The Boston University women’s basketball team opened its season with a 70-66 win Saturday in a non-conference matchup against Siena College. The Terriers benefited from big games by senior Kasey Devine and junior Jesyka Burks-Wiley, who totaled 18 points apiece.
Devine’s performance was particularly impressive considering she missed a week and a half of practice recently with a sprained MCL. Devine, who returned to practice Thursday after a 10-day layoff, set a new career high for points in a game and also tallied three assists and four rebounds.
BU coach Kelly Greenberg said Devine showed tremendous heart playing through the pain.
“She went down twice, and they really roughed her up out there,” Greenberg said. “They got her pretty good a couple times, but she kept on fighting. Just having her presence out there was a big boost for us.
“My body’s kind of falling apart, and I’m trying to hold it together,” Devine said. “The initial twisting was kind of a shock to it, but then once you get going and get back into the game, your head gets going and everything feels good again.
“I wasn’t looking to start, because I wasn’t sure whether or not I could play with contact,” she continued. “But I got two days of practice in before the game, and I think Friday gave me the confidence that I could start.”
Burks-Wiley’s performance contributed in a big way to BU’s victory. Not only did she score an impressive 18 points, but she also pulled down eight rebounds and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
“Jesyka really doesn’t have great size, but she plays bigger than she is,” Greenberg said. “Her eight rebounds were huge and she had one defensive rebound late in the game that was just so big for us. She wants to be our leading rebounder, she wants to lead the league in rebounding and she’s really working hard to get there.”
As a team, the Terriers were almost unstoppable on the charity stripe, making 20-of-23 free throw attempts. Three players were perfect from the line — Burks-Wiley, Devine (4-of-4) and sophomore Aly Hinton (6-of-6).
“In our scrimmages and our exhibitions we hadn’t been shooting free throws very well,” Greenberg said. “But we are a good free-throw shooting team and today we really brought it. I think our girls were really focused and took their time on the line.”
Hinton, who played 21 minutes off the bench, strung together an impressive game as well. Last year’s unanimous choice for the America East All-Rookie team scored nine points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
“[Hinton’s] two free-throws at the end really solidified the game for us,” Greenberg said. “We can play any of those three [Hinton, Burks-Wiley, or Devine] together. We can mix and match. They’re all interchangeable. They have a great feel for the game and what we’re trying to do as a team. They’re unselfish, and the three of them did a great job.”
While BU held a sizeable lead for the majority of the second half, Siena managed to give the Terriers a scare in the game’s final minutes. BU led by eight with two minutes left, but Siena battled back and brought the game within one point. Only after Hinton hit two free throws with four seconds remaining could the Terriers file this game under the win column.
“We’re not sure exactly what happened at the end there,” Greenberg said. “Our team didn’t get complacent or anything like that. I think that offensively we just stopped scoring, and at the same time we put them on the line quite a bit in the second half. But we were sure to use our timeouts well to keep our girls composed, and in the end we pulled it out.”