BOSTON, Mass.--Olivia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) and Grace Geary (Falmouth, Mass.) combined for 45 points, to help UMass Boston women's basketball to their program-record tying fifth-straight win to open the season. 

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 77, Mount Ida College 57

(UMass Boston 5-0, Little East 0-0)

(Mount Ida College 1-6, GNAC 0-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED 

UMass Boston outscored the Mustangs 47-29 in the second half, after a tight first half, to tie the 1994-95 team for the best start in program history (5-0). 

Murphy posted her fifth-consecutive double-double to open the season with a team-high 24 points and 17 rebounds. The nation's leading offensive rebounder pulled down nine more in the contest and added three assists, a steal and a block.

Geary posted a season-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 5-of-9 shooting from distance. She also added five rebounds, four assists and three steals to help spark the Beacons' second-half spurt.

Freshman Ariana Rivera (Burlington, Mass.) tied her career-high with nine points off the bench, while Michaela Ilebode (Malden, Mass.) tacked on four points and a career-high eight rebounds.

Mount Ida was led by junior Angelique Martinez who finished with a game-high 26 points and 17 rebounds of her own. Katlyn Jesse was the only other Mustang to reach double-figures, as she finished with 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting. 

Despite winning their past three contents against Mount Ida by close to 30 points a game, UMass Boston couldn't create any kind of sizeable lead in the first half. The two teams played to eight ties in a 16-16 first quarter and a late Martinez layup to end the half, cut UMass Boston's lead to 30-28 heading into the break. 

Even in the third quarter the Mustangs kept within striking distance, as the Beacons' largest lead was just nine points, after a Geary three with 2:11 to play in the quarter. 

For the second-straight game the Beacons used the fourth quarter to put a team away, as the Beacons nearly doubled up Mount Ida (25-13). 

The Beacons put the game away with a 17-6 run midway through the quarter. Over the course of a three-minute span, Geary knocked down a pair of three-pointers and Rivera scored nine-straight Beacons points to stretch the lead to 18. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston has now won four-straight against Mount Ida and nine of 13 all-time meetings. 
• The Beacons finished with a season-high 19 assists and season-low 12 turnovers, to go along with a season-high 11 steals in the win. 
• After hitting 1-of-5 threes in the first half, UMass Boston finished with a season-best 46.2 percent (6-of-13) mark from distance. 
• UMass Boston's bench outscored Mount Ida by a whopping 36-4 margin. 

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston will travel to Bridgewater State University on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in a non-conference contest.