ST. LOUIS – Denisha Womack scored a career-high 22 points and equaled the Saint Louis single-game record of 21 rebounds to lead the Billikens to an 87-68 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over Massachusetts Sunday at Chaifetz Arena in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Saint Louis (12-17, 7-9 A-10) is the No. 10 seed for the Atlantic 10 Championship and will face No. 7 La Salle in a first-round game Thursday, March 6, at 4 p.m. (CT). The A-10 Championship, the winner of which receives the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid, will be played at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va.
Saint Louis, which won seven of its last 11 conference games, posted season highs in points, rebounds (53) and assists (23). The Billikens tied their season bests in field goal percentage (29-of-58, 50 percent) and rebound margin (53-36, +17), and they outscored UMass (4-26, 1-15) 23-8 from the free throw line (23-of-28, 82.1 percent).
Womack's 7-of-14 shooting effort included a pair of 3-pointers, and she was 6-of-6 from the line. Her 21 rebounds equaled the mark set by Julie Hacker vs. McKendree on Jan. 20, 1988, and also tied the season high by an Atlantic 10 player. Womack added four assists and two blocks.
Sadie Stipanovich (6-of-10 FG, 5-of-6 FT) scored 17 points to go with five rebounds. Jamesia Price (3-of-5 FG, 2-of-4 3-pointers, 7-of-9 FT) registered 15 points, her season scoring high in an A-10 game, and added six assists and five rebounds. Erin Nelson also tossed in 15 points.
Desirae Ball scored nine points and tied her career high with a game-high seven assists. Senior Halee Castleman, playing her final game at Chaifetz Arena, contributed three points, a season-high-tying six rebounds, one assist and one block. Olivia Jakubicek also grabbed six rebounds.
Jasmine Harris had 20 points, six rebounds and three steals for UMass, which committed only nine turnovers but shot just 36.4 percent (28-of-77). Kim Pierre-Louis recorded 12 points and seven rebounds, while Alyx Stiff netted 10 points.
Harris drained a couple of early 3-pointers to help stake UMass to a 12-10 lead. SLU pulled even with two Womack free throws and took the lead for good, 14-12, on a Stipanovich layup with 10:35 to play.
Ball gave the Bills their first double-digit lead, 32-21, with a 3-pointer at the 4:36 mark. Saint Louis expanded the margin to 15 before a late 7-1 run by UMass narrowed the gap to 42-33 at the break. The 42 points are the most scored by the Billikens in a first half this season.
Price buried a trey on SLU's initial second-half possession to give the Billikens a double-digit advantage for good. The 3-pointer triggered a 17-6 spurt that powered Saint Louis to a 59-39 cushion with 14:01 remaining, and UMass drew no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
