Sam Breen didn’t allow a few missed layups to take her out of her game.
The UMass senior forward kept looking ahead to the next play and the Minutewomen are glad she did. Breen grabbed Sydney Taylor’s airball with seconds left and scored the winning layup at the buzzer to give UMass a hard-fought 63-61 win over St. John’s, Sunday afternoon at the Mullins Center.
“If you let it dwell then you’re just going to continue to miss,” Breen said. “I missed a few in a row, I just wasn’t finishing for whatever reason today, but you have to think next play and not let it dwell. If I would have let it dwell, honestly, I might not have made the last shot there.”
UMass (5-1) trailed by as much as 14 in the first half, but rallied for its fourth straight win and third in the last six days.
“I’m just so proud of our players,” UMass coach Tory Verdi said. ‘We faced some adversity right off the bat and it just goes to show their toughness, their resiliency.”
UMass called timeout with 7 seconds left on the shot clock and 13.3 seconds left in the game. Out of the break, the Minutewomen caught a break when the Red Storm committed a foul on the inbounds. That reset the shot clock and gave UMass the final possession.
Breen posted up and received the ball with the clock ticking down. She was double teamed, but dropped the ball underneath to Maddie Sims, who was fouled with 3.2 seconds left.
That. Just. HAPPENED!
Sam Breen puts it home at the buzzer and UMass defeats St. John’s!#Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/1NNuc0ibNb
— UMass Women’s Basketball (@UMassWBB) December 13, 2020
Sims missed both, but Breen kept the rebound alive. Taylor grabbed it and put up a shot, but was short. Breen was there and left alone for an uncontested layup.
“Sam just has a nose for the ball,” Verdi said. “She’s done that several times. … It just goes to show you every second counts.”
The Minutewomen made key plays down the stretch.
With 2:22 left, Madison Lowery connected on a 3-pointer in the corner to give UMass a 59-57 lead.
With 1 minute left, Sims poked the ball away to Destiney Philoxy, who found Taylor on the break for a 61-59 edge.
“Throughout the course of the game it was a roller coaster of events,” Verdi said. “We executed late. We had some big 3s. Sydney Taylor’s 3s, Maddie Lowery’s 3 from the corner was huge, and Sam makes things happen.”
Two of Taylor’s three from behind the arc came in the second half. Her second cut UMass’ deficit to 51-45 late in the third. Her third pulled the Minutewomen within 55-52 early in the fourth.
Taylor finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Breen had a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds. Philoxy had 12 points and nine assists.
UMass is now .500 in games decided by a basket. The Minutewomen had a chance to beat Boston College at the buzzer but missed. BC cruised in overtime.
“Whenever you’re put in those pressure situations you’re going to gain some experience,” Verdi said. “I knew what I wanted to run down the stretch and I knew what we were comfortable running. Those games prepare you, not that you want to be in all those, but, hey, if it happens I know for a fact we’re going to be prepared.”
St. John’s hit five 3s in the first quarter to build its early advantage. Qadashah Hoppie had three from deep in the first and finished with 21 points.
“We were one step slow then I thought once we started getting though three-quarters of the first period that we started to settle down a little bit, we started to execute,” Verdi said. “We started to get some high-percentage shots and we started to score. Then it started to come.”
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. Follow on Twitter @mikemoranDHG.