior guard Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.) led the visitors with a career-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added 13 points and three assists for the Bears, while freshman center Jannise Avelino (Peabody, Mass.) notched ten points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Senior guard Olivia Dziadyk (Wakefield, Mass.) contributed nine points, three rebounds and a game-best five steals, and senior guard Hannah Dziadyk (Wakefield, Mass.) registered eight points, two steals and a career-high 11 rebounds (four offensive).

Bridgewater State led 20-14 after the first quarter and held a 26-20 advantage following a Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) layup with 8:02 remaining in the second period. The Bears, however, went scoreless for over seven minutes as a 22-0 UMD run put the hosts on top, 42-26. Six different Corsairs scored during the game-changing outburst which featured four three-point plays. UMass would ultimately take a 46-33 lead into the break.

Moretti scored 12 points in the first half as she was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor and 2-for-2 at the free throw line. Gaucher paced Bridgewater State with ten points over the first 20 minutes.

UMass shot 57% (16-28) from the floor in the first half including 4-for-8 (50%) from behind the arc. The Corsairs also went 10-for-11 (91%) at the charity stripe. The Bears connected on just 35% (12-34) of their first-half field goal attempts and went 3-for-10 (30%) from three-point range and 4-for-6 (67%) at the line.

The Corsairs maintained a double-digit advantage throughout a back-and-forth third quarter and headed to the final period with a 59-49 lead.

Trailing by 12 (64-52) with 8 ½ minutes left to play in the fourth quarter, the Bears used an 8-0 run bookended by a pair of Bradbury trifectas to pull to within four (64-60) and force a UMD timeout. The next 13 possessions of the contest results in six turnovers, six missed shots and a Moretti layup. Olivia Dziadyk knocked down a three-pointer to make it a three point game (66-63), but sophomore guard Kaylin Zalewski (Johnston, R.I.) quickly answered with a layup to push the UMD lead back up to five at 68-63. The Zalewski bucket jumpstarted a 13-2 UMass run, highlighted by nine points from Veilleux, as the Corsairs pulled ahead, 79-66, with just under two minutes remaining. The Bears were unable to recover from the late-game run as UMD came away with the 82-71 victory.

UMass shot 42% (27-64) for the game, 30% (6-20) from behind the arc and 81% (22-27) at the free throw line. The Corsairs held the Bears to 35% shooting (26-74) including 8-for-28 (29%) from three-point range. Bridgewater also went just 11-for-20 (55%) at the charity stripe.

The two teams combined for 46 turnovers with UMD holding a decided 30-10 edge in points off turnovers.

The Bears travel to Brandeis University on Thursday evening for a six o'clock game with the Judges, while the Corsairs entertain #16 ranked Tufts University on Saturday afternoon at one.