Colleges notebook: UMass women’s basketball flipping the script from last season

Mike Leflar speaks at the introductory press conference as the new head coach for UMass women’s basketball in 2023 at the Mullins Center in Amherst. STAFF FILE PHOTO
Published: 01-03-2025 5:05 PM |
While the UMass men’s basketball team is experiencing a step back from a 20-win season last winter to a team that looks destined to finish toward the bottom of the Atlantic 10 this season, the UMass women’s basketball team is in the exact opposite position as the calendar flips to 2025.
The Minutewomen hammered Saint Louis on Thursday night, ending the game on a 17-2 run to win their fifth game in their last six tries. UMass won just five games all of last year, and it already has seven just two games into conference play. It’s been quite the contrast between teams.
Sure, transfers Allie Palmieri (Seton Hall), Megan Olbrys (Villanova), Momo LaClair (Drexel) and Aleah Sorrentino (Lipscomb), and freshman Yahmani McKayle have flipped around the Minutewomen’s on-court product, but from what head coach Mike Leflar has said publicly through the first half of the season, it seems this team is much more connected off the court than it was in year one under his tutelage.
Leflar has found the right pieces to fit the system he wants to run for 40 minutes, and has also found the right personalities to mesh in the locker room. Palmieri leads the team in points per game (13.9) while Olbrys (13.6 ppg) leads UMass in rebounds (9.2) and assists (3.2) per game. McKayle is third on the team in points (12.1) and second in assists (2.6). So three Minutewomen newcomers have come in and set the tone this season, lifting the workload of Stefanie Kulesza, who had to do pretty much everything at a really high level in order for UMass to be competitive a year ago.
Kulesza is averaging nine points, six boards, two assists and a team-high 1.8 steals this season. UMass has wins of 31, 11, 20, 17 and 17 points over its last half dozen games. The loss came against Boston College, a five-point defeat on the road in a game where the Minutewomen held a halftime lead.
The signs of improvement and growth can’t be overlooked, and it seems like Leflar has his troops moving in the right direction after a challenging first year.
After an illustrious high school career was capped off by four first-place finishes at the 2024 Central/West Championships last February, Belchertown’s Luke Giguere left the Orioles program having claimed two Daily Hampshire Gazette Boys Swimmer of the Year awards.
His success led him to the United States Coast Guard Academy, where he competes for a nationally-ranked Bears team that continues to shine on the Division III stage. Giguere took third place in the 200-yard freestyle (1:43.00) during last month’s annual Jayden Szkirka Memorial Championships at Wesleyan University.
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Coast Guard, ranked No. 20 in the country, has a whopping 14 freshmen on its roster, and only four seniors. The Bears also have 10 sophomores and eight juniors, so they’ll more than likely be very good again next season when Giguere comes back as a sophomore.
New Minutemen head coach Joe Harasymiak has been busy since taking over the program in Amherst, and his incoming transfer total approaches 20 in the first week of January. Harasymiak has brought in 18 transfers as of Friday afternoon, including four former 3-star recruits out of high school.
Those four are interior offensive lineman Sullivan Weidman (West Virginia), edge rusher Joshua Nobles (Jackson State), defensive lineman Malachi Madison (Virginia Tech) and corner back Malcolm Greene (Virginia). Former Harvard interior offensive lineman Mike Entwistle is another big get for UMass.
Elsewhere, the Minutemen have landed kicker Marcus Lye (Northern Arizona), punter Keegan Andrews (Texas A&M), linebacker Timmy Hinspeter (Rutgers), tight end Max Dowling (Kansas, UT Martin), safety Zeraun Daniel (Georgetown), defensive lineman Shymell Davis (Maine), wide receiver Tyree Kelly (South Florida), tight end Reece Adkins (UCF) and a handful more.
Several needs are being addressed by Harasymiak, as he brings in guys to fill positions that UMass struggled with in 2024.
Both Amherst College basketball programs played in mid-season tournaments over the holiday break – the men down Interstate 91 at Springfield College, and the women much further south in Daytona Beach, Fla. – and are ready for the beginning of NESCAC play to start in 2025.
The Amherst men’s basketball team went 2-0 in Springfield, beating the University of Maine-Farmington 80-62 before handling Regis College, 73-57, a day later. The Mammoths currently sit at 9-3 and are spearheaded by the sharpshooting of C.J. Mitchell, who is shooting an impressive 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. His 12.7 points per game are first on the team, while Chris Hammond averages 12.4 and Bobby Sommers is close behind with 10.9. Amherst does it by committee, with eight players averaging at least five points per game. Will Scherer has been dominant down low, averaging over seven rebounds and two blocks per contest.
Head coach Marlon Sears and Amherst travel to Wesleyan for a NESCAC clash on Saturday afternoon in the conference opener.
On the women’s side, the Mammoths are 9-2 and wrapped up their trip to sunny Florida with a 38-point beatdown of UMass Boston. They’ve since returned home to the northeast cold and are preparing for their next matchup, Jan. 10’s NESCAC opener against Bates at LeFrak Gymnasium.
Similar to the men, Amherst is a deep team with a handful of scoring options. Their leading scorer can vary from game-to-game, but the Mammoths almost always rely on senior Kori Barach and her 13.5 points per game (first on team), 6.5 rebounds (fourth) and 2.4 assists (third). Without junior point guard Laura Mendell, who hasn’t played since Nov. 23, Amherst has had to fill her shoes in the backcourt. Mendell scored double digits in her first three games of the season before leaving the fourth game after just seven minutes (injury). She hasn’t played since.
Annie McCarthy (nine points, seven rebounds per game) and Maya Cwalina (seven points, eight rebounds per game) have also continued to play well for head coach G.P. Gromacki’s team.