Women’s basketball ends season in opening round of WNIT

With the Boston University women’s basketball team’s loss to Saint Joseph’s University in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament, the Terriers’ season came to an end. Despite keeping the score close with the Atlantic-10 opponent, BU faltered late in the game and could not continue its run in the postseason.

The Hawks (22-10) took a 30-24 lead into halftime, and although BU attempted a comeback in the second half, Saint Joseph’s went on a 9-0 run to seal the victory.
The loss was despite the effort of sophomore forward Rashidat Agboola, who scored 14 points and grabbed 10 boards for her team-leading eighth double-double of the season.

Although BU lost in the semifinal of the America East Tournament and the opening round of the NIT, the Terriers finished the year champions, as they took the America East regular-season title with a 12-1 conference record.

“You certainly want to win and move onto the NCAA tournament,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg, “but for me, we had a lot of very great moments and a lot of people who really worked well together, and I think that’s a success.”

BU won 20 games for the first time since 2009, including key wins on the road against Marist College and Boston College. The Terriers lost to both teams a year ago at home. Marist recently moved onto the second round of the NCAA tournament as a 13-seed, defeating four-seed University of Georgia.

Junior guard Chantell Alford led the team again this season, averaging 12.4 points per game and 2.2 steals per game en route to winning her second-consecutive America East Player of the Year Award. Alford scored her 1000th career point in the Terriers’ loss to West Virginia University on Dec. 3, and led the Terriers with a 37.1 3-point field goal percentage.

Alford was named to the All-Conference First Team and was joined on the squad by junior guard Mo Moran. Agboola was also honored with her first appearance on the All-Conference Third Team.

While leading the Terriers in minutes this season, Moran averaged 10.9 ppg – good for second on the team behind Alford – and team-high four assists per game.

Agboola enjoyed a breakout season after earning the lone starting spot left vacant from last season. In the process of filling former Terrier Kerry Cashman’s role, Agboola ranked among the top three in the league in conference play in rebounding, blocks and field goal percentage.

“She really works hard and she learned a lot from Kerry Cashman last year with how hard to work,” Greenberg said. “She has some tools that with her hard work and her athleticism – her ability to rebound is incredible.”

Only three seniors will graduate after this season for BU, but they certainly will take lots of production with them. The seniors are forward Caroline Stewart and guard Alex Young, both of whom served as captains the past two seasons, and guard Kasie Carbacio, who served as a captain this season.

Like Alford, Young recorded her 1000th point of her career earlier this season. Young also clinched the all-time record for most 3-pointers by a Terrier in a game against the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 15, and ended her career with 218 3-pointers.

Stewart posted four double-doubles on the season, one of which consisted of 14 rebounds and 14 points in a win over Yale. Stewart became the face of the program according to Greenberg, and while her production on the court was impressive, Greenberg noted that Stewart, as well as Young, made big impacts in the locker room as well.

“[Young and Stewart] had such terrific careers here. I remember everything they have done since freshman year and I have truly, truly enjoyed coaching them,” Greenberg said. “It makes you sad when you see young women like those two come along and do so many great things and right now all they can do is cry. Hopefully we get to a point where they can appreciate how terrific they were here at BU.”