Six days have passed since the Boston University women’s basketball team last stepped out onto the court. The Terriers have had 144 hours to dwell on their recent struggles, 8,640 minutes to let their motivation simmer.
Tonight, the Terriers (13-8, 6-4 America East) attempt to right the ship, looking to avoid their third loss in four games. Standing in the way is Binghamton University (13-9, 6-5), another talented team that has picked up some unexpected losses recently.
“We need to keep focus on what we’re doing,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “We’re not going to be an undefeated team, so we can’t get upset over every loss. We can’t drown our sorrows in that. We just need to come ready to play.”
Thursday’s game against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County is one the Terriers would like to put behind them as soon as possible. The Terriers’ trio of starting guards went 6-for-28 from the floor, including 3-of-20 from behind the arc in the team’s 63-57 loss to UMBC.
“I felt that we were just waiting for something to happen and for someone to take charge,” Greenberg said. “And that just didn’t happen. We knew that we were the better team, but no one stepped up and no one took control.”
And were it not for the solid performance of sophomore Kasey Devine, who collected 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocks Thursday night, the deficit may have been much larger.
“Kasey’s just getting more and more comfortable knowing that she’s going to be our go-to woman on the inside,” Greenberg said. “It’s really been a growing experience for Kasey. She saw what happened when she got into foul trouble early in a couple of games and now she’s been playing a lot smarter.”
The Terriers will no doubt be counting on Rachael Vanderwal to put up solid numbers tonight, too. The co-captain puts her string of seven consecutive games in double figures on the line against Binghamton and currently leads the team in scoring with 11.5 points per game.
By scoring 12 points in her last outing, the senior guard moved into the 24th position on BU’s career scoring list. She also holds the fifth spot on the list of career assists as a Terrier. Fellow co-captain Katie Meinhardt is tied for the 26th spot in scoring.
The Terriers came out the victors in this season’s previous match-up. Behind a 24-point effort from Meinhardt, BU put up 52 points in the second half to come from behind and win, 77-68.
Hitting the road may be a welcome change of scenery for the Terriers, who started the season 6-0 at home before losing their last two home games. Binghamton’s Event Center isn’t exactly friendly territory, however. The Bearcats have put together a 10-1 home record this season, with the team’s only home loss coming to the 19-2 University of Hartford.
For the Bearcats, specialization has been the answer to success. Of the five main statistical categories – points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks – the Bearcats have four different leaders.
Laine Kurpniece leads the Bearcats in both points and rebounds, racking up 12.6 points and hauling in 6.5 boards per game, while Jen Blues puts up over two steals per game. Shea Kenny dishes out three assists per game, and Laura Franceski frustrates opponents by averaging 1.36 blocks per outing.
“They’re a very physical team, especially on the inside, and I don’t think of our forwards as very physical, so that will be a challenge,” Greenberg said. “They’re also a very hard-working team and they play very well at home. We’re going to have to play hard, we’re going to have to play smart and we’re going to have to make some shots.”