PROVIDENCE, R.I.—UMass Boston women's basketball used a huge third quarter and suffocating defense, to hand Little East Conference leaders Rhode Island College their first conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 45, Rhode Island College 44

(UMass Boston 13-3, LEC 4-3)

(Rhode Island College 14-2, LEC 7-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Beacons held the top-scoring offense in the conference 25 points below their season average, to avenge a loss in last year's LEC Quarterfinal round.

UMass Boston's offense had their own struggles, but the Beacons outscored Rhode Island College 20-4 in the third quarter, and held on in the final 10 minutes.

Junior Tahjai Mazyck (Hamden, Conn.) paced the Beacons with a game-high 17 points. She scored 12 of the Beacons' 24 second-half points, including 10 in the third quarter alone.

Jalani Jackson (Brockton, Mass.) tacked on 13 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists in the victory.

Junior center Sarah St. Surin (Norwalk, Conn.) put together the best game of her collegiate career. She tied her career-high with six points, pulled down a career-best eight rebounds and almost doubled her career-high with 25 minutes of action. The 6-4 center anchored the Beacons' zone defense that minimized the Anchorwomen's strong front line all afternoon long.

Sophia Guerrier paced the hosts with 13 points on 4-9 shootings. The junior tacked on eight rebounds, two steals and turned the ball over six times.

Rhode Island College's one-two punch of Fataya Larry and Willcia McBorrough were held to a combined 14 points on 7-19 shooting. The two managed to be extremely effective on the boards though, as Larry had 14 rebounds (11 offensive) and McBorrough tacked on 12 rebounds (four offensive).

After falling behind 4-0 early on, UMass Boston used a 6-2 run to close the first quarter. Mazyck opened the flurry with a layup and then after a RIC make, Geanna Williams (Cromwell, Conn.) and Jackson hit back-to-back layups to give the Beacons an 11-10 advantage.

UMass Boston built a 17-13 advantage early in the second, only to see the hosts score 10 of the next 11 points. Rhode Island College would keep the momentum going, as they used a 7-1 flurry to end the half with a 28-21 halftime edge.

The Beacons came out like a different team to start the third quarter.

Jackson hit a pair of free throws and added a steal and a layup to cut the deficit to three. Jordyn Gauvin hit a jumper to push RIC back ahead 30-25, only for UMass Boston to counter with an 11-0 run.

St. Surin hit a layup and then Mazyck drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 30. Mazyck added two more layups and then St. Surin capped the run with one of her own, to give the Beacons a 36-30 edge with 3:27 to go in the quarter.

Gauvin snapped a 6:07 scoreless stretch for the hosts with a layup, but UMass Boston scored the final five points of the quarter to go into the fourth leading 41-32.

After being held scoreless through the first three stanzas, McBorrough hit back-to-back layups to start the fourth to cut the deficit to 41-36. After a Mazcyk layup, Guerrier hit a layup and a 3-pointer to bring the game within 43-41 with 5:09.

UMass Boston locked down defensively from there.

St. Surin hit a four-foot jump shot off of a feed from Alecia Quinones (Stoughton, Mass.) to give the Beacons a 45-42 edge with 2:41 to play. McBorrough answered at 1:27 to bring the game back within one.

On the final two RIC possessions, Quinones drew a charge call against Gauvin and then Antonia Corsinetti's jumper went long as the buzzer expired.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Beacons win snapped Rhode Island College's 11-game winning streak. It also marked RIC's first conference (7-1) and home loss (6-1).
• UMass Boston shot 30.0 percent (18-60) from the field, 26.7 percent (4-15) from distance and 71.4 percent (5-7) from the charity stripe. On the flip side, Rhode Island College finished 29.0 percent (18-62) from the field, 20.8 percent (5-24) from three and 37.5 percent (3-8) from the free throw line.
• The Beacons forced 24 Rhode Island College turnovers and earned a 14-6 edge in points off turnovers.
• Saturday's victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Beacons against RIC. UMass Boston improved to 19-58 all-time against the Anchorwomen.

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston will open a two-game homestand on Wednesday, when they host Plymouth State University at 5:30 p.m.