UMass Boston’s Meg Dixon (#1) shoots in the game against Colby-Sawyer College on Nov. 22, 2022.
Following a blazing 6–0 start, the UMass Boston women’s basketball team split a back-to-back on Dec. 5 and Dec. 6, defeating New England College in the first game, but falling to Western Connecticut State in the second. In the first game, graduate forward Meg Dixon hit four clutch free throws down the stretch to pull away from NEC, and the Beacons were able to hold off a late Pilgrims push to hold on for the 68–65 victory.
The Beacons fell into an early 6–2 hole in the first quarter, as junior NEC center Kathleen Rodriguez scored the first six points for her team. Senior forward Paige Ollivierre scored five consecutive points of her own to put the Beacons up 7–6. The Pilgrims rallied back from a 5-point deficit late in the first quarter, briefly going up 14–13, before freshman Sibayla Jensen put the Beacons up 15–14 with a layup as the quarter wound down.
UMass Boston imposed its will in the second quarter, outscoring NEC 15–9 with an 8–4 run to close out the half. Going into halftime with a 30–23 lead, Dixon, senior guard Keriann Farina, and sophomore forward Sunny Green all scored six points apiece for the Beacons, despite shooting just 25.8 percent from the field and 3-of-11 from three-point range. The Beacons would continue to push the pace in the opening stages of the second half, leading by 12 at one point.
However, the Pilgrims didn’t back down easily, as they cut the deficit to six by the end of the quarter. New England guard Macy Gordon was fouled by Farina on a three-point attempt. She sank the first two free throws but missed the third. Rodriguez was there to grab the offensive board and kicked it out to Gordon in the corner, who drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 47–41.
Gordon hit another three-pointer to cut the lead to four, but UMass Boston got back to their fundamentals and went on an 8–2 run, helped by two three-pointers from Dixon. Leading by seven with 1:38 left in regulation, both teams shot free throws before freshman Pilgrims’ guard, Mackenzie McDonald, hit a pair of threes, after two missed free throws by Dixon, to cut the lead to one.
After another take foul on Dixon, she sank both free throws. Still, NEC had a chance to tie with 4.2 seconds remaining. McDonald tried to hit a contested three, but it was well short and time in regulation expired, giving the Beacons a 68–65 victory. Dixon led the team with 22 points on 6-of-16 shooting, along with nine rebounds and six assists. Despite the tension, there were only three lead changes and one tie.
UMass Boston dropped the following night’s game to Western Connecticut State University by a score of 65–54. The Wolves got 46 combined points from guard Nicole Vivian and forward Katelyn Fanning. The loss dropped the Beacons to 0–2 in Little East Conference play to start the season. UMass Boston stumbled out of the gate, falling behind 9–3 early in the first quarter, before briefly gaining the lead, 27–25, to end the quarter.
The Beacons led by as much as seven points, but the Wolves went on a 7–0 run to tie the game, led by four straight points from Vivian, and a tough-and-one by freshman guard Malaysia Dingle to tie the game. Western Connecticut went on a 10–2 run in the third quarter to gain control of the game, taking a 52–40 lead with 8:11 left in the quarter. UMass Boston cut the lead to three, but their shooting went cold, going just 2-for-8 and 0-for-2 over the last four minutes, and they dropped the game 65–54.
Catch the Beacons in action on Dec. 17 against Rhode Island College at the Clark Athletic Center, before they take a two-week break and take on Eastern Nazarene College.