Feb. 23, 2006

Final Stats

St. Louis - Rachel Diener buried a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining to lift the Saint Louis Billikens to a 61-57 victory against Massachusetts in Atlantic 10 women's basketball action Thursday night at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center. The Billikens rallied from a 12-point deficit over the final 7:35 of the game to claim the victory.

The Minutewomen led 53-41 before the Billikens went on a furious late rally. Marquita McFarland scored on a layup, and Tyler McIlwraith drained a 3-pointer. Diener scored on a layup and was fouled. She sank the charity shot as the Billikens burst brought them to 53-49 with 5:52 left. Hayley Leake hit a line-drive jumper in the lane, and Diener made one free throw as the Billikens closed to just one at 53-52 with 4:07 remaining. Tamara Tatham finally ended SLU's 11-0 run with a basket for UMass. Jackie Gilbert put up a runner from the left side for her only basket of the game as the Billikens trailed 55-54. Tatham again answered for the Minutewomen. Heather King scored off a feed from McFarland as the Billikens again drew to within one at 57-56 with one minute to play. The Bills forced a turnover before Diener drilled her decisive 3-pointer from the wing.

"What makes this win special is not our height, our athleticism, or our ability, it is our heart," Billiken head coach Tyler McIlwraith. Rachel hit a big shot tonight, and this win gives us huge momentum heading into Sunday's game at Fordham."

UMass (10-16, 7-8 A-10) had its opportunities down the stretch, but a stifling Billiken defense prevented the Minutewomen from forcing overtime. After Katie Nelson missed three pointer with 11 seconds left, the Billikens looked to have the game under control until SLU turned the ball over on the subsequent in bounds which gave UMass a final chance. With six seconds on the clock, UMass in bounded the ball and found Pam Rosanio for an open look from 12 feet, but the ball clanged off the front of the rim and into the arms of Diener who was fouled. She iced the game by hitting both free throws with nine-tenths of a second left.

Poor shooting hampered the Billikens in the first half, as SLU hit only 25 percent from the floor and one-of-eight from long range. Meanwhile, UMass was thriving from the floor, hitting 52-percent from the field in the opening stanza to take a 28-23 lead into halftime.

McFarland, playing in the final home game of her Billiken career, opened the scoring with a running layup in the paint, but UMass answered with an 8-0 run to force a Billikens into a timeout a little more than four minutes into the game.

SLU got baskets from King, McFarland and Diener to tie the game 8-8. After the teams traded baskets to knot the score 15-15, Geradot's three pointer sparked a 7-0 run that shifted the momentum to the Minutewomen. McFarland finally ended UMass' rally with a 10-foot jumper, and two Brittany Artis free throws limited the UMass lead to five.

SLU and UMass alternated baskets through the first four and a half minutes of the second half before UMass ended the streak with two free throws after a Tatham lay in to take a 39-31 lead with 15 minutes to play.

SLU rebounded from its poor shooting in the first half to hit a sizzling 57 percent in the second. Saint Louis out-rebounded the Minutewomen 32-30 and committed only 12 turnovers to UMass' 16.

Tatham was strong inside en route to a game-high 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting. No other Minutewoman managed more than eight points.

Diener paced four Billikens in double figures with 14 points. Marquita McFarland each chipped in 12 points for the Billikens, who move to 7-19 overall and 4-11 in A-10 play.

Saint Louis closes its regular season Sun., Feb. 26, when it takes on Fordham in The Bronx, N.Y. in a noon (ET) tip off. The game can be seen live locally on CCIN at 11 a.m.