While the first half looked like a game of “Can you top this?,” the Boston University women’s basketball team buckled down in the second half on both ends of the floor and registered a 76-65 win over the University of Maine last night at Case Gymnasium.
After a shoot-out of a first half in which the Terriers (13-8, 6-4 America East) and Black Bears (11-9, 4-5) seemed content to trade baskets, Terrier coach Margaret McKeon had some choice words for her team in the locker room.
“I was a little frustrated at halftime,” McKeon said. “I had a power talk with them in the locker room because we gave up 40 points.”
Both teams shot well in the first half. BU drained 49 percent of its attempts, while Maine shot at a 54-percent clip, including five-of-10 from behind the three-point arc.
“They were just running and gunning,” McKeon said. “It was like, I score, you score, and there was really no purpose to what we were trying to do.”
McKeon must have made an impression in the locker room, as Maine was held to 30 percent in the second half and only hit two threes.
On the offensive end, the Terriers are starting to develop some serious weapons outside of sophomore and America East leading-scorer Katie Terhune. Freshman Larissa Parr has stepped up in the last few games, adding 16 last night in 30 minutes of action. BU had four players in double figures with Terhune, Parr, junior Alison Argentieri and freshman Adrienne Norris. Norris led the team with 17 points while adding 12 rebounds.
“In practice, we’ve been talking about shot selection and who should be getting what shots,” McKeon said. “Adrienne and Larissa need to touch the ball, and they’re not only scorers but playmakers.”
The practice time has paid off, as four Terriers had more than 10 attempts from the floor, with no one heaving it up more than 12 times. Terhune and sophomore center Marisa Moseley each tossed up 10 attempts while Norris had 11 and Parr tallied 12.
This even distribution is in sharp contrast to the early part of the season, when Terhune took more then her fair share of the attempts. Coming into last night’s game, she had 284 attempts. Her closest teammate, Moseley, had taken exactly 100 fewer shots.
In the first half, the two teams combined for 79 points but also for 22 turnovers. The Terriers had chances to pull away in the first half, leading by five on numerous occasions, but a last-second layup by Black Bear freshman Monica Peterson gave Maine a 40-39 lead entering the locker room.
At the half, McKeon made sure her team understood that this was one of those games that must be won, especially for a squad seeking to move up in the conference.
In the second half, the Terriers had to fight through a Maine defense that resorted to clutching, grabbing and any other sort of desperate measures.
“We had major mismatches due to the fact that they [Maine] didn’t have five people on the court that could guard our five starters,” McKeon said. “They couldn’t stop us any other way, so they just decided, ‘Let’s see if we can beat them up.'”
The team began the year with more of a fast-break-type offense. However, as the team begins to lead more games in the second half, McKeon finds it important to be able to play the half-court style. It seemed to work, as the Terriers nearly matched their first-half output, scoring 37 in the second half.
“I think we’ve really improved in being a half-court team,” McKeon said. “You have to be if you’re going to win a championship. When you have a 10-point lead or an eight-point lead with less than four [minutes], you want to be able to execute and use the shot clock to your advantage.”
To use up that shot clock, a team needs some serious inside presence. The Terriers are starting to find such presence in rookies such as Parr and Norris.
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