When the Terriers travel to Queens, N.Y., tomorrow to take on St. John’s University (5-1) they will need to do everything exactly they did in the previous game to have a chance of winning, and they will have to do it against a good Red Storm squad.
The Boston University women’s basketball team (5-2) is coming off a 72-60 victory over the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Wednesday night, a game in which junior forward Jesyka Burks-Wiley, junior guard Amarachi Umez-Eronini and senior guard Cheri Raffo combined for 54 of BU’s 72 points.
The Red Storm hasn’t been tested much in its last two games, beating Dartmouth College and Monmouth University by a combined score of 145-79. But those wins come after two quality wins at Army, 72-58, and against North Carolina State University, 60-55.
St. John’s only loss came at the University of Vermont, 66-48.
St. John’s is led by a strong starting backcourt. Junior Monique McLean leads the team in points per game (14.6), rebounds per game (6.0), assists (17) and steals (10). McLean is a quick slasher who can hit shots from anywhere on the court.
Fellow junior Kelly McManmon, who sat out all of last season after transferring from Indiana University, is second in scoring with 10.2 per game. McManmon is St. John’s biggest 3-point threat, shooting 48 percent from behind the arc. The third guard is freshman Sky Lindsay, who is third on the team in scoring (9.8 per game) and second in assists (15).
BU will need its three guards to continue to play great defense as they have all year. Umez-Eronini, in particular, has been playing outstanding defense. She leads the Terriers with 13 steals and is second in blocks with five.
Offensively, BU will continue to look to its forwards. Burks-Wiley (14.3 points per game) and senior Kasey Devine (12.3) are the Terriers’ top two scorers this season. Sophomore Aly Hinton should also see a significant amount of playing time to spell Devine, who has battled a sore back and knee all season long.
As always, BU’s offense will run through junior point guard Christine Kinneary, who is currently fifth in the nation with 8.0 assists per game. On Nov. 19 she tied the school record with 14 assists against Northeastern University. She has 49 on the season, more than the team’s next three combined.
