There are two directions you can go when you finish in the middle. The Terriers are trying to make sure they go up.
The Boston University women’s basketball team enters the 2007-08 season with a goal of improving on its fourth-place finish in America East last season and first-round exit in the conference tournament.
The Terriers had reached four straight America East Tournament championship games before falling, 63-58, to Binghamton University last March. They’ll start their quest to return to that game tomorrow afternoon at Siena College.
BU is led by its three captains: junior guard Christine Kinneary, senior guard Cheri Raffo and senior forward Kasey Devine, who practiced for the first time in a week and a half Thursday after suffering a sprained MCL.
“Our captains have been working great together,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg, who enters her fourth season with the program. “All three of them have really embraced their role as captain.”
Kinneary played in all 30 games (13 starts) as a sophomore last year, leading the team in assists (92) and finishing second in steals (31).
“Christine’s been our leader ever since she showed up at the first practice in September,” Greenberg said. “She’s smart, confident, vocal and she understands what we as coaches want her to do. She’s our point guard and almost all of our offense runs through her.”
Raffo has started every game for the Terriers in each of the last three seasons. Barring injury, she should finish her career as one of BU’s all-time leaders in minutes. She finished last season with 9.3 points per game, good enough for a second-place tie with the now-graduated Erica Kovach.
“Cheri definitely leads by example,” Greenberg said. “She would run through a wall for us. She just has a great work ethic.”
Devine has battled through several injuries in her career at BU, and has already faced problems through a sprained MCL this year. Despite missing the first seven games of last season, she was able to finish third on the team in both offensive rebounds (34) and blocks (15). She is also currently eighth on the Terriers’ career free-throw percentage list at .751.
“We hope to be able to start Kasey tomorrow, but we’ll have to see,” Greenberg said. “She’s earned it, so I’d hate to see her have to sit because of injury.”
The Terriers will feature three guards in the starting rotation this season, as junior Amarachi Umez-Eronini will join Kinneary and Raffo in the backcourt. Umez-Eronini finished third on the team last year in free throw percentage (.788) and sixth in scoring with a 5.3 per-game average off the bench.
“Amarachi really improved her outside game over the summer,” Greenberg said. “Our three guards complement each other very well. They have great chemistry and they’re all very unselfish.”
Senior Corinne Jean, junior Kristi Dini and freshmen Kat Briggs and Krystyn McIntyre will provide the depth the team needs. Dini led the team in 3-pointers made (53) and 3-point percentage (.381) last season. Jean didn’t see much playing time last year, but showed she can also shoot the three when she did get on the floor, going 4-11 from beyond the arc.
“Kat could step in for Christine at the point at any time and run the team,” Greenberg said. “She’s smart, solid and she takes care of the ball. Krystyn is a walk-on who’s worked hard in practice and [has] proven to us that she can play at this level.”
Sophomore Kristen Folk, the 6-foot-4 center who was second on the team in blocks last year (18), will join Devine in the frontcourt.
“Kristen worked really hard to increase her strength during the offseason,” Greenberg said. “She already has the size, so hopefully she has the strength to complement her height now.”
Junior Jesyka Burks-Wiley and sophomore Aly Hinton should also see significant playing time at the four spot, either as substitutes or if Greenberg decides to switch to a three-forward set at any point. As a freshman last year, Hinton led the team in rebounding (6.3) and total blocks (19).
“Jesyka and Aly can both shoot from the outside as well,” Greenberg said. “So between them, Cheri, Amarachi, Kristi and Corinne, shooting shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, it should be one of our biggest strengths.”
Junior Maggie McKemie and freshman Kerry Cashman will also be in the forward mix. The 6-foot-2 Cashman hit an early setback when she came down with mono in just the second week of school, but returned to practice just last week.
The Terriers’ biggest weakness this year is rebounding, which could be a downfall against bigger teams in the conference such as the University of Hartford and Binghamton University.
“Rebounding is definitely our one weakness right now,” Greenberg said. “We hope to counter that by running a lot this year, though. While we may not match up against the size of Hartford and Binghamton, I don’t think they can match our speed.
“On the other hand, though, I think we’ll be able to take advantage of our post players against teams like the University of Vermont. They like to run a lot, too, but they don’t have the post play we have.”
After opening against Siena tomorrow, BU will play its first home game of the year Tuesday night against the University of Rhode Island at Case Gymnasium.
