BOSTON, Mass.—Behind Beth Castantini's career-high 25 points and a 24-15 fourth quarter, UMass Dartmouth outlasted UMass Boston women's basketball 77-68 Wednesday night at the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium.

THE BASICS

UMass Dartmouth 77, UMass Boston 68

(UMass Boston 14-10, 6-7 Little East)

(UMass Dartmouth 16-8, 6-7 Little East)

HOW IT HAPPENED

After going into the fourth quarter tied 53-53, the Corsairs used an 11-0 run early in the fourth and three Castantini 3-pointers, to snap a three-game losing streak against the Beacons. The loss also snapped UMass Boston's four-game winning streak.

Castantini knocked down 8-of-13 shots and hit all four (4-of-5) of the Corsairs threes in the game. She also added eight rebounds and three steals, to help a Corsairs team that had dropped three-straight games at the Clark Athletic Center.

Little East Conference Player of the Year Meghan Ronaghan added 18 points and seven boards, while the team's third and final captain Colleen Kane added 11 points in 15 minutes of action.

Senior Olivia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) led the Beacons with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. With her final basket of the day, Murphy became the third Beacon in program history to reach 1,500 points for her career (1,501) and the eighth Beacon to play in 100 career games. She sits just 33 points shy of second-place all-time and 42 points shy of Linda Caruso's ('97) program-record (1,543). 

Despite an extremely slow shooting night, Grace Geary (Falmouth, Mass.) filled the scoresheet with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore Katie Mathieu (Coventry, Conn.) was the third Beacon to reach double-digits, as she finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers. 

Junior Katrina Edwards (Springfield, Mass.) added six points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Wednesday's game was a game of runs, as the two teams traded leads and dominating quarters.

It was all UMass Dartmouth in the first quarter, as they used a ton of back-door courts to grab a 23-13 lead after 10 minutes.

The Beacons would respond in kind in the second quarter, as they outscored UMass Dartmouth 21-9 thanks to aggressive play on both sides of the ball. In the second quarter alone, UMass Boston went to the line 15 times and earned 10 foul calls against the Corsairs. 

With UMass Dartmouth in heavy foul trouble to start the third, the Beacons came out firing and earned their largest lead of the game at 45-39 (6:16 left) on an Edwards' 3-point play.

The Corsairs came back to grab a four-point lead late in the quarter and would've held a lead to open the fourth, if not for Ariana Rivera's (Burlington, Mass.) last-second 3-pointer to close out the third.

UMass Boston opened the fourth with a 4-0 run on baskets from Edwards and Rivera, but they went ice cold for the next 3:13.

UMass Dartmouth used that cold spurt to go on a 11-0 run, as Castantini drained a pair of 3-pointers and added a pair of free throws to score eight of the 11 points.

Trailing 64-57 with 5:53 left, the Beacons cut the deficit to five on two occasions, but couldn't find their way back into the game, as UMass Dartmouth knocked down all six of their free throws down the stretch.

BY THE NUMBERS

• With the win, UMass Dartmouth improved to 42-25 against the Beacons. The win snapped a 3-game Beacons winning streak against the Corsairs and three in a row in Boston.
• Murphy needs one made field goal on Saturday to set the program-record for career made field goals. She is currently tied with Caruso with 609 made field goals.
• After shooting 48.1 percent against the Corsairs in Dartmouth, the Beacons shot just 33.3 percent (23-of-69) for the game.

WHO'S NEXT 

UMass Boston will host Little East Conference Regular-Season Champion Eastern Connecticut State University. The Beacons will honor Murphy, their lone senior, before the game as part of their Senior Day festivities.