Basketball, Sports

Women’s basketball wins 1 of 3 games on road trip

Senior guard Chantell Alford is leading the Terriers in scoring, averaging 19.3 points per game. GRACE DONNELLY/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The Boston University women’s basketball team began its first road trip of the season with a victory over Eastern Michigan University and then suffered hard-fought losses to Northeastern University and the University of Michigan.

The Terriers will face the University of Rhode Island on Tuesday to cap off the four-game road trip.

BU’s (3–3) road trip began just a few miles away from home with a Tuesday-night matchup against Northeastern at Solomon Court. The Huskies came out strong in the first half, taking a 12–5 lead at the first media timeout.

Guard Deanna Kerkhof and forward Jewel Tunstull led the Huskies on a 19–8 scoring run. Northeastern took a 31–13 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.

Despite an 18-point deficit, the Terriers did not back down. Consecutive 3-pointers by BU senior guards Chantell Alford and Kristen Sims sparked a 9–3 run and the Terriers trailed, 42–28, at the end of the half.

The Terriers opened the second half with a 13–2 run that trimmed the deficit to three. Both teams traded buckets throughout the half, but the Terriers were unable to overcome Northeastern’s early run as they fell to the Huskies, 73–62.

Alford was the leading scorer for BU with 20 points and junior guard Danielle Callahan scored a career-high 18 points off the bench.

BU shot 36.5 percent from the field while Northeastern finished with a 45.5 field goal percentage. The Terriers lost the battle on the boards, as they were out-rebounded by the Huskies, 44–33.

After the loss at Northeastern, the Terriers traveled to Michigan to play against the Eagles and the Wolverines.

On Friday night, BU faced the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Eagles scored the first basket of the game, but the Terriers led for the remainder of the first half as a balanced offensive attack from Alford, senior guard Mo Moran and junior forward Whitney Turner gave the Terriers a 36–23 lead at the half.

The Terriers continued to build their lead in the second half, as the Eagles offense went cold. EMU center India Hairston scored on a layup with 15:04 left in the game, the Eagles’ first points in over eight minutes, cutting BU’s lead to 43–27.

EMU ended the game on an 11–2 run, but the Terriers held on for a 66–55 victory.

Alford and Moran led the Terriers in scoring with 16 points each, while Turner, returning to her home state of Michigan, had a team-high eight rebounds.

BU ended the game with a 43.3 field goal percentage, while EMU only managed to make 32.8 percent of its field goals. BU was again out-rebounded, 49–35, but it committed only 10 turnovers compared to EMU’s 16.

The Terriers finished their road trip with a Saturday afternoon game against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. The first 10 minutes of play were a back-and-forth affair, as both teams exchanged baskets until an 8–0 run by the Wolverines gave Michigan a 31–25 lead going into halftime.

BU battled back to cut the deficit to one with 11 minutes to go thanks to Alford’s sharp shooting.

Two minutes later, Moran drilled a jumper and gave the Terriers their first lead of the second half.

However, a 7–0 run by the Wolverines gave Michigan a lead that they would not relinquish, as the Wolverines held on for a 67–58 victory.

Sims led the Terriers in scoring with a career-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers.

The Terriers shot 39 percent from the field while the Wolverines shot 47.9 percent. The Terriers were outrebounded, 36–31.

The Terriers will finish their four-game road trip with a game against Rhode Island (2–3) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

BU seeks to break its .500 season against Rhode Island. Both teams are coming off losses, as the Rams are in the midst of a two-game losing streak.

BU’s style of offense is much different than URI’s. With less than two successful 3-point shots per game on average — compared to more than nine by the Terriers — the Rams score nearly all of their points inside the arc. Nevertheless, their 37.4 percent field goal conversion rate is less than BU’s 39.5 percent conversion rate.

Alford, who is averaging 19.3 points per game, leads the offense for the Terriers. The Rams are led by freshman Tayra Melendez  (11 points per game) and junior forward Emilie Cloutier (10.4 points per game).

While they miss more shots than the Terriers, the Rams have an advantage on boards, averaging 41.2 rebounds per game. They are led by freshman Samantha Tabakman, who averages 9.2 rebounds per game. BU averages 33.2 rebounds per game, with junior forward Rashidat Agboola leading the team with an average of 7.8 rebounds per game.

BU coach Kelly Greenberg was not available for comment in time for publication.

Website | More Articles

This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.

Comments are closed.