In the middle of a four-game losing streak, the Boston University women’s basketball team will look to halt the season’s futility when it plays host to the United States Naval Academy Thursday at Case Gym.
BU (1-19, 1-8 Patriot League) has failed to capture a second victory since its 63-59 triumph over American University on Jan. 13, while Navy (10-10, 4-5 Patriot League) is .500 and has a chance to sweep its season series with the Terriers after its 67-56 victory over them back on Jan. 7.
To the untrained eye, however, the vast difference in records doesn’t tell the same story when compared to the teams’ overall statistics.
In conference play, the Terriers have put up more points per game than the Midshipmen (55.9 versus 49.7) and aren’t far off in the other important statistical categories. BU trails Navy in field goal percentage and 3-point percentage by only 0.5 and 1.3 percent, respectively.
Going into the game tomorrow with the Midshipmen and with the statistics showing that the teams are more well-matched than the records seem to suggest, BU head coach Katy Steding stressed the important of her team playing within its comfort zone.
“I stressed that we need to be us,” Steding said. “Try to be up-tempo offensively, and I really emphasized pushing the ball ahead and getting early looks out of transition. If we don’t have those opportunities, then we’re into our regular offense.”
Steding also emphasized the importance of being active in all phases of the game, particularly when playing transition defense.
“I really emphasized transition defense and rebounding this week in practice,” Steding said. “We get to a point where we’ll stop in action, and then there’s one little misstep, one person doesn’t close out on a shooter and we end up allowing a 3-point shot or the offensive rebound.”
Following its sole victory over the Eagles (5-15, 3-6 Patriot League), BU’s following two games were also highly competitive, as it suffered only nine-point losses in efforts against Loyola University Maryland and Colgate University.
The Terriers did take a small step back, however, as they were outscored a combined 146-104 in their next two games on the road to Bucknell University and Lehigh University, respectively.
Steding chalked up the large difference in scoring in her team’s past two losses to the opposing team being able to get its shooters their ideal shots.
“One thing that really hurt us is we allowed people to get their favorite shots,” she said. “When we were playing Bucknell, for example, we let their center sit on the block and go to work. That was not the game plan, and we took that away in the first half, but let it slip in the second half. We’re just reminding them to stay with the points of emphasis and the game plan rather than allow one possession to get away from us and turn into two or three possessions.”
For BU to compete against Navy, it’s going to need to rediscover its offensive mojo. In the three games in which the Terriers eclipsed the 60-point mark, the team is 1-2.
Steding doesn’t see shot selection being the issue offensively, as she believes her team’s taking good, high-percentage shots. She instead wants to see her team play out their possessions more efficiently.
“I think our playing out of a possession and really attacking the offensive glass was really good against American and good in a couple games right around there,” she said. “It’s not that we lost our focus, but if we focused on something else, then the offensive boards doesn’t get quite as much attention, so we have to hammer home the hustle points that could turn the game for us.”
