LOWELL, Mass. — The UMass Lowell women's basketball team turned in a wire-to-wire performance on Monday evening, rolling past St. Joseph's Brooklyn, 109–45, at the Kennedy Family Athletic Complex.
"Any win is a good win, but I thought we had a lot of players step up tonight, which was great to see," said head coach Jon Plefka. "Coming off the break, it was important for us to get back on track and carry some momentum into conference play."
The River Hawks set the tone early, using energy on the glass and strong ball movement to jump out to a 25–5 lead after the opening quarter. Junior guard Maddie Rice (Charlottesville, Va.) knocked down an early three during a 15–3 run, while graduate forward Anabel Latorre Ciria (Zaragoza, Spain) and sophomore guard Nia Chima (Toronto, Ontario) controlled the boards to extend possessions and limit the Bears to one shot at the other end.
UMass Lowell continued to build momentum in the second quarter, stringing together stops and pushing the pace offensively. Freshman Tyanna Medina (Lawrence, Mass.) helped spark the surge late in the half, scoring and creating for others as the River Hawks closed the second quarter on a 15–0 run to take a 54–13 advantage into the break.
Coming out of halftime, Lowell remained aggressive on both ends of the floor. Rice stayed efficient offensively, and Latorre Ciria continued to clean up around the rim as the River Hawks steadily built the lead to 78–31 by the end of the third quarter.
UMass Lowell finished the night strong, pouring in 31 points in the fourth quarter to seal the 109–45 victory. The total marked the highest scoring output by the River Hawks at the Division I level, surpassing the program record set in 2017. Along the way, Lowell knocked down a Division I program-record 15 three-pointers.
Rice led all scorers with 22 points, while Medina added a career-high 17 points and six assists. Latorre posted 17 points and a Division I program-record 19 rebounds, anchoring a balanced effort that saw five River Hawks reach double figures.
UMass Lowell improves to 6–7 on the season and will turn its attention to America East play, opening conference action at home against Maine on Thursday at 6pm.
