AMHERST — Make it five straight for the Minutewomen.
The UMass women’s basketball team jumped on Duquesne early on Sunday at the Mullins Center, cruising to an 89-59 victory.
It was their 20th win of the season, tying the 1995-96 and 2019-20 teams for most in program history.
“We had a sense of urgency about ourself,” Minutewomen coach Tory Verdi said. “Destiney [Philoxy], what an unbelievable game. She set the tone early on.”
Philoxy dominated the game from start to finish on her senior night with 26 points. She also dished nine assists and pulled down nine rebounds, consistently getting inside the Dukes’ defense and making plays.
“It was my senior day and one of my last weekend home games,” Philoxy said. “I wanted to remember this as one of the best moments of my life, and I feel I finished up strong.”
Verdi saw it was one of the best games he’s seen his point guard play.
“I just thanked her after the game,” Verdi said. “When I took this job, nobody believed in us. We didn’t have the history or the tradition. I needed a couple players who believed in me and she was one of them. She’s a cornerstone to the foundation of our program and I’m forever grateful to her. I thought this was one of her best games in her career.”
Sam Breen and Philoxy both drilled 3s in the first quarter, as Breen scoed nine points in the opening 10 minutes of action. Philoxy tossed in seven points and dished a pair of assists to get the Minutewomen out to a 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
UMass shot 47.1 percent from the field in the opening frame, getting good looks throughout. Tess Myers did her best to keep the Dukes (9-15, 4-8) in the game, knocking down a trio of 3’s in the first quarter.
Once the Minutewomen took Myers’ shooting out of the game in the second quarter, Duquesne didn’t have many answers. UMass kept her off the board in the second and outscored the Dukes 18-9 in the frame to take a commanding 39-20 lead into the half.
Going against the Duke zone, the penetration Philoxy was able to get made life difficult on the defense.
“We knew they were going to play some 3-2 zone,” Verdi said. “I didn’t want to be passive and just pass the ball around the perimeter. We wanted to attack the gaps, collapse it and try to get high percentage shots around the rim or drive and kick. Our guards did a great job of that.”
The offense stayed hot for the Minutewomen in the third quarter, opening the frame on a 7-0 run to take a 60-33 lead with 3:12 left in the quarter. UMass eventually led 64-42 going into the final 10 minutes.
Duquesne cut the deficit to as low as 17 in the fourth but that was as close as UMass let it get.
“We shared the basketball offensively and it was beautiful to watch. It was a complete overall game,” Verdi said. “We ran, we scored and executed our game plan and we defended as well. Super proud with what we accomplished today and looking forward to what comes next week.”
Sydney Taylor finished with 18 points. Sam Breen scored 13 points, and Ber-Nyah Mayo added 11.
“It wasn’t all about me tonight,” Philoxy said. “It was about my team. I know me crashing and getting a layup is easy but I wanted to make sure everyone got involved and my team was getting their buckets and rebounds. It wasn’t about me, it was about everyone. It was a team effort today.”
Next up for the Minutewomen is Fordham, a matchup between two of the top teams in the A-10. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Amherst.
“Fordham is always at the top of the A-10,” Verdi said. “When I got here I wanted to be them. We wanted to get there, they were established and winning. They’ve figured out how to sustain winning. I admire that. We’ve had epic battles and they’re going to come in here and want every piece of us. The fact we knocked them out in the A-10 tournament last year, it’ll be an epic battle.”