The pair of losses that the Boston University women’s basketball team suffered over Thanksgiving break may not have been the worst of the news for the team.
The Terriers learned they will be without the services of starting point guard and freshman sparkplug Rachael Vanderwal for four to six weeks after she suffered a stress fracture in her ankle. If the first game of her absence on Saturday was any indication, her loss could mean trouble.
BU (0-3) followed up a 78-74 loss to Harvard University (3-1) on Tuesday night at Case Gymnasium with a 58-45 defeat at St. Joseph’s University (1-3) on Saturday afternoon.
The Terriers fell behind early against St. Joseph’s on Saturday and never recovered, shooting just 28 percent from the field, including a 0-for-12 performance from behind the three-point stripe.
Junior forward Marisa Moseley led BU with 17 points and six rebounds. Forward Irina Krasnoshiok led all scorers with 18 points for the Hawks. Teammate guard Amra Mehmedic chipped in with 17 points and five assists. Sophomore forward Larissa Parr added 12 points and eight rebounds for BU. The lone bright spot for the Terriers was that they out-rebounded the Hawks, 37-29.
The Hawks surged to a 14-4 lead to start the game behind eight early points by center Stephanie Graff. Graff finished with 11 points for the Hawks, all of them coming in the first half. After trading baskets, St. Joseph’s extended its lead to 28-10 as the Terriers struggled to find an offensive rhythm without Vanderwal.
The Hawks’ lead grew to 51-26 with 10:04 to play in the game, but the Terriers managed to fight back. They closed the game on a 19-7 stretch that made the final score seem deceiving.
BU managed just eight assists in the game and leading scorer Katie Terhune was held to a season-low eight points, leaving her 14 points shy of reaching 1,000 for her career.
The Terriers seemed to be headed for a blowout loss earlier in the week on Tuesday against Harvard University. The Crimson were down, 65-38, with 13:49 to play, when their defensive effort gradually improved and their shots started falling.
Down by four points with 16 seconds left, senior guard Alison Argentieri had an open look from beyond the three-point line. She chose, however, to drive in and take a 15-foot jumper from the wing, bringing BU to within two points of Harvard with nine seconds to play. However, guard Jessica Holsey hit both free throws to bring the lead back to four points and ice the game for the Crimson.
After the game, BU Coach Margaret McKeon could only think of what might have been if Argentieri had taken the three-pointer she passed up.
“I wanted the three,” McKeon said, while also pointing out Argentieri wasn’t all to blame. “I did tell them, if we score quickly, to get a lay-up. But if not, kick it out and get a good look at a three. She just passed it up for whatever reason, but it’s hard because we had to play mistake-free for the end of the game.”
BU did play almost mistake-free just to be in contention at the end of the game. After a three-pointer by guard Tricia Trubridy with 11:35 left in the game extended Harvard’s lead to 25 points, the Terriers didn’t allow Harvard to score another field goal the remainder of the game.
The pressure defense applied by BU forced Harvard’s guard Dirkje Dunham to finish with 13 turnovers, many of which came as the Terriers went on a 22-3 run over the next 11 minutes. The backcourt of Argentieri and a pre-injury Vanderwal led the run, as they pushed the ball up the court, hitting a variety of lay-ups and three-pointers and accounting for 19 of BU’s last 29 points. Argentieri finished the game with 16 points and Vanderwal finished with 13 points and five steals. Terhune led BU with 19 points.
“Our guard play came out and decided to start shooting the basketball,” McKeon said. “We started pushing the ball in transition because we had open looks.”
A lay-up by Vanderwal completed the run and brought the score to 71-65 with 49 seconds to play. She later connected for a three-pointer with 25 seconds to play to bring the Terriers within four points at 74-70 and the re-energized crowd of 253 believers to their feet. After Harvard forward Hana Peljto made one of two free throws, Vanderwal quickly drove the length of the court past the Crimson defenders and into the lane for an easy lay-up to bring the Terriers within three points with 17 seconds left on the clock.
Trubridy hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds to up the lead to four points, leaving BU with the ball after a timeout. The play drawn up got the ball to the hot-shooting Argentieri, who then settled for a two-pointer, leaving the Terriers just short of a improbable comeback.
“I’ve never had a team that could make a comeback like that before,” McKeon said. “When you get down by that much, it’s very difficult to come back. The clock is going to just run out on you. If we had another five minutes, I think we would’ve won the game. But we didn’t have another five minutes.”
The Terriers began to dig themselves a hole when, with 9:54 to play in the first half, Terhune picked up her second foul. She headed to the bench for the rest of the half with BU leading, 21-19. Harvard surged ahead for good with Terhune watching from the bench, taking a 39-29 lead with just 2:54 to play.
BU cut the lead to six points with less than two minutes to play, and appeared to be escaping with a small halftime deficit despite Terhune playing just nine first half minutes.
McKeon admitted to wondering whether or not to put Terhune back in the game as Harvard opened up its lead, but decided against it. With less than two minutes to play and her team battling back, she figured she had made the right move.
“I said if we keep this under 10 at halftime we’ll be fine in the second half,” McKeon said. “But then they went on that run, and that really hurt us.”
Harvard ended the first half with eight unanswered points in a little over a minute to open up a 14-point halftime lead, 47-33. The worst news for BU was that Argentieri, Parr and Moseley all picked up their third fouls during the stretch.
The Terriers started the second half the same way they ended the first half. Flat. Harvard used an 18-5 run to increase its lead to 65-38. Peljto scored seven of her game-high 25 points during that stretch. She also finished the game with 10 rebounds.
“They hit us with a knockout punch in the first half,” McKeon said. “Then in the second half, it took us a little while to get rolling.”
The only Terrier that looked to be on her game all night on Tuesday was Norris, who finished with a double-double, including 17 points and 10 rebounds. She added eight rebounds and six points in Saturday’s game. McKeon was impressed with her presence inside, which was important with junior center Amparo Lopez still sidelined from a head injury.
“I thought she played well, she played with a lot of heart,” McKeon said. “She let the game come to her finally. I knew she was going to play well. She’s a good player.”
If the Terriers hope to turn their non-conference slate around, they are going to need a lot more efforts like the one Norris turned in Tuesday night.
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