By Christopher Cohen, Sports Editor
The UMass Dartmouth women’s basketball team has been shredding the ending of their season, winning ten of their last eleven games.
The latest conquests on the Corsairs path were brought about by a buzzer beater against UMass Boston, followed by the season’s record setting win against Southern Maine.
While the Corsairs hosted the Beacons who are well under .500 on the season, UMass Dartmouth trailed for three quarters before finding their shot in the fourth.
Four of the five starters for the Beacons scored in the double figures, including seventeen points a piece from guards Katie Mathieu and Chantel Jordan.
Beacons forward Raven Kelsey tallied the games only double with ten points and eleven rebounds, but UMass Dartmouth forced Kelsey to miss eight of her eleven shots.
Corsairs center Alicia Kutil scored a game high twenty-two points on eight of eighteen successful shots.
Kutil made five of her six free throw attempts, as well as led the Corsairs with eight rebounds.
Seven of Kutil’s points, including a three-pointer, would come in the fourth quarter, where the Corsairs outscored the Beacons 24-15 to claim the buzzer-beating victory.
Starting forward Nakira Examond followed Kutil’s lead with seventeen points to lift the Corsairs starting pack.
Examond converted six of seven shot attempts, including a perfect three for three in the fourth quarter that produced ten crucial points for a Corsairs offense playing catch up.
Despite shooting 50% from the free throw line for the game, Examond converted four of five attempts in the fourth quarter that proved necessary in the closing moments of the contest.
From the bench, senior guard Adi Alicea-Cordero produced the only complete stat sheet from either team. During twenty-five minutes on court, Alicea-Cordero provided eight points on 75% shooting from the field, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block to shut down the Beacons blink of victory.
Five fouls shut down Alicea-Cordero’s performance, yet not without salvation as fellow senior Rachel McCarron stepped up for the final shot.
McCarron had made just one shot going into the fourth quarter, but when junior guard Leah Douty found her with four seconds remaining in regulation McCarron delivered the dinner.
McCarron’s three not only lifted the Corsairs to tie their previous record for wins in a season, it also allowed the Corsairs an additional game in the regular season with which to break the record.
Following their triumph in the Tripp Athletic Center, the Corsairs took to the road to face a Southern Maine squad that is bubbling in last place in the Little East Conference.
The Corsairs handled the Huskies without difficulty, and with a final score of 69-41, the Corsairs recorded their season record setting twenty-first win.
Scoring was distributed across the board by the Corsairs offense as everyone got out onto the court to play a role in the victory. The second and third quarters were particularly crushing against the Huskies attack, as the Corsairs outscored them thirty-six to eleven.
Rachel McCarron scored six of her eight points in the second quarter, while Nakira Examond scored twelve of her fifteen points in the third quarter.
The Corsairs out-rebounded the Huskies fifty-eight to thirty, and dished seventeen assists as opposed to the eight total by the Huskies offense.
The Corsairs will once again host the UMass Boston Beacons as the 2017 Little East Tournament begins on February 21, with the third seeded Corsairs hosting the sixth ranked Beacons.
The quarterfinals matchup will be held in the Tripp Athletic Center.