BOSTON, Mass.--Three Beacons finished in double-digits to help UMass Boston women's basketball snap a 12-game losing streak at the hands of Little East Conference foe Western Connecticut State University Saturday with a 66-40 win at the Clark Athletic Center.
The Beacons earned their first victory over the Colonials since January 27, 2007 to move to 10-5 on the year and 2-3 in Little East play. Western Connecticut fell to 9-6 and 3-2 in the conference, while having their season-high five-game winning streak come to a close.
UMass Boston held Western Connecticut State to a season-low in points (40).
Katrina Edwards (Springfield, Mass.) paced the Beacons with a career-high 19 points. The freshman knocked down 8-of-13 shots and added seven rebounds in her second collegiate start.
Sophomore Olivia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) turned in her 10th double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while senior point guard Andrea Suffredini (Milford, Mass.) pitched in with 17 points and three rebounds.
Freshman Mallory Nelson (Topsham, Maine) and Chantel Jordan (Brockton, Mass.) chipped in with six and four points respectively, while senior Elisa Ogawa (Yamanashi, Japan) filled up the stat sheet with three points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Colleen Cosker led the visiting Colonials with nine points, while Kerri Stolle chipped in with two points, five rebounds and four steals.
The Beacons played one of their most efficient and all-round games of the season, outperforming Western Connecticut State in every facet of the game. UMass Boston shot a season-high 51.9 percent (28-of-54), while holding the Colonials to just 12-of-39 (30.8 percent) shooting. The Beacons also earned a 37-18 advantage on the boards, a 38-18 advantage in points in the paint and turned 20 Colonial turnovers into 19 Beacon points.
After Western Connecticut opened the game with a 4-2 lead, UMass Boston grabbed the lead for good behind a 6-0 run. Edwards, who sparked the Beacons on both ends of the floor all day long, started the rally with a layup and Jordan and Murphy quickly added a jump shot and lay-in of their own to give the Beacons an 8-4 lead just over five minutes in. The Beacons would keep the momentum going and push the lead to 20-10 with 7:44 to play first half.
An Emily Dobson jumper cut the Beacons' lead to 21-14, but UMass Boston responded with a 7-0 run, capped off by a Shelby Buck (Greenfield, Ohio) three to push the lead all the way to 28-14.
The Beacons built off their 31-19 halftime advantage and quickly pushed the lead to 18 (43-25) at the 14:34 mark behind six points from Edwards and four from Suffredini.
UMass Boston's stifling defense would take over from there, as the Beacons forced Western Connecticut into more turnovers (10) than made field goals (six) for the half. While the Colonials managed struggled to get anything going, Edwards and Suffredini poured in 11 points apiece to push UMB's lead to as many as 28 (66-38).
The Beacons will look to even their Little East Conference record at 2-2 Tuesday night when they host in-state rival UMass Dartmouth at 5:30 p.m.