While the team began the season with its best start in nearly a decade, the Boston University women’s basketball team has hit a snag in recent weeks. After starting 8-3, the team has gone 1-4 in its last five games, including 1-3 in the opening stretch of its America East schedule, the games that count the most.
The Terriers (9-7, 1-3 America East) host crosstown rival Northeastern University on Sunday at Case Gymnasium. In this weekend’s battle of the dogs, the Huskies (2-13, 1-4 America East) and the Terriers will both be looking for their second conference win. While the Terriers go into the game on somewhat of a slide, sophomore Marisa Moseley sees some light at the end of the tunnel.
“We’re still extremely positive,” Moseley said. “We’ve only played four league games and still have plenty of time to turn it around.”
According to the schedule, Moseley is right. Including Sunday’s game, the Terriers have 12 games remaining — a full three-quarters of its conference schedule.
“The past few games set us back a little bit, but there was nothing that is worrying us too much,” Moseley said. “We just need to play together. When we play on all cylinders and play together, it’s pretty hard to stop us.”
The Terriers have shown a lot of promise and a lot of depth so far this season. Sophomore Katie Terhune, who leads the conference in scoring with 18.5 points per game, is usually expected to carry the team on the offensive end. In its nine wins so far this year, however, the team has shown great balance in all statistical categories, something it will need to continue to compete in the conference. Freshman Adrienne Norris has been a strong force off the bench, ranked eighth in the conference with nearly six-and-a-half rebounds a night. In the conference win over the University of Hartford, Norris was the story. She notched her first career double-double, leading the team in points and boards with 18 and 11, respectively.
With a full one week since their last game, a 67-60 loss at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, one would think coach Margaret McKeon would have the team practicing specific skills and tactics designed to stop Northeastern. Moseley, however, says that’s not the case.
“We aren’t really focusing on other teams,” Moseley said. “We’re busy focusing on ourselves. We just need to execute on the offensive end and play solid defense. If we play good team defense, it’s tough for anyone to score.”
Despite having only one win in the conference, the Terriers are not panicking yet. After a tough conference-opening loss to preseason favorite University of Vermont, BU came right back with a big eight-point win against Hartford, which was picked to finish second in the conference.
“The America East is pretty wide open for anyone,” Moseley said. “One night, a team who lost to a supposed top-seed by 10 can turn around and win by 20 over a team picked to finish second. We had our non-conference success, but this is our second season, and we need to focus on our league and head toward the tournament.”
Moseley is referring to the America East Conference Tournament, the winner of which earns the ultimate prize: a trip to the Big Dance. The team’s fast start showed the college basketball world that the Terriers are looking toward March. For a team that has not won its league since the days of the Seaboard Conference, that would be a huge step forward.
Sunday’s game, which tips off at 1 p.m. at the Roof, marks the beginning of a three-game homestand for the Terriers. It continues on Thursday, when the Great Danes of State Univresity of New York at Albany come to town. The week wraps up on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 26, when the Terriers play host to SUNY-Binghamton.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
