{"id":394177,"date":"2026-01-06T00:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/394177\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T00:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:05:09","slug":"womens-basketball-continues-road-trip-against-miami-oh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/394177\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Basketball Continues Road Trip Against Miami (OH)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nAMHERST, Mass. \u2013\u00a0University of Massachusetts women’s basketball (10-2) travels to Miami,\u00a0Ohio, for a Wednesday\u00a0matchup against\u00a0Miami (OH)\u00a0(5-9) at\u00a07:00\u00a0on ESPN+. Links and live updates available at\u00a0umassathletics.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0@<\/a>UMassWBB<\/a>\u00a0on X (Twitter).\u00a0<\/p>\n


\nTHE MATCHUP\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\tMassachusetts and Miami will meet for the fourth time in program history, with the\u00a0RedHawks holding a 2-1 lead in the all-time\u00a0series\u00a0history.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\tThe two teams first met on Dec. 21,\u00a02010\u00a0as the\u00a0Minutewomen\u00a0erased a 17-point\u00a0deficit for the second consecutive game to secure a 78-72 victory on the day.\u00a0
\n\tUMass\u00a0and the RedHawks last met on Dec. 1,\u00a02013\u00a0with Miami claiming a 50-40 victory.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

LAST TIME OUT\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\tFollowing an ice-cold first half in which the\u00a0Minutewomen\u00a0shot just 8-33 (.242) including 1-10 from behind the arc, UMass caught fire in the second half, shooting a blazing 17-29 (.586) from the field and 5-8 (.625) from three\u00a0en\u00a0route to a 15-point comeback.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\tYahmani McKayle<\/a> was the biggest factor for the\u00a0Minutewomen’s\u00a0second-half surge, setting a career-high 28 points to go along with three assists and three steals. McKayle could not miss in the second half, scoring 26 points on 10-12 shooting and hitting four-consecutive threes.\u00a0\u00a0
\n\t\u00a0Megan Olbrys<\/a> chipped in 13 points and six rebounds with Allie Palmieri<\/a> also adding 13 points along with four boards, three steals and two made threes. Chinenye Odenigbo<\/a>\u00a0also netted 10 points, scoring double-digits in the second straight game.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\tThe\u00a0Minutewomen\u00a0welcome six newcomers, featuring four\u00a0freshmen.\u00a0
\n\tMassachusetts brings\u00a0freshmen\u00a0Anya<\/a> George<\/a>,\u00a0Eva Hannon<\/a>,\u00a0Aiyanna Perkins<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Brooke <\/a>Pulpi<\/a>\u00a0into the mix for the 2025-26 season.\u00a0
\n\tRhode Island transfer\u00a0Ayanna Franks<\/a>\u00a0arrives to Amherst off a 3.1 points per game season, adding 1.6 rebounds in 10.7 minutes.\u00a0
\n\tLeah Bullard<\/a>\u00a0spent her first season at Oakland, averaging 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in 8.4 minutes of action.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

OLBRYS ON THE RISE\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\tSenior\u00a0Megan Olbrys<\/a>\u00a0is coming off an impressive season in the Atlantic 10 last year, leading the team with career-best averages in points (14.0), rebounds (8.2), and free throws per game (.786).\u00a0\u00a0
\n\tOlbrys posted eight double-doubles during the 2024-25 campaign and recorded a season-best 23 points against Loyola Chicago (2\/9).\u00a0
\n\tThe Norwood, Mass. native earned the A-10 Third Team All-Conference honors at the end of the 2024-25 season and received the 25-player watchlist for the 2026 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award to start the 2025-26 season.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

NOTABLE NUMBERS\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t <\/p>\n

The team ranks best in the MAC for field goal percentage defense (.348) and\u00a0scoring margin (14.1). The team also ranks second in the MAC in blocked shots\u00a0per game (3.8), assist\/turnover ratio (1.05), and steals per game (10.9) and\u00a0third in assists per game (16.6).\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t <\/p>\n

YEAR THREE UNDER COACH LEFLAR\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\tMassachusetts women’s basketball enters its third season under Head Coach\u00a0Mike Leflar<\/a>\u00a0in 2025-26 after his tenure as Associate Head Coach (2021-23) and Assistant Coach (2018-21) with the\u00a0Minutewomen.\u00a0
\n\tLeflar has been an integral part of building the most successful era in Massachusetts women’s basketball, helping the program to its first regular-season Atlantic 10 championship this past season after the program earned its first Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship in 2021-22, while adding an NCAA Tournament berth in 2022 to go along with WNIT appearances in 2021 and 2023, and 2025\u00a0
\n\tLeflar most recently worked closely with the\u00a0Minutewomen\u00a0forwards, including 2023 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year, Sam Breen. Under Leflar’s guidance, Breen developed into one of the most decorated players in program history and earned back-to-back Atlantic 10 Player of the Year honors in 2022 and 2023\u00a0 <\/p>\n

UP NEXT\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\tThe\u00a0Minutewomen\u00a0return home with a\u00a0conference\u00a0contest against\u00a0Central Michigan on\u00a0Wednesday,\u00a0January 10, in Amherst, Mass.\u00a0
\n\tThe game will be streamed on ESPN+\u00a0with links and live updates available at\u00a0umassathletics.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0@<\/a>UMassWBB<\/a>\u00a0on X (Twitter). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AMHERST, Mass. \u2013\u00a0University of Massachusetts women’s basketball (10-2) travels to Miami,\u00a0Ohio, for a Wednesday\u00a0matchup against\u00a0Miami (OH)\u00a0(5-9) at\u00a07:00\u00a0on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-394177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}