The UMass women’s basketball team led the entire way, but Rhode Island made it interesting.
The Minutewomen held a 15-point lead at one point in their Atlantic 10 Conference opener, but the Rams cut that deficit down to a basket early in the fourth quarter.
UMass answered and closed out URI, 79-69, in its home opener at the Mullins Center on Tuesday.
“We had to grind it out and that’s what we did,” UMass coach Tory Verdi said. “We didn’t play out best basketball today, but it’s an A-10 win and every A-10 win is hard to come by. We did enough to get the win down the stretch.”
UMass (3-1, 1-0 A-10) built a double-digit first-quarter lead, but URI closed to within a basket midway through the second quarter. A Sydney Taylor 3-pointer off a feed from Destiney Philoxy extended the advantage to 43-31 by halftime.
The Minutewomen maintained that double-figure lead until the Rams went on a run to close the third. They pulled within three, but UMass freshman point guard Ber’Nyah Mayo buried a 3 with an assist from Philoxy with 59 seconds left.
The lead was then four when Makennah White hit a jumper to close the quarter and give UMass a 59-53 edge.
“I thought we answered when we needed to,” Verdi said. “I thought Destiney Philoxy brought it from start to finish; just her attacking downhill, getting to the rim and finishing. I thought she was terrific. We were able to knock down some pretty key, critical shots.”
UMass led 59-57 with 8:31 left when Sam Breen hit a 3 off a Philoxy assist. Maddie Sims pushed it to seven before the backcourt closed out the Rams.
Taylor, Philoxy and Mayo combined for the team’s final 15 points.
Philoxy and Taylor each finished with 19 points. Philoxy added seven assists, three rebounds and three steals.
“I’m a facilitator. I pass first and score second, but today I decided to switch it around and score first and pass second only because I knew Rhode Island and what they could do and I knew who would be guarding me. I attacked her and if anybody helped I kicked it to my teammates.”
Mayo finished with 18 points, five assists and four steals.
“They’re kind of our catalysts,” Verdi said of Mayo and Philoxy. “They make us go and they did a really good job at it here today, just getting downhill, collapsing the defense, driving and kicking and making things happen for us.”
Breen, UMass’s leading scorer, was held to 11 points and four rebounds. Sims added six points and a team-high five boards.
UMass visits New Hampshire at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. Follow on Twitter
@mikemoranDHG.