Terhune Leads Terriers Over Huskies

Regardless of the sport, coaches speak all the time about winning or losing as a team. Even if it is blatantly obvious that their team lives and dies by the talents of one or two players, they always emphasize the importance of the team as a whole.

The Boston University women’s basketball team’s performance Sunday against cross-town rival Northeastern University didn’t exactly give much credence to those clichés. But it was still enough for the Terriers to defeat the Huskies at The Roof, 76-63, to snap their two-game losing streak.

The Terriers (9-7 overall, 2-3 America East) shot an uneven 39 percent (24-of-62) from the field, were outrebounded 42-35 and had only two players score in double figures, one of which didn’t even score in the second half.

But as has been the case throughout much of this season, sophomore guard Katie Terhune saved the Terriers’ bacon once again. Terhune scored a career-high 35 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including four three-pointers.

“My teammates were setting good screens,” a humble Terhune said. “Coach is always encouraging me to shoot.”

“If you have a player who can put the ball in the basket, don’t discourage her,” said BU coach Margaret McKeon.

It’s a good thing that McKeon didn’t try to hold Terhune back, because her team needed every one of Terhune’s points to hold off a Northeastern team that — despite only dressing seven players due to a rash of injuries — refused to fold after BU took a 13-point lead in the second half.

“She’s a great player,” Northeastern coach Willete White said of Terhune, the America East’s leading scorer at 19.6 points per game. “We just didn’t have an answer for her.”

Terhune scored 18 of her points in the first half. As a result, the Terriers were able to stay in the thick of things despite having their entire starting frontcourt (freshmen forwards Larissa Parr and Adrienne Norris and sophomore Marisa Moseley) each pick up two fouls in the first five minutes of the contest.

“A lot of our fouls were aggressive fouls on rebounds,” McKeon said. “It’s something we’ll work out as we mature.”

Northeastern held an 11-9 lead with 11:49 left in the first half before the Terriers finally got it going offensively. Terhune ignited a 10-2 run with back-to-back jump shots, and the Terriers never trailed again.

The Terriers appeared to bury the Huskies for good when they scored the last 10 points of the half, all in the final 1:30. Two free throws by sophomore guard Courtney Jones (who scored 13 points in the first half on perfect 4-for-4 shooting but didn’t score again), a steal and layup by sophomore guard Lashaunda Mitchell and back-to-back three-pointers by Jones and Dia Dufault gave BU a 37-26 lead at the break.

That lead grew to 47-34 on a layup by Parr with 14:16 remaining in regulation. But the Huskies answered back with a 16-3 run. The rally was capped by a fall-away three-pointer by Aisha Williams in the left corner to tie the game at 50 with 9:01 still remaining in the clock.

But Terhune came to the rescue again, hitting a three-pointer of her own on BU’s next possession to give the Terriers the lead for good.

Less than a minute-and-a-half later, Terhune drained another three-pointer to increase BU’s lead to 60-50, and Northeastern got no closer than nine points after that.

“We didn’t play exceptionally well today,” McKeon said of her team’s up-and-down performance. “We only played well in spurts. We have a lot of talent. It just needs to be consistent.”

Terhune’s performance earned her Spalding America East Player of the Week honors. It is the third time this season that she has received the honor. … Northeastern was led by Francesca Vanin’s 16 points and 10 rebounds, which earned her America East Rookie of the Week honors … the Terriers return to The Roof at 7 p.m. Thursday to take on America East cellar dweller State University of New York at Albany (4-10 overall, 0-3 America East). The teams have only met one other time, a 68-55 Terrier win on Jan. 18, 2000 at The Roof.