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UAlbany’s Lilly Phillips, left, shown in the Albany Cup game against Siena on Dec. 7, 2024, scored 17 points in a 59-44 win over UMass Lowell at Broadview Center on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.
UAlbany’s Lilly Phillips, left, shown in the Albany Cup game against Siena on Dec. 7, 2024, scored 17 points in a 59-44 win over UMass Lowell at Broadview Center on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.
Energized by a big schoolkid crowd of 3,232 for an 11 a.m. tipoff at Broadview Center, the UAlbany women’s basketball team pulled away from UMass Lowell in the fourth quarter for a 59-44 America East victory on Thursday.
The Great Danes were up by six late in the third quarter, then quickly established a 15-point lead early in the fourth to improve to 10-2 in the conference and 20-5 overall, the fourth straight season the Great Danes have hit 20 in the win column under head coach Colleen Mullen.
Kayla Cooper scored 19 points, and Lilly Phillips scored 17 on 6-for-11 from the field for UAlbany, after leading the Great Danes with 15 points in the previous game against Lowell, a 53-39 win on Jan. 4.
Cooper, who was 11-for-11 from the free throw line, also led UAlbany with eight rebounds and four assists.
“Lilly’s been due,” Mullen said on the ESPN+ broadcast after the game. “She’s been struggling a little bit. I was happy to see her shot come back and get a little mojo back.”
The Great Danes held the River Hawks (1-10, 3-20) to 18 points in the first half,
Lowell was still within striking range down 39-33 in the closing moments of the third quarter, but Kaci Donovan scored for UAlbany just before the buzzer, then the Great Danes opened the fourth with a 7-0 run to go up 48-33.
“It’s February basketball right now,” Mullen said. “We’ve got our bumps and bruises and illnesses, and we need to get back to where we’re playing confidently and get our swagger back. We’re a little disjointed offensively, but at least we’re defending. We wanted to hold that team under 40 points.”
UAlbany is off this weekend, then plays road games against Maine next Thursday and New Hampshire next Saturday.
“This break is coming at a much-needed time for us,” Mullen said. “It’s time to rest and recover. Sometimes, as coaches, you think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to get this in,’ but sometimes less is more.
“And when you get a team of seven seniors and graduate students, these guys have beat-up bodies, so give them the time to unplug, unwind, it comes at a critical time, especially with this big swing we have with New Hampshire and Maine.”
