Saturday, Feb. 3 the Beacons played host to the Keene State College Owls, who beat them by seven points the first time they met Jan. 6, per Beacons Athletics (1). Women’s Basketball was looking for revenge at home in front of over 180 loyal fans. As a result, the Beacons came straight out the gates with a pep in their step and firing on all cylinders.
The Beacons started off red-hot in the first quarter, going on a 9–0 run, four of which came from Keriann Farina. A quarter-ending buzzer-beater extended the UMass Boston lead to 16–7 going into the next quarter of play, setting the stage of intensity as they went neck and neck in the second. The Beacons went on another run to stretch the lead 22–9, but the Owls came back to re-shrink the lead to just seven points heading into halftime.
UMass Boston kept their lead well into the third quarter but Keene State tied it up at 32 with just five minutes to play and followed that up with a 8–0 run to take the lead 40–32. In the opening minutes of the fourth, senior Alexah Potter scored four quick points to cut the deficit, but the Owls scored six quick points of their own and knocked down some threes toward the end of the match to seal the nine-point win, 59–48. Despite out-rebounding Keene State 29–24 throughout the whole game, the Owls’ second-half push was just too much to handle for the Beacons (2).
Up next for UMass Boston was UMass Dartmouth—another squad they suffered a tough loss to Jan. 9, which meant another opportunity for revenge.
It was a defensive oriented first quarter, with both teams playing physically and the Corsairs holding onto a narrow 5–2 advantage. The Beacons did their best to even things out, but were down 9–5 at the end of the first. Freshman Mia Molinari’s layup started the scoring this quarter for UMass Boston, but it was matched by the Corsairs, extending their lead back to four. However, the Beacons made a quick response by way of a three pointer and free throw, tying the game at 11 apiece with just over seven and a half remaining in the second. The game remained tied for four more minutes, but the Corsairs finished strong and came out of nowhere with an 11–0 run, taking the lead 22–11 as both teams went to the locker room.
The rest of the game belonged to UMass Dartmouth. The Beacons were able to trim the lead to 24–16, but the Corsairs answered with a demoralizing 16–3 run, stretching their lead to 21 points, 40–19. A three-pointer from grad student Paige Olliverre cut the score to a 17-point game in the opening minutes of the final quarter, but they couldn’t hold off the storm of points put on by UMass Dartmouth. Their pressure on the offensive end kept the onslaught going, helping them maintain a strong lead of at least 25 points through the game’s remainder, and leading to a Corsair win by 65–37.
Despite the loss, Beacons’ junior forward Skyeler Sandison grabbed a game-high eight rebounds—seven of which came on the defensive end of the floor—and the Beacons had a staggering 24 points from their bench players (3).
This was the final home game of the regular season for UMass Boston, which solidified an upsetting 4–8 record at Clark Athletic Center. Their final game will come against Vermont State University Castleton. UMass Boston will hope to end the season on a high note and get a win away from home on the board, as they sat at an 0–8 record away from Beaconville before they began their final road trip.