The Boston University women’s basketball team may need to see a psychiatrist. The squad is suffering from intense flashbacks, and at times BU coach Margaret McKeon and her crew seem as if they are detached from the rest of the world.
The prognosis: sit back and enjoy the ride.
The Terriers (12-7, 7-3 America East) extended their season-high win streak to five games on Saturday after they dismantled the University of Hartford, 71-62, at the Chase Family Arena to move into a tie with the Hawks (16-5, 7-3) for second place in the conference.
BU played 40 minutes of possessed basketball to capture its seventh victory in its last eight games, and the location couldn’t have been more fitting. The Hawks’ home floor – which McKeon called a “home away from home” for her team – plays host to the conference tournament each year. And after winning three games there to capture the America East title last season, the Terriers picked up right where they left off, playing as if it were March all over again.
As for the squad’s delusional detachment from the rest of the conference, chew on these numbers from the weekend’s victory: BU was unconscious from the free throw line, hitting 30 of 33 foul shots (good for almost 91 percent), including 18 of 19 in the final four and half minutes.
The Terriers also dished out more assists (13) than turnovers (10) while out-rebounding the Hawks, 34-32. In Hartford’s 69-60 win over BU back in January, the Case Gym visitors dominated the glass, grabbing 40 boards to the Terriers’ 29.
Even McKeon said there was something a little different about her team’s state of mind heading into West Hartford, Conn.
“It was a different air,” the coach said. “It was an air of a championship-type team, feeling very confident and understanding the intensity and the fire that they needed to win on the road.”
That intense play, however, almost did the Terriers in at the beginning of Saturday’s game. Four of the team’s five starters found themselves in early foul trouble, with Adrienne Norris and Marisa Moseley each picking up two whistles early in the game.
Norris, Larissa Parr and Katie Terhune (who posted game-highs with 20 points and five assists) each finished with four personals as BU racked up 25 calls for rough play.
But luckily, Moseley – who eventually fouled out – was there to pick up the slack from the start despite her attraction to the referee’s whistle, scoring 10 of the Terriers’ first 12 points on her way to notching a season-high 15 points on 6-9 shooting. With a steady rotation of eight players throughout the period, BU took a 33-24 lead into the locker room at the half.
Parr opened up the second frame scoring four of her 13 points to give her team a little more cushion before the Hawks closed the gap to within five with a little over 12:30 to play.
Freshman guard Nadia Bibbs’ hot shooting from downtown helped the Terriers breath a little easier before Bridget Murray (a team-high 17 points) and the Hawks clawed back to make it a five-point game again with 4:40 to go.
The rest of the contest, however, would be decided at the line as Terhune’s 12-12 performance and Becky Bonner’s 6-7 showing iced the game. Hartford, on the other hand, knocked down only 14 of 24 from the charity stripe.
“Early on, a couple of weeks ago, we really emphasized [free throw shooting] and we have been really working on it,” McKeon said. “The girls have really taken it to the next level, and it’s a credit to them.
“Katie Terhune and Becky Bonner can make foul shots in their sleep,” she added. “They’re that good of shooters.”
But besides her team’s clutch shooting late in the game, McKeon felt that defense was the key to shutting down the Hawks, who before Saturday, had held their opponents to fewer than 55 points per game.
The Terriers, who have played an intimidating matchup zone since McKeon took over as head coach, have changed their game plan over the last few weeks. As Hartford can attest, BU aims to show its opponents a variety of looks, and as McKeon said, that has made all the difference in the team’s recent success.
“I felt that our matchup [zone] at times was extremely effective, but teams, when you play 40 minutes, are going to come out and shoot the basketball well and attack it inside,” McKeon said. “So I kind of sat back and said that I wouldn’t want to be the culprit of our not winning a championship. So I had to swallow a little bit of my pride and my ego in the fact of saying what’s going to be best for this basketball team.
“And that is playing different defenses to keep people on their toes and make them have to think a little bit more instead of always reacting for 40 minutes.”
Those changes have provided the spark the Terriers need to carry them through the rest of the conference. With a rematch with the first-place University of Maine looming ahead on Feb. 18, BU is only a few steps away from capturing the regular season title and forcing the rest of the league to seek professional help.
Call them crazy, but the Terriers could do it. McKeon thinks so.
“We’re feeling it,” she said.