In its first game of the since returning for the spring semester, the Boston University women’s basketball team fell to Patriot League opponent Colgate University at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y., by a score of 81-64, making it BU’s third straight loss.
The Terriers (6-12, 1-4 Patriot League) spent almost the entirety of the game trying to play catch-up to the Raiders (5-11, 1-4 Patriot League).
Colgate got the scoring started with a layup from forward Carole Harris, but BU senior guard Melissa Gallo responded 20 seconds later, netting a 3-pointer to put BU ahead, a lead it would relinquish just two and a half minutes later.
“Quite frankly, [Colgate] had more energy than we did at the start of the game,” said BU associate head coach Michael Leflar. “They jumped on us, and we really didn’t have an answer in the first half.”
A 5-0 run by the Raiders saw the Terriers turn the ball over four times in the three-and-a-half-minute span, leading to good looks for Colgate. Senior forward Whitney Turner finally broke through to end the Colgate run with a layup that brought the Terriers within two points of the lead.
BU was able to keep the deficit manageable for the next two minutes before allowing the Raiders to sprint away on a 15-0 tear lasting five minutes.
Senior guard Danielle Callahan finally hit a jumper with 3:33 left in the first half, but by that time the score was 28-13 in favor of Colgate. Junior forward Mollie McKendrick helped the Terriers along by making two free throws down the stretch, but BU would finish the half down by 19, heading to the locker room with the score set at 35-16.
In a disappointing first half, the Terriers shot just 21.4 percent from the field compared to Colgate’s solid 44.4 percent.
“We definitely missed shots,” Leflar said. “I think we were just really inconsistent. We hurried at times on offense, didn’t get good looks, and I think other possessions we didn’t have the opportunities, and, unfortunately, it just kind of snowballed for us in the first half.”
The second half did not start much better for BU, as Colgate continued to exert its dominance with an 8-0 run that increased its lead to 27 points.
The Terriers attempted to rectify their offensive woes by going on a 7-0 run of their own. BU settled into a rhythm for the rest of the game that consistently kept it within 20 points behind the Raiders.
“[Going into the second half], we talked about doing what we originally wanted to do, just playing our game, focusing on what we do offensively, defensively,” Leflar said. “We focused on what we wanted to do as opposed to making changes based on what Colgate was going to do.”
The Terriers raised their field goal shot percentage by a shooting a much-improved 55.9 percent in the second frame and made half their looks beyond the 3-point arc in their 14 second-half attempts.
Sophomore guard Clodagh Scannell was a key part to BU’s second half surge, making six of her seven attempts from the field and three of her four 3-point tries to give her 15 points on the night, a career high.
Although they had initial offensive woes, Scannell was not the only Terrier with double-digits in points in the contest, as Callahan and McKendrick each had 11 and 10 on the night, respectively.
Leflar praised his players for their individual efforts, but stressed that the team was having trouble putting things together as a unit.
“[Callahan] has really fallen into a role of being our most consistent player night in, night out, and she’s doing everything she can for us out there,” he said. “[Scannell] came off the bench and hit good shots. [McKendrick] knocked down some shots as well but too often it was one person going on a run for a few minutes, and we could never seem to get five players on the court in a stretch connecting with each other and clicking.”
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