Women's basketball outlasts UMass in thrilling last-second win

Rhode Island’s final clash with UMass at the Ryan Center as longtime Atlantic 10 rivals delivered. 

Despite a slow start, the game played out like a classic conference rivalry would. In a matchup that never stretched beyond a double-figure deficit, the deciding play came with less than three seconds on the clock as URI topped UMass 60-58 in a dramatic fashion on Wednesday night.

“If that's going to be our last game against UMass, the rivalry we have with them, that's the way you want to go out,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said. “For me, it feels good, but it really needs to feel good to them that we finally did it, we executed in a tight game.”

Although the hosts took a 14-10 lead out of the opening 10 minutes, the first quarter was defined by poor shooting and a sluggish start. Neither team eclipsed a 28 percent shooting mark throughout the opening phase, combining for a mere 11-40 from the field. 

With the exception of a buzzer-beating jumper from senior center Harsimran “Honey” Kaur that gave the Rams a spark in the final seconds, neither team managed a single point in the final 3:18 of the opening quarter. Six of the Rams 18 total turnovers came in the first 10 minutes.

“The one thing I was really concerned about [was that] we didn't take care of the ball at all,” URI Head Coach Tammi Reiss said postgame. “18 turnovers is a lot of turnovers. We just had no rhythm offensively. It was like chaos out there.”

The second quarter was a different story for the Rams, who used a 10-4 run to steadily pull away from the Minutewomen through the first five minutes and stretch the lead to as much as nine. Led by Kaur – who fell just two rebounds short of a first-half double-double with 16 points and eight rebounds – the Rams took a 30-25 lead into the halftime break. She ended the night with her seventh double-double of the season, and her seventh double-figure performance in eight games. All 16 of her points came in the first half.

Out of the locker room and down the stretch, the visitors continued to make a game of it. After keeping it within a possession through the late stages of the third quarter, freshman guard Yahami McKayle eventually sank a jumper with just over three minutes on the clock to give UMass their first lead since the opening four minutes. From there, Rhody forced six ties – including a 40-40 knot at the end of the third – and eventually re-took the lead when senior guard Sophie Phillips sunk a right-wing three with 4:13 left in the game.

The game wasn’t over just yet. The two sides continued to go punch-for-punch until the final minute, as UMass tied the game five more times before sophomore guard Sophia Vital snuck under a defender in the lane and deposited a crafty layup to ice the game with just 2.5 seconds left. The basket was her first of the game, but it did not deter Reiss from running the play through her point guard.

“She's a true point guard, so she can go a whole game and not score,” Reiss said. “It doesn't mean she won't, and it doesn't mean she's scared of a big shot or making the pass. We ran that play because we had her going to the basket, and I knew they didn't want a foul.”

The deciding play was a culmination of an entire season’s worth of shortcomings, according to Reiss. It marked a milestone that had so desperately been missing for the Rams up to this point.

“There are a lot of games we did not win where it was a tight game, all these games that we should have won that we didn't,” Reiss said. “This was one we finally won, that we finally executed, and that feels good for me, and it's a confidence builder. I hope it feels good to them, that we got the stops, we scored the ball, and we won a close game.”

The Rams now sit at 4-3 in A-10 play, and will look to string together momentum when Loyola Chicago comes to town on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+ and The Varsity Network.