Women’s basketball seniors lead team to WNIT win

Playing in what could have been its final game donning the scarlet and white, the senior class of the Boston University women’s basketball team put together an impressive showing against Sacred Heart University in the first round of the WNIT Thursday night.
The deadly trio of senior guards Chantell Alford, Mo Moran and Kristen Sims was unstoppable in the contest, combining for 35 points on the night. Alford in particular was impressive, scoring 17 points and knocking down three shots from beyond the arc.
BU coach Kelly Greenberg was pleased with the performances from her seniors, as the Terriers (24-5, 13-2 America East) advanced to the second round of the WNIT for just the second time in program history.
“[The seniors are] always key,” Greenberg said. “Kristen Sims had some really big deflections and blocks in the last five or six minutes that really got us going and got us some transition baskets.
“Obviously Chantell is always great on both sides of the floor, especially offensively tonight, and Mo was just being our energizer bunny and getting us going.”
Alford, who recently was awarded the America East Player of the Year award for the third consecutive year, was crucial in getting the Terriers’ offense going, as she knocked down two consecutive threes in the early minutes of the game.
“It always feels good to make your first couple of shots,” Alford said. “I think that that got us going at the start … and it helped get a little confidence growing.”
Scoring 17 points has been the norm for Alford this year, as she leads the America East Conference with 16.6 points per game.
While most players would seemingly be distracted by the possibility of playing in the final game of their collegiate career, Alford paid no attention to it, instead focusing on getting the W.
“I didn’t think about the end,” Alford said. “We just wanted to come out, play hard, and play our basketball. That’s what we’ve done all year, we came up with a big win, and now it’s on to round two.”
While Alford may have led the team offensively, Moran and Sims also came up huge for the Terriers.
Moran led all BU players in minutes with 38, and contributed in many different ways, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and four assists.
Named a captain before the start of the season, Moran has been one of the most successful and heralded players to play for the scarlet and white, as she has been named to an America East All-Conference team during all four of her years at BU.
Moran continued her great play this season, scoring 10.3 points per game and leading the America East conference in both assists per game (3.8) and assists-to-turnover ratio (2.6).
Sims also finished the night with nine points, and added four rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes of play.
Starting all 29 games for the Terriers this season, Sims has averaged 7.8 points per game and leads all Terriers in free-throw percentage at .791. However, it has been her tenacious defense that has helped the Terriers allow only 50.2 points per game, the third-lowest total in the conference.
While there were some runs by Sacred Heart (22-11) throughout the game that put the lead in doubt, Greenberg was confident that her seniors, who have helped lead the team to one of its best records in program history, would help finish the job.
“I guess you could say that … tonight’s game was weird at times,” Greenberg said. “But you can always rely on one of them [seniors] at one time to figure out how to make a big play and they did.”