When you come to a Boston University women’s basketball game, you expect to see some three-pointers.
Katie Terhune sits as the reigning BU queen from behind the arc, with a program-best 164 career treys. Becky Bonner holds the BU season record with 63 threes this season, shooting 43.1 percent from three-point land coming into Saturday’s game – good enough for 16th in the nation. On top of all that, the team averages almost seven per game.
But threes aren’t all you expect to see.
In their 68-65 loss to the Binghamton University on Saturday, the women hit only one shot from inside the arc in the first half, entering the half with a 41-31 deficit on 10-26 shooting (9-14 from three-point range). The Bearcats blanked the Terriers in the paint, outscoring them 18-0 on the inside in the first frame. It wasn’t until BU began forcing the ball inside that they began to make a comeback.
Without their inside presence, the Terriers, who usually rely on their play in the paint to create their scoring from the outside, were a child without a blanket.
Not to say that the women were cold from three-point range. They could have made Howard Dean seem warm, shooting 64 percent in the first half and 58 percent on the game from downtown.
But as warm as they were from outside, they were 1-12 from within 18 feet. Missed layups led to missed opportunities and Bearcats points in transition. Without the inside-outside balance, the top-scoring team in the America East looked completely out of sync on the offensive end.
And they didn’t look much better on the other side.
On the Terrier defensive end, the Bearcats dominated the game in the paint, ripping apart the Terrier man-to-man defense and feasting on easy buckets from next to the basket. Junior center Kristin Hibler scored a team-high 18 points mostly on quick turnaround layups and two-footers – including her final layup to put the Bearcats ahead by three to sew up the game.
For a team that causes so many turnovers inside the key, the Terriers looked locked up by a Bearcat team that BU coach Margaret McKeon called “the most physical team in the league by far.” No matter which Bearcat played on the low post, it seemed each one of them was given a few easy buckets.
“When you give people point-blank shots, anybody can make that,” said senior forward Marisa Moseley. “We need to play more physical, and basically we need to demand more of our defense, and I don’t think we’re going to be giving up those kinds of baskets.”
Moseley, much to her chagrin, could not throw her body out on the court to help the focus on being physical Saturday. The senior, after partially tearing her MCL against Maine, now sits and nurses the knee before America East Tournament time.
But the loss has been far greater than Moseley’s 6-foot-2-inch frame, according to McKeon. Without the “emotional leader” in the lineup, the team has been forced to undergo massive changes in not only their look, but their identity.
“When she’s not there, it kills our rotation,” McKeon said of Moseley. “We were a big team, now we’re a small team. We’re playing a different style and a different lineup. The majority of the time in the game, we’re going small. Now it has to be more of getting to the basketball, pull-up jump shots and trying to get stuff off our defense.”
“When we’re walking out after the game,” she continued, “one of their post players was like, ‘Mose, are you coming back for the tournament?’ They don’t want to see Mose in the uniform on the court.”
When the Terriers began to mount a comeback in the second half, they began to mount pressure in the lane. Quick passes inside to streaking players created quick points – 10 of which came from the foul line, on 10-of-11 second half shooting from the stripe.
Adrienne Norris capitalized on the renewed self-consciousness of the Terriers, as they focused inward. Scoring 16 of her game-high 22 points after the break, Norris also reaped the rewards of the Bearcats’ aggression, going 9-for-9 from the foul line in that time.
But if Norris reaped the benefits of foul calls, the Bearcats harvested enough for two winters, getting most of their 16 second-half foul shots down the stretch.
Pushing the ball down low created what McKeon called some “unbelievable fouls,” as the referees may very well have stunted the hearing of dozens of dogs with their whistle-blowing. The shrill censuring caused timidity among the Terriers.
“We just didn’t play post defense,” said junior forward Larissa Parr. “Anything we did, we would get a foul, so we just stood there with our hands up and they could just shoot over us all night … We just can’t let them get the ball in the first place.”
But, there is no reason to get overly excited, McKeon said. The injured team simply needs to weather the pre-tournament storm. Moseley, on the other hand, sees reason to be excited about coming back.
“I think if we can take care of defense, our offense will come,” Moseley said. “I am very vocal on the court, and so is coach McKeon. So once I get back, you better believe we’re not going to be giving up those kinds of baskets.”