The Boston University women’s basketball team’s road woes continued Saturday in Burlington, Vt., where they dropped a 65-56 decision to the University of Vermont at Patrick Gymnasium. It was Terriers’ third straight road loss — all to teams above them in the conference standings.
While the Terriers (14-11, 7-5 America East) are a flawless 6-0 at home in conference, they are now just 1-5 on the road. BU coach Kelly Greenberg was at a loss for words to explain the dismal road record, and instead elected to focus on the remaining four games of the regular season.
“There is no explanation for it,” she said. “We just have to keep focusing on the next game. There’s a lot of basketball left and we need to focus on that.”
Three weeks ago, the Terriers beat the Catamounts (19-7, 10-3 AE) by 10 despite sophomore guard Courtnay Pilypaitis’ school record-tying 40 points. On Saturday, she was dominant again despite shooting 2-for-14 from the field.
While struggling to knock down outside shots, Pilypaitis drove the lane, drew fouls and went 12-of-12 from the line to finish with 17 points. She also dominated the boards (17 rebounds) and found open teammates (9 assists) to finish one dime shy of her second triple-double in as many weeks.
“She’s much more effective when she gets her teammates involved,” Greenberg said. “The more players you can get involved, the better you’re going to be.”
Junior guard Amy Rosenkrantz and junior forward Kelli Poles also played key roles in the win for UVM. Rosenkrantz netted 17 points and pulled down five boards, while Poles recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Rosenkrantz was able to find a lot of open eight-footers against our zone,” Greenberg said. “And Poles was able to hit some uncontested 12 and 14-footers. We let them beat us with open shots, which is obviously not good, but it’s at least correctable.”
One of the biggest factors in the loss for BU was junior point guard Christine Kinneary’s inability to penetrate the Catamounts’ physical defense. Her frustration led to a flagrant foul when UVM guard May Kotsopoulos (13 points) drove to the net with 13:46 left in the game.
“They got really physical with her,” Greenberg said. “She thought there were some fouls against her that weren’t called and that led to frustration. Her game really affects our game. When she struggles, we struggle.”
The Catamounts jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the opening 4:25, which included five early points from Rosenkrantz. The Terriers stormed right back with an 11-2 run of their own and tied the game at 13 on a layup and1 from junior guard Amarachi Umez-Eronini (11 points) 7:40 into the half.
The teams traded runs for the remainder of the half, as neither side was able to pull away by more than four points. BU freshman Kerry Cashman hit a layup with 36 seconds left in the half to send the teams into the break tied at 27.
UVM started the second half with a game-changing 16-6 run, highlighted by seven points from Kotsopoulos. During the run, the Terriers shot an abysmal 1-of-10 from the field, including three missed layups.
BU scored the next five points, including two free throws from senior center Kasey Devine (5 points, 5 rebounds), but the Catamounts responded with six straight to make it 49-38 and give UVM its biggest lead of the game.
The Terriers never got within seven of the Catamounts for the remainder of the game, and their comeback effort was hindered by 13 second-half fouls. Devine fouled out with 5:20 left and Umez-Eronini had to sit for several minutes with four fouls.
“Kasey and Amarachi were both playing really good games,” Greenberg said. “Having Kasey foul out and then having to sit Amarachi really hurt us.”
Senior guard Cheri Raffo led BU in scoring for the second straight game, netting a game-high 17 points.
