University of Massachusetts women’s basketball (3-5, 0-0 A-10) topped Northeastern University (1-6, 0-0 CAA), 81-50, at the Mullins Center on Thursday evening. Three Minutewomen scored in double figures, led by senior Allie Palmieri’s 19 points on a career-high eight field goals, including three from beyond the arc.
Megan Olbrys continued her highly efficient stretch for the Minutewomen, adding 17 points to go along with 7 assists and 5 rebounds on 7-7 shooting from the field. Olbrys is now 16-17 from the field in his last two games.
Massachusetts guard Yahmani McKayle was the third Minutewomen to reach double figures in the scoring column, totaling 13 points. The freshman hit three shots from behind the arc, going 3-4. McKayle also had three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Allie Palmieri got off to a hot start with a jumper and three to give UMass a 5-4 lead and Momo Laclair and Palmieri knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to help in an 11-0 first quarter run. Megan Olbrys hit two shots from the free throw line to add to the run with 5:03 left for a 13-4 lead. Chinenye Odenigbo and Yahmani McKayle also contributed to the Minutewomen’s run, going on a 16-0 run, with a layup and a 3-pointer for an 18-4 lead at the 3:40 mark.
Back-to-back layups by Olbrys and Odenigbo gave the Minutewomen a 22-5 lead with 3:00 left in the first quarter. Lilly Ferguson hit a second-chance jumper at the buzzer, capping a dominant 26-8 first quarter.
UMass put together a 22-8 run in the second quarter, with a 26-8 run continuing through the three-minute mark of the first. Back-to-back layups by Palmieri gave the Minutewomen a 30-8 lead to start the second quarter. Stefanie Kulesza hit a second-chance jumper off a Northeastern turnover, before an Olbrys layup put UMass ahead 34-8 with 6:44 left.
After a pair of free throws by the Huskies, back-to-back layups by Olbrys and a Northeastern turnover jumper pushed the Minutewomen to a 40-10 lead at the 3:17 mark.
Dallas Pierce hit a shot from beyond the arc with 2:58 left on the clock to extend Massachusetts’ lead. Both teams traded a layup each with Olbrys helping UMass take a 45-14 lead.
Pierce knocked down her second three of the night with 18 seconds remaining as the Minutewomen went into halftime with a 48-16 lead over the Huskies.
The duo of Olbrys and Palmieri continued to dominate in the second half as Olbrys made a layup while Palmieri made a 3-pointer to make it a 53-17 game. Olbrys made his second free throw at 5:33 of the third quarter followed by a Laclair layup to extend the lead to 58-19.
McKayle sank two 3-pointers and three field goals, leading the team with 8 points in the third quarter and Ferguson scored her second layup of the night to end the third quarter, capping a 20-point run for the Minutewomen.
The Huskies scored 13 points in the third quarter, cutting Massachusetts’ lead to 68-29 in the final frame.
The Minutewomen went on a short 9-5 run that spanned four minutes, eight seconds, highlighted by four points from Ferguson and capped by a shot from beyond the arc by Kulesza at 5:59 of the quarter for a 75-34 UMass lead.
Odenigbo capped the scoring for the Minutewomen with a layup with 2:31 left on the clock, leaving Massachusetts with 81 points on the night.
UMass Amherst takes on Dartmouth on Sunday.