AMHERST — Hailey Leidel made her senior day one to remember, scoring a season-high 26 points to lead the UMass women’s basketball team to a 73-53 win over Rhode Island, extending their win streak to three, Saturday at the Mullins Center.
In the final home game of the regular season for the Minutewomen, Leidel hit six 3-pointers, but it was a 3-pointer in the first quarter that sent her into second place all-time for points in program history.
“Just a good day. Obviously, I’m very happy with how I performed,” Leidel said. “But, I’m very happy with how as a team, we all showed up to play. Everyone did their role, and more. And we just really came together. It’s always amazing to end on that kind of high note going into the A-10. It’s a good feeling, and I think it’s going to be a good momentum swing for us.”
Fellow senior Vashnie Perry’s hustle helped the Minutewomen jump out to a 17-11 lead. In the second quarter, momentum seemed to shift to Rhode Island, with strong play from Nicole Jorgensen bringing the Rams to within three at the half.
The third quarter was dominated by strong team play by the Minutewomen, who shot 68 percent and recorded 28 points through 10 minutes. Junior Sam Breen shined in the fourth quarter and finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, her seventh double-double.
Perry also added five assists, closing out four years of play with the Minutewomen.
“We’ve spent a lot of time together. She’s been such a great teammate, such a great friend,” Leidel said. “We’ve both come such a long way, as leaders and as players. It’s been just amazing to have her. I don’t think I would have wanted it to end with anyone else.”
Since her debut with the Minutewomen in 2016, Leidel has been a huge impact player for the team. In her rookie season, she was the second highest scoring freshman in the country, and was just the fourth player from UMass to be named A-10 Rookie of the Year.
“Those guys are two cornerstones to our foundation when we were building this program,” coach Tory Verdi said of Perry and Leidel. “To see them go through a maturation process and to see this program evolve, it’s something special. They saved their best for today’s game. And I think we showed everyone in that gym what we’re capable of today. I said we haven’t played our best basketball just yet, and I thought today was an example of that.”
UMass is the fifth seeded and will host No. 12 St. Bonaventure in an Atlantic 10 Tournament first round game at the Mullins Center, 7 p.m. Turesday. It’s UMass’ first home playoff game since 1998.