Coach Margaret McKeon probably didn’t draw it up this way in the locker room, but a win is a win.
This one was supposed to be easy, but perhaps the Boston University women’s basketball team was looking ahead to a Saturday showdown with the America East conference leader.
The Terriers (10-7, 3-3 America East) pulled out an overtime win last night over the Great Danes of the State University of New York at Albany, 77-71. Albany (4-11, 0-4 America East) came in looking for its first conference win of the season, and nearly stole one away from BU.
Leading 61-59 with less than 15 seconds remaining in regulation, the Terriers looked like they were in trouble. After a BU time out, everyone in the gym was watching Terrier sophomore Katie Terhune, expecting her to get the last shot. Terhune did handle the ball, but unselfishly dumped it into fellow-sophomore Marisa Moseley, who made a tough 10-footer from the post to tie the game.
After a tough first minute of overtime, the Terriers were able to hang on for a hard-fought six-point win. Albany hung tough thanks to strong three-point shooting, hitting 50 percent in the second half, exposing holes in the BU zone defense that will need to be fixed before Saturday.
“Defensively, we didn’t play very well tonight,” McKeon said. “We became ball-watchers in the second half. Every time the ball went in, we would just stare, and they would just kick it out, and by then it was too late to get back out.”
For a team such as BU that is looking to climb to the top of the conference, this was one of the games it should win easily. Albany hung tough however, and caught a glimpse of its first conference win.
“They felt that this was going to be a game where we could do what we need to do and get things accomplished, and come out with a ‘W,'” McKeon said of her players. “Then they realized that this team’s not going to go away, they’re not going to die simply because we have Boston University on our chests.”
Albany was led by junior guard Jess McGinlay, who had 21 points, but the team was sparked by freshman Becky Ayers, who shot 4-of-5 from behind the arc in the second half, finishing with 18 and providing life for the Great Danes.
“I really thought the first half was where we put them in the game,” McKeon said. “We didn’t close the gap. We should’ve been up by 10 or 12 at halftime. It would’ve been a different game.”
After the tough win, Coach McKeon credited her team’s character. “Last year and the year before, we would’ve never won a game like this,” McKeon said. “There were times when we had three sophomores and two freshman on the court, for a large amount of time. The only veteran that really played was Alison Argentieri.”
Argentieri, one of the team’s elder statesmen as a junior, played an outstanding game, providing the second scoring threat that the team was lacking during the first half. She finished with 17 points, six assists and two steals.
Argentieri had to take on a bigger load as McKeon sat Terhune, the conference’s leading scorer, for two separate stretches in the second half.
“I just felt that she didn’t really have a flow in the game offensively or defensively,” McKeon said. “I felt that it was really key for someone else to step up, and rise to the occasion. I though [freshman] Adrienne Norris did that, I thought Marisa Moseley did that and I thought Alison Argentieri did that.”
If anyone saw just the first 10 minutes of the game, it would be hard for them to believe that Terhune could lose the flow offensively. She scored the first 12 Terrier points, and at the 13:11 point of the first half, it was Katie Terhune 12, Albany 9. Down the stretch of the second half, Terhune hit the floor hard as Terrier fans, and Coach McKeon, held their collective breath. It turned out to be just a bruise, and Terhune exited the locker room with nothing serious, just a large bag of ice.
BU will not get away with a performance such as last night on Saturday afternoon when the conference leading Bearcats of SUNY-Binghamton come to the Roof for a rematch with the Terriers.
Binghamton (13-3, 4-1 America East), defeated BU 64-40 two weeks ago, when the Terriers shot just slightly better than 12-percent in the first half.
“I don’t know of any teams that can win on 12 percent in a half,” McKeon said. “I don’t think that will happen again.”
McKeon commented on the aspects that need to be improved this time around.
“We have to execute against them if we’re going to win, take advantage of every possession,” McKeon said. “And offensively they’re very productive, they’re well coached and very disciplined.”
Binghamton, in only its second season in the America East, was picked to finish eighth in the conference in the pre-season coaches’ poll. McKeon however, isn’t surprised by the team’s sudden success.
“They’ve won a lot of games in the past two years,” McKeon said. “Even though it might have been Division II, Division I, Independent, whatever. They still won basketball games, and that says a lot.”
Tip-off between the Terriers and the Bearcats is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Case Gym.
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