With its four-game road trip completed, the Boston University women’s basketball team will host the University of Rhode Island on Wednesday at Case Gym in pursuit of its first win.
The Terriers (0-7) will be playing at Case Gym for the first time since Nov. 21, when they fell 58-37 to a visiting Boston College squad.
Going over two weeks without a home game, BU coach Katy Steding will be looking forward to playing in front of the Terrier faithful.
“Everyone feels better in their comfort zone in their own gym,” Steding said. “Shots that don’t fall on the road have a way of falling in the home gym. All of the games that we won last year were at home or neutral courts, so that has a big effect.”
In their previous game, a 69-52 loss to the University of New Hampshire, the Terriers’ play was marred by their ineffectiveness early on. The first half of play saw the Wildcats make 53.6 percent of their field goals, while BU was held to just 25.9 percent shooting.
Despite shooting 33.3 percent from beyond the arc in the second half, the gap was too big for the Terriers to overcome.
In Steding’s eyes, her team’s inconsistencies are due to a young team still working out its kinks.
“With a young team, they need that time [to make game planning adjustments] like, ‘They’re running this way or defending screens this way,’” Steding said “It’s hard to make adjustments on the fly with this young team. What we’re trying to do is have a solid gameplan from the tip to the end of the half and then come out and have a minimal amount of adjustments with a maximum level of effectiveness in the second half.”
Against the Wildcats, BU had to go up against seniors Corinne Coia and Elizabeth Belanger, and sophomore Carlie Pogue. They accounted for 41 of UNH’s 69 points.
The Terriers will again have to prepare for a three-headed monster in the form of URI (3-4) sophomore Charise Wilson (16.0 points per game), senior Samantha Tabakman (13.4 PPG) and sophomore Dominique Ward (9.9 PPG). The next highest scorer for the Rams has 4.9 PPG.
URI typically records 4.2 rebounds less than their opponents, and only makes 66.2 percent of its free throws.
“We’ve been bitten pretty hard by the injury bug, and it’s really affected our post corps,” Steding said. “[We] make adjustments which make us smaller and quicker, but that doesn’t help us defend inside.”
Steding has had to make adjustments accordingly, and said freshman forward Naiyah Thompson held her own against UNH.
“I thought putting Naiyah Thompson inside in the last game at UNH, that she did a really admirable job for a freshman,” Steding said. “We’re definitely headed in the right direction, but it’s still about turning that corner. We’re still waiting for that ‘ah-ha’ moment.”
Although BU hasn’t earned its desired results, Steding said she has discovered a lot about her team as of late.
“What I saw is that we’re still very young,” Steding said. “I’ve said this many times, but we have moments of brilliance where we execute well and we’re doing the right things and we’re very engaged, and then we have lapses.
“As a team we’re trying to minimize those lapses and expand those times of brilliance,” Steding added. “Our team is strong together. They’re still engaged and they’re still working hard and they’re still trying, and that’s the best thing. We’re taking it one step at a time and try to not get our eyes too far down the road.”
