The Boston University women’s basketball team extended its win streak to 12 as the Terriers defeated Stony Brook University 56-31 Saturday afternoon at Case Gymnasium. With the win, BU remains undefeated in conference play.
Sophomore forward Rashidat Agboola and senior forward Caroline Stewart posted double-doubles in a game that began with Stewart, per the request of BU coach Kelly Greenberg, singing the national anthem.
Stewart’s 15 points were a team-high as well as a season-high for the senior. The Topsfield native also had 10 rebounds.
Agboola’s 15 rebounds were a team-high, and with 11 points she posted her fifth double-double of the season, another team-high.
After a basket by Stony Brook (4-22, 1-12 America East), BU (19-6, 12-0 America East) opened the game with a 5-0 run by Stewart. The Terriers continued to build their lead through the half when a 3-pointer by junior guard Chantell Alford, her first basket of the game, put them ahead 14-5 with a little fewer than 10 minutes remaining.
“Defensively we were great,” Greenberg said. “But when you’re not scoring, it’s just frustrating and I thought we got a lot of nice looks.”
In the final minutes of the half, however, Stony Brook held off the Terriers’ offense and drew within five points.
Though the game ended in a blowout win for the Terriers, the players and Greenberg acknowledged the problems that plagued the Terriers.
“Ugly, I thought,” Greenberg said. “For the most part I would say the first 25 to 28 minutes of the game were just ugly.”
Despite briefly pulling ahead by 10 points, BU only led 23-15 after Stony Brook prevented the Terriers from scoring for close to the last five minutes of the half. Saturday marked the second game in a row that the Terriers did not score in the final minutes of the first half.
“We became a little hesitant when we weren’t knocking down the early ones,” Greenberg said.
When they struggled to score, the Terriers were forced to readjust their game, taking more jump shots then they normally do because their forwards, Stewart and Agboola, could not get inside.
“They [the Seawolves] did a good job taking down Rashidat and Caroline,” Greenberg said, “which, in my mind, that’s a first for us, not being worried about our guards. That’s a sign of how far we’ve come with our inside game this year.”
While BU struggled to score in the first half, the Terriers opened the second half with an 11-0 run, six of which were scored by Stewart.
The run was marked by improved defensive play during which the Terriers, especially Agboola, who rebounded the ball well and turned those rebounds into points.
“Rashidat went back in the second half there and I was just kind of like, ‘Wow, let me sit back and enjoy this,’” Greenberg said.
During the second half, Agboola and Stewart broke free from the Stony Brook defense that stifled them in the first half and brought the Terriers ahead by a significant margin.
With a little more than six minutes left in the game, BU pulled ahead 43-23 and did not surrender the large lead for the rest of the game. The Terriers cruised to victory as the entire bench saw playing time in the 56-31 win over the Seawolves.
“For another team to clearly define what we’re doing, they can’t,” Greenberg said. “We tell the players, let’s set up this way, and every time down the court do something different.”
Stony Brook’s 31 points were the lowest by any BU opponent this season as the Terriers’ defense held them to a 24.0 field goal percentage (12-of-50), while BU shot 36.4 percent (20-of-55) for the game.
The Seawolves weren’t alone in their struggles, though: BU had a hard time at the charity stripe, going 11-for-23 (47.8 percent), a far cry from its season percentage of 66.9.
Though they were plagued with offensive struggles in the first half, both Greenberg and the players look at the game as a learning opportunity as they move forward in conference play – and their winning streak.
“You know, we can’t take any team for granted,” Stewart said. “Every team is going to come out and play us really hard, probably play the best game they can against us and we have to be ready for that.”
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