A furious fourth quarter couldn’t keep the UMass women’s basketball team’s seven-game winning streak alive in the desert, as Missouri defeated the Minutewomen 71-66 on Saturday during the Briann January Classic at Arizona State’s Desert Financial Arena.
After trailing by as many as 16 points with 3 minutes, 59 seconds left in the third quarter, UMass chipped away over the next 10 minutes. Angelique Ngalakulondi pulled the Minutewomen within four on the fast break after Stefanie Kulesza snatched a steal. It capped a 7-0 run that shaved the Tigers’ lead to 61-57.
“Even though we didn’t win today’s game, we still played UMass basketball,” UMass coach Tory Verdi said.
Missouri (8-1) held UMass at bay for the final four minutes to hand the Minutewomen (8-2) their first loss since Nov. 10 at Tennessee. They’ve only lost against SEC competition this season.
UMass only made 5-of-17 3-pointers (29 percent), and Missouri controlled the rebounding battle 42-33.
Destiney Philoxy distributed six assists to go with her 18 points and became the program’s all-time assists leader with No. 4 at the 2:34 mark of the third quarter. She whipped a no-look pass to Ngalakulondi (seven points, 10 rebounds) on the fast break under the basket.
Philoxy now has 760 assists for UMass. She passed Sabriya Mitchell, who accumulated 758 between 1994-98. It was her 124th game in a UMass uniform, which also set a program record. Hailey Leidel held the previous record at 123 between 2016-20.
Put her in the history books, folks!
With her fourth assist of the game, @DestineyPhiloxy becomes the sole career assist leader in @UMassWBB history; she’s got 543 career helpers. pic.twitter.com/JHDOUp7410
— Hannah Bevis (@Hannah_Bevis1) December 3, 2022
“She’s a cornerstone, the foundation. There’s no question about it,” Verdi said. “She definitely left a mark on our program. I’m super proud of what she’s done, and she’s not finished.”
Sam Breen led UMass with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. The Minutewomen forced 18 turnovers and scored 18 points off them.
They were without second leading scorer Sydney Tyalor and post Makennah White due to injury.
UMass built an 18-11 lead in the first quarter after Philoxy splashed a 3 with 1:31 on the clock, but Missouri canned back-to-back 3s to narrow the gap to just a point at the first break.
The Tigers hit 15 3s, shooting a 47 percent clip led by Lauren Hansen’s six triples. She scored a game-high 23 points. Hayley Frank (16 points) and Haley Troup (12 points) hit four and three 3s, respectively for the Tigers.
UMass will return to the Mullins Center for a four-game homestand at noon Saturday when Columbia visits. The Minutewomen split two games in Tempe after blowing out Arizona State on Friday.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.