Oh, for a trip to St. Bonaventure.

It was March 5, 1990 when the Massachusetts women's basketball team went to Olean, N.Y., and came away with a hard-fought 77-72 win.

Unfortunately for them, that was the Minutewomen's last victory.

It's been nearly a year. Twenty-four straight losses, including 23 in a row this year.

"It's been long," Massachusetts coach Kathy Hewelt lamented. "We've had five kids -- who would be starters for us -- be dismissed from school, transferred or injured. When you're not able to replace them, you struggle."

Struggle perhaps might not be the right word. In many games, during the streak, the team has scored less than 40 points; against Penn State in Amherst on Jan. 17, UMass notched only 27, while giving up 95.

A far cry from the life of the 23-1, No. 2 Lady Lions.

"I talked to Kathy at UMass and told her to hang in there and be consistent," Coach Rene Portland said. "You just have to feel sorry for them from top to bottom."

So all things considered, Saturday's 94-45 loss to the Lady Lions wasn't as bad as it could have been, which, in a way, could be called a "victory" for the Minutewomen.

"Before the game, we set some small goals," Hewelt said. "We wanted to keep them under 100 points and score more than 40, plus give 110 percent effort and the way we started out, we did that.

"We were realistic with what we could do, (especially) when you play a team like Penn State."

Actually, in the first three minutes of Saturday's contest, Massachusetts had Portland looking perplexed and the 3,212 in attendance sitting dumbfounded.

Penn State of course, rallied, but with 5:42 left in perhaps the Minutewomen's finest half of the season, Penn State led by only 10, 32-22.

Even though the ugly reality soon set in, UMass felt this effort was quite a change from the drubbing it took at home on Jan. 17.

"This time we had more composure," center Keyburn McCusker said. "At home, the freshmen were shaking in their boots because they were playing the No. 2 team in the country. But here, we decided to go and have fun."

With the season winding down, not fast enough either, all the Minutewomen can do is try to salvage some kind of fun or enjoyment or whatever out of this arduous campaign. It's hard to believe that just five years ago, they were a respectable 14-12.

But with two games remaining with ninth-place-in-the-Atlantic-10 Rhode Island, possibly, hopefully, Massachusetts can finish the season on any note higher than what it is on now.

"When you're having a season like we're having, you'd think there would be a lot of turmoil and fighting on the team, but it's not like that. Spirits are still high," McCusker, the team's only senior, said. "We can't give up. We don't want to finish the season Oh-fer."