The Boston University women’s basketball team opened its season with a 72-60 victory in an exhibition game against Istrobanka Lokomotiva Monday night at Case Gymnasium.

Junior guard Katie Terhune led the way for the Terriers with 20 points despite being held scoreless over the final 16 minutes. Matching Terhune for the game-high in points was Istrobanka’s Zuzana Kozacikova, who scored 20 points off the bench for the second consecutive game. Kozacikova scored 22 points against the University of New Hampshire on Sunday.

The Terriers got out of the gate quickly, jumping out to a 9-1 lead a little over two minutes into the game. Freshman guard Rachael Vanderwal led the early charge for BU, assisting on the Terriers’ first basket of the game and capping the run with a steal that she turned to an easy lay-up at the other end. Vanderwal finished the game with four points and a game-high five assists.

Vanderwal earned a spot in the starting lineup by outperforming her more experienced counterparts senior Alison Argentieri and junior Courtney Jones in practice so far this season.

‘She’s been outplaying everybody in practice,’ BU Coach Margaret McKeon said. ‘I want to play the best players, and right now, every day, she’s been playing the way she played tonight.’

‘She brings it to the table every time and it was no surprise that she played well,’ Terhune said about Vanderwal.

Istrobanka, a Slovakian professional team, slowly crept back into the game by taking advantage of a disorganized BU zone defense. Istrobanka took its first lead, 24-23, with 5:14 left to play in the first half after a Terrier turnover led to an easy lay up for Kozacikova. That lead was short-lived as Terhune put BU back on top 13 seconds later with a three-pointer that started a 13-5 run that gave the Terriers a 36-29 halftime edge.

The teams traded baskets for the first few minutes of the second half until Istrobanka reeled off an 8-2 run that brought them within 2 points of BU, at 53-51. With the momentum swinging McKeon called a timeout to fire up her team for the stretch run.

‘I talked to them about playing with heart and dedication and some killer instinct, and they came out and responded, but it was really just making an adjustment defensively,’ McKeon said, ‘They were dribble-driving and just making shots and we weren’t playing any defense on the ball.’

McKeon’s advice paid instant dividends for the Terriers as they put Istrobanka’s run to rest with a 13-2 run of their own that culminated with BU ahead by 13 with eight minutes left to play in the game. Jones and junior forward Marisa Moseley combined for nine points during the decisive run. Jones finished the game with 10 points and Moseley added 16 to go along with 10 rebounds.

In addition to Moseley’s performance, the Terriers got double-doubles from Terhune, who added 10 rebounds to her 20 points, and sophomore forward Adrienne Norris who had 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. McKeon said she was very happy with the Terriers’ second half performance, especially their dominance on the boards.

‘I thought we came out with a lot more intensity and drive to get up and down the court and play hard in the second half. [For] the whole first half I thought we were just lackadaisical about our effort, defensively and offensively,’ McKeon said.

While the win was nice for the Terriers, McKeon commented on a need to work this week on defense, specifically in eliminating the myriad of open looks Istrobanka got in the middle of the Terrier defense. Terhune share her coach’s outlook of the game.

‘I think we played pretty well together as a team, [but] I think we have a lot of kinks to work,’ Terhune said.