The Boston University women’s basketball team has played stretches of great basketball this season.
Twenty minutes against Vanderbilt University. Ten minutes against Harvard University. Fifteen minutes against Central Connecticut State University. For moments of each of these games, the Terriers have looked in sync and like a team capable of winning the America East.
They’ll need to put in a full 40-minute effort to have a chance at winning this weekend as they head to Chicago to compete at the Moran Realty Classic. BU plays tonight against Montana State University in the first round of the tournament.
The winner will play at 9 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of University of Loyola at Chicago and DePaul University. A loss on Friday would put the Terriers in the consolation game Saturday at 7 p.m.
Montana State offers another tough challenge for a BU (1-3) team that has faced its share of good teams already this season. The Bobcats stand at 4-0, having beat Big-12 powerhouse Baylor University (4-1) last Saturday, 75-66, in the finals of the Montana State Tournament.
Montana State’s strength comes from a starting five that has four players averaging over 30 minutes a game. The Bobcats are led by forward Isabel Stubbs who is leading the team in scoring (21.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.8 rpg). Guard Candis Wilcox is averaging 6.5 assists per game along with 11.2 points per game.
If the Terriers hope to defeat Montana State they will have to force Wilcox as well as the rest of the Bobcats to turn over the basketball. Forcing their opponents into turnovers has been the one area in which the injury-plagued BU backcourt has been consistent all year, to the tune of 29.3 turnovers per contest. Junior forward Marisa Moseley has been leading the defensive effort with 3.3 steals per game, tops on the team.
BU will look to Moseley to continue her improved play, as she has consistently been the best all-around player for the Terriers this season. She is averaging 12 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game, placing her second on the team in both categories. She ranks first in blocks (1.3 bpg), assists (2.3 apg), and minutes (34.5 mpg), as well as in steals.
BU Coach Margaret McKeon thinks it’s simply a case of hard work paying off for Moseley.
‘We spent a lot of gym time last year working on her game, and I knew it was going to pay off,’ McKeon said. ‘She’s really coming into her own right now.’
One player who McKeon hopes will ease the weight off Moseley’s shoulders is freshman point guard Katie Meinhardt. A highly touted recruit who suffered a preseason elbow injury, Meinhardt’s arrival couldn’t come at a better time for the Terriers.
Having lost freshman point guard Rachael Vanderwal for four-to-six weeks with a stress fracture in her ankle, the Terriers are thin at the point guard position. Senior guard Alison Argentieri is stuck in a shooting slump and junior guards Lashaunda Mitchell and Courtney Jones have been unable to contribute any scoring punch.
‘Katie Meinhardt plays with a lot of intensity. She’s hyper and excited about basketball,’ McKeon said. ‘She’s going to bring something that we’re missing on the court right now. She’s talented, but she’s also someone who might go over and give someone a high-five or chest bump them.’
Whether it’s celebrated with high fives or chest bumps, BU will need 40 minutes of solid basketball on Friday and Saturday to come away with a tournament championship.
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