In the second meeting between the two sides, the Boston University women’s basketball team welcomed Lehigh University to Case Gym Saturday afternoon to commence the second half of its conference schedule.
Despite an excellent effort, the Terriers (4-17, 1-9 Patriot League) were not able to pull out the win against the Mountain Hawks (15-5, 7-3 Patriot League), losing by a score of 78-71.
Following a rout at the hands of the United States Military Academy, the Terriers knew that in order to compete with the Mountain Hawks, who are tied with the Black Knights (15-5, 7-3 Patriot League) for second in the Patriot League standings, they had to bring their game to a higher level.
Freshman forward Kara Sheftic looked sharp on offense early in the first half, whether it be driving to the net, fighting for boards or potting difficult points in the paint. After scoring six points early, she leveled out toward the end of the first half. She led the team into the half with eight points.
The Terriers were rolling at one point with just under eight in the half when a 3-pointer from junior guard Clodagh Scannell tied the game at 24. On the following drive, sophomore guard Courtney Latham added a heavily contested, left-handed layup, giving the Terriers their first lead of the game. The Terriers went into halftime with a 38-37 advantage over the Mountain Hawks.
Against the highest-scoring team in the Patriot League, the Terriers’ defense allowed the Mountain Hawks to shoot just 30.8 percent from the floor in the first half, while BU’s offense clicked as the team sank 50 percent of its field goals.
Despite the tough opponent, the Terriers were their own worst enemy in Saturday’s game. Foul trouble started early, with four team fouls in the first five minutes, and continued throughout, as the Terriers amassed 11 fouls in the first half and 12 in the second. Lehigh took advantage of their opportunities at the line, hitting 33-of-41 free throws. Tied for the Mountain Hawks’ lead in points, senior Katie O’Reilly only went 2-for-7 from the floor, but converted on 12 of her 16 free throws.
BU coach Katy Steding said she was not pleased with the amount of fouls her team committed in the game.
“Forty-one free throws? Holy smokes,” Steding said upon seeing the total on the stat sheet. “[We need to just] stop fouling people. We do a lot of unnecessary fouling when people are driving at the basket. Because of our defensive positioning, we at least derail them a little bit so they go outside, but then we bump into them … It’s really kind of silly.”
The second half was tight, but the Mountain Hawks forced their way into the paint, constantly pushing the Terrier defenders back. Forward Lexi Martins, who was 0-for-6 from the floor in the first half, finished 5-for-13, tied for the team lead with 16 points. On offense for BU, both sophomore forward Meghan Green and senior forward Mollie McKendrick were able to find the net often, finishing with 23 and 17 points, respectively. Neither team was ahead by more than 10 points at any time in the second. A run by the Mountain Hawks, combined with their high free-throw percentage was what did the Terriers in, yet Steding said she takes this game as a sign of improvement for her team, and is confident about their future.
“They don’t give up,” Steding said of her team. “We keep coming back. We’ve gotten better. I know other teams have gotten better, but I feel that we’ve gotten way better than we’ve shown in wins and losses.”
