The sight of the State University of New York at Binghamton in first place in the America East women’s basketball standings has been a big surprise. But when the Bearcats visited Boston University on Saturday, it was the Terriers who had all the surprises.
In perhaps the biggest win of the Margaret McKeon era, the Terriers stifled the Bearcats, 62-54, at the Roof. It was the Terriers’ third win in a row and 11th on the season, already surpassing last season’s total of 10. It was also the first time in McKeon’s three years as head coach that the Terriers beat a team residing in first place in the conference.
“I thought they played an exceptional game,” McKeon said. “We knew that we had to play a smart game against Binghamton, because they don’t beat themselves. This is probably the first time we’ve played this smart a game since I’ve been here.”
BU’s discipline and poise were evident in its season-low 13 turnovers, more than seven below the Terriers’ season average. It was also evident in the fact that the Terriers (11-7, 4-3 America East), after spotting the Bearcats a basket on their first possession, scored nine unanswered points and never let Binghamton catch up. But perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Terriers’ victory was the performance of freshman Larissa Parr.
The 6-foot forward from Eau Claire, Wisc., scored a career-high 17 points, pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, and held Sarah Cartmill, Binghamton’s leading scorer, to 4-of-20 shooting from the floor.
Parr’s classmate, forward Adrienne Norris, didn’t have too bad a game either, scoring 13 points and making 7-of-9 from the charity stripe to help keep the Bearcats at bay.
“That’s Larissa and Adrienne as we recruited them,” McKeon said of her two freshmen. “That’s why this recruiting class was nationally ranked. The freshmen really stepped up today.”
According to Parr, the difference for her on Saturday was staying out of the early foul trouble that has plagued the Terriers’ frontcourt all season.
“When we get early fouls, it gets us down and it’s tougher to get into things,” Parr said. “It definitely helps to stay out of foul trouble.”
The respective performances of Norris and Parr turned out to be even more important because sophomore guard Katie Terhune, the America East’s leading scorer at 19.6 points per game, had an uncharacteristic off game. Although she tied Parr for game-high scoring honors with 17, she shot only 3-of-12 from the floor and was never able to get in sync against Binghamton’s stifling defense.
Leading 25-20 at halftime, the Terriers began the second half by attacking the basket and drawing fouls. The Terriers made 18-of-24 free throws in the second half, which allowed them to answer every Binghamton charge without losing the lead or falling behind.
The Bearcats got within three points on three different occasions in the second half and were only down 55-50 with 2:33 remaining. But the Bearcats were never able to draw even.
“I thought we should have been up by 10 or 12 at halftime instead of just five,” McKeon said. “We missed a number of opportunities, mainly free throws and layups. We’ve been working on our half-court execution for Binghamton and [University of] Vermont.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Terriers, who face a rare Wednesday game at the University of Hartford this week before coming home to host Vermont on Saturday. With every America East team now having at least two conference losses, there is a six-team log jam at or near the top of the standings, meaning that every game is crucial, especially at home.
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.
