Basketball, Sports

Black Knight offense surges in 2nd half

With a chance to pick up a victory in the Patriot League, the Boston University women’s basketball team welcomed in the U.S. Military Academy Wednesday night at Case Gymnasium. The Terriers, beleaguered by second-half shooting issues, fell to the Black Knights, 75-48.

“We played really good in the first half,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “We played with really good energy, we rebounded the ball well. So we did a lot of great things in the first half. And unfortunately we couldn’t sustain it.

“The start of the second half we had breakdowns, we gave up some layups — lack of communication. So it was things that we’re usually very good at defensively, and we just broke down.”

The Black Knights (20-7, 12-4 Patriot League) got the scoring started with a jump shot from forward Brianna Johnson. They then extended their lead to five just moments later off of a 3-pointer from guard Jen Hazlett.

Senior forward Rashidat Agboola answered with a jump shot to make the score 5-2. The Black Knights then expanded their lead to 9-2, but the Terriers came right back with a 7-0 run to tie up the game at nine with 12:34 left in the first half.

BU (11-19, 6-11 Patriot League) then took the lead off of a layup from Agboola, and went up 16-13 just moments after with another Agboola make from inside the paint. After those points though, it all went downhill for the Terriers.

The Black Knights got a triple from the highest scoring player in the Patriot League — guard Kelsey Minato — en route to taking an 18-16 lead with 7:45 remaining.

“Our plan was to not let Minato shoot, and I thought we did a great job on her,” Greenberg said. “We left some of their shooters open to get the ball out of her hands. I told my players, ‘if other players hit threes that’s on me.’ They still got to make them, and they did.”

The Terriers did not go away, coming back to tie the game three separate times in the next two minutes.

The Knights then jumped back ahead 24-22 off of a layup from Johnson with 5:44 left in the first frame. Army stretched its edge out to seven points, but BU cut it right back to four off a trey from senior guard Danielle Callahan.

Showing no regard for a Terrier comeback, Army extended its lead to eight points right before the first half came to a close.

To start the second half, the Terriers cut the lead back to six off two free throws from Agboola. However, BU found itself down 13 points just minutes later.

Three straight triples from sophomore Jean Parker with 14 minutes remaining in the half ended any chance of a comeback for the Terriers, as the Black Knights went up 52-31, they only continued to build upon their lead.

“The first five, six minutes was the game of the second half,” Greenberg said. “Once they took that lead, I mean, I had no more time outs to call. I had to keep calling time outs. And there was just no getting back into the game, especially when you can’t score.”

The Black Knights consistently hit buckets, and ended up winning the game by an impressive 27 points. Army dominated the final frame, outscoring the Terriers 42-23.

While Minato led the Army attack heading into the game, it was Hazlett who dominated the stat sheet on this night. The guard went 9-of-15 from the field for 21 points. She also collected 16 rebounds, 15 of them coming off of the defensive glass.

Senior guard Melissa Gallo scored a team-high 10 points for the Terriers, but just shot 30 percent from the floor, a problem that the entire BU lineup had against the stifling Army defense.

The Terriers will have one last chance to get a victory in the regular season when they take on the College of the Holy Cross this Saturday at 1 p.m.

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