Destiney Philoxy stood her ground, and it let the UMass women’s basketball team advance.
The junior guard took a charge on Saint Joseph’s first play of overtime Thursday in the Atlantic 10 Tournament second round.
It was her first offensive foul drawn of the game, a rarity for the co-captain so adept at setting her feet. Senior forward Sam Breen even asked her at halftime, “Where are my charges at?”
“I was like, oops, I kind of forgot about those,” Philoxy said.
Better late than never, as the Minutewomen unleashed a 4-0 run to wrest control of the extra period. Philoxy drew another charge with 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining as UMass held a three-point lead.
“You don’t see those plays in the stat sheet. They were huge. They’re definitely momentum changers,” UMass head coach Tory Verdi said. “Those are empty possessions for them and we were able to capitalize off of it.”
The Minutewomen ended the game on a 7-0 run and beat the Hawks 79-69 to advance to the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. It’s UMass’ third consecutive season reaching that point, and the Minutewomen will face No. 2 Fordham for the second time in three years. UMass beat the Rams for the first time in 11 years earlier this season.
“It’s probably been longer since we beat them back to back,” Verdi said. “There’s a first time for everything.”
The quarterfinal starts at 5 p.m. Friday in VCU’s Siegel Center, less than 21 hours after Thursday’s game ended, so recovery will be as important as film study. Only seven Minutewomen saw the floor, and three played more than 40 minutes including Philoxy and Breen, who didn’t sit down once.
The Minutewomen were shorthanded because of two players departing the program prior to the championships and one not traveling to Richmond.
“I feel like we were the source. We gave our own energy,” Philoxy said. “We let each other know that we’re all we got. Once we realized that in the fourth quarter, we knew we couldn’t let each other down.”
The fourth quarter featured four lead changes, a ping pong finish to close a game defined by runs. UMass built a five-point lead early on a Ber’Nyah Mayo 3. The freshman finished with 13 points, six assists and four steals in her postseason debut.
Saint Joe’s took the lead back 1:37 later on an Alayna Gribble drive. It exchanged hands a few times over the next few minutes until Mayo knotted the game at 59 with a layup at 2:03. Then the freshman stole the ball from Gribble and threw a behind the back pass to Philoxy on the fast break. She converted for the late lead with 1:34 remaining.
“We make each other better with the passes and being creative,” Mayo said. “I knew I could do that pass.”
UMass sophomore Sydney Taylor (21 points) followed it up with a 3 on the next possession to push UMass’ lead to five with a minute left. Saint Joseph’s whittled UMass’ lead to one with back to back layups by Katie Jekot and Gribble. Gribble’s bucket made it a one-point game with 10 seconds remaining. The Hawks fouled Philoxy (17 points, seven assists, five rebound) quickly. She was shooting 69.4 percent for the season. Neither attempt even touched rim, as she buried both to give UMass a three-point lead with eight seconds left.
Saint Joe’s called timeout and inbounded to Jekot. UMass chose not to foul, and she bombed a 40-foot buzzer beater to send the game to overtime tied at 66.
“That’s how we play. We don’t foul,” Verdi said. “We switch everything, we get up. She shot a 40 footer and it went in.”
The 3 capped a 7-2 Hawks run to end regulation.
“We said let that be their run, and we went to overtime and let it be our five minutes,” Mayo said.
Saint Joe’s only scored three points in the extra frame.
“I think we got ahead of ourselves a little bit (after the tying 3),” Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said. “We got too riled up, and we needed to slow down.”
The Hawks kept UMass’ fast break offense in check for the first half. They outscored UMass 30-24 before halftime and held the Minutewomen to 12.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
“This is not our first game we’ve started off shooting not in a good position. Once we get used to the court and the hoops, we adjust,” Philoxy said. “We knew our first half shots weren’t going in, so we tried to take our time and do what we do best.”
The Minutewomen attacked the rim more in the second half, and that opened up the floor. They turned a six-point halftime deficit into a four-point lead in the third quarter. UMass made 4-of-6 3s. Breen gave them the lead back 40-38 with 5:09 remaining. The Minutewomen rallied down as many as eight in the quarter.
“I’m comfortable and confident with the players that we have. I thought their energy was infectious here today. They had a tremendous amount of pride,” Verdi said. “Our players understand what the stakes are. We want to stay here. We didn’t come to Richmond just for the weather.”