BOSTON, Mass.--#4 UMass Boston women's basketball dominated the first and third quarters, to cruise past rival #5 UMass Dartmouth 69-50 in the Little East Conference Quarterfinal Round.

THE BASICS

#4 UMass Boston 69, #5 UMass Dartmouth 50

(UMass Boston 20-6)
(UMass Dartmouth 15-11)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Juniors Tahjai Mazyck (Hamden, Conn.) and Jalani Jackson (Brockton, Mass.) combined for 45 point in the win, to lead the Beacons back to the LEC Semifinals for the first time since 2018.

Mazyck tied her career-high with 27 points in the win, including 13 points in the decisive third quarter. She finished 10-18 from the field, 5-7 from deep and 2-2 from the charity stripe. The junior tacked on five rebounds and one steal.

Jackson carried the offense early on, with 16 of her 18 points in the first half. She went 7-14 from the field, 3-4 from deep and 1-2 from the free throw line.

Joie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) chipped in six points, a game-high 11 rebounds and two blocks.

Alecia Quinones (Stoughton, Mass.) and Geanna Williams (Cromwell, Conn.) tacked on a combined 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the victory.

UMass Dartmouth senior Shaelyn Carreiro paced the visitors with 15 points on 7-7 free throw shooting. Jordan Moretti tacked on 14 points and six rebounds and senior Ashley Brown ended with a line of 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

After a 5-0 run by Carreiro gave the Corsairs a 5-4 lead, UMass Boston took the lead for good with an 8-0 run. Jackson hit a shot-clock buzzer-beating 3-pointer from very deep and Mazyck followed with a triple of her own, before Jackson hit a layup with 5:12 left in the first quarter (12-5).

The Corsairs cut the deficit to 16-13 with 1:53 to go in the quarter, only for UMass Boston to close the stanza on a 6-0 flurry. Mazyck hit another 3-pointer, Jamie Staples (Amherst, Mass.) added a layup and Rachel Tutkus (Brookline, Mass.) chipped in a free throw.

UMass Boston stretched the lead to double-digits early on in the second quarter and went into the break leading 37-25 

The Beacons blew the game open by outscoring the Corsairs 24-11 in the third quarter.

After trading the first 12 points, UMass Boston went on a 15-0 run to extend the lead out to 56-31 with with 2:02 to go in the quarter. Mazyck (seven points) and Quinones (six points) combined for the first 13 points, with Grassi tacking on two free throws to close out the run.

UMass Dartmouth outscored the Beacons 14-8 in the fourth quarter, but never got any closer than 18 in the final stanza.

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston shot 40 percent (24-60) from the field, 50 percent (9-18) from distance and 75 percent (12-16) from the free throw line. The Beacons held the Corsairs to a season-low 25.8 percent (16-62) from the field and a season-low two three points (2-23).
• With the win, UMass Boston improves to 3-3 all-time against the Corsairs in the postseason. The Beacons won three game in a single-season against UMass Dartmouth for the first time in program history.
• Mazyck also recorded 27 points on December 4, in a home win over the University of Southern Maine.
• The Beacons earned a 21-8 lead in points off turnovers and a 44-37 lead in rebounds.
• UMass Boston reached 20 wins for the second time in program history. The team's 20 win are second all-time in program history, behind their 2017-18 season (25-4).

WHO'S NEXT

#4 UMass Boston will travel to top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University on Thursday night for the LEC Semifinals.