They’ll chase their opponents. They’ll pester them, they’ll harass them and they’ll trap them in any corner imaginable. They will even run them all over the court until their Nikes feel like 20-lb. weights.
But don’t worry sometimes they will be more than happy to take a step back, just to nail a jumper from the top of the key. Ladies and gentleman, meet the guards of the Boston University women’s basketball team.
With senior Katie Terhune and sophomores Katie Meinhardt and Rachael Vanderwal returning to lead a Terrier squad that racked up a league-leading 12.1 steals per game last season, BU is primed and ready to wreak havoc on opposing ball handlers in 2003-2004.
Add freshmen Meredith Onson and Nadia Bibbs to the mix, with senior Lashaunda Mitchell waiting to return from injury, and BU coach Margaret McKeon may have the best backcourt she has ever had as she enters her fifth year as the team’s head coach.
‘They are big and very strong and athletic enough to stay with the majority of the people we’re playing this year,’ McKeon said of her guards. ‘I think that they’re going to create a lot of turnovers.’
Don’t be fooled, though. This collection of play callers can do more than just get up in an opponent’s face. Terhune, a preseason all-conference pick, poured in 17.1 points per game last year, good for fourth in the league. Her 529 total points were the third highest single-season point total in program history, helping her to earn All-Conference First Team honors.
Meinhardt raked in the America East Rookie of the Year award last season after averaging 11 points and 1.9 assists per contest. While fighting off injuries all year, she put up double figures in points in 15 of the 27 games she played in. Vanderwal comes into this year as the team’s only returning member to sport a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (24/22) in 2002-2003.
Those numbers may be all well and good, but McKeon feels that her team can put up even more points with its pressure defense this season.
‘We got a lot of steals [last season] I think we were in the top 20 in the country but we didn’t convert them all into points,’ McKeon said. ‘I think this year, with our guard play, we can convert them into points, and that’s going to be big.’
Beside these solid players coming back to ‘The Roof’ this year, Terrier fans will also get to see some of the newcomers who will look to make some waves in BU’s backcourt.
Onson, a Wisconsin native, was named Wisconsin Player of the Year by both the Associated Press and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel during her senior season at Oshkosh West High. The 5-foot-11-inch rookie is also a three-time Northwestern Player of the Year award winner.
‘Meredith Onson has the ability to come in and play the point to the two to the three spot,’ McKeon said. ‘We can use her in a lot of different situations.’
Bibbs, who averaged 18 points and seven assists her senior year at Hillcrest High, was recognized as one of the nation’s top 50 point guards by All-Star Girls Report after finishing as her school’s all-time assists leader.
Described by McKeon as a ‘pure point guard,’ the 5-foot-7-inch aerospace engineering major has the smarts to lead a Terrier offense that put up a program-record 146 three pointers last season.
But while BU boasts a lineup that is chock full of ball handlers, there is still concern that the injury bug may try to nibble away at the team’s roster. While she has practiced in the past week, Meinhardt sat out a good portion of the preseason and the squad’s exhibition game against Team Concepts with turf toe.
McKeon has been trying to work Meinhardt back into condition gradually, and while she knows her star recruit from a year ago may not be totally prepared for Saturday’s opener against the University of Florida, she is not worried about how Meinhardt will play.
‘Meinhardt’s a gamer,’ McKeon said. ‘She’s the type of player that if she’s not hitting her shots due to maybe her conditioning level … then she’s going to find other people to get them in position to score.’
Whether the Terriers have all their guards at their disposal will remain to be seen this season, but nonetheless, McKeon feels they can finally play the wheel-and-deal offense they have been hoping to run for some time.
‘I think you’ll see us be an up-tempo team because that’s our style,’ she said. ‘We’ll live by the three [point shot] and not die by the three. I think our percentage from the three-point line was over 40 percent in a lot of games last year.’
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