Turnovers, sloppy play cost BU

With Thanksgiving in the near future, the Boston University women’s basketball team prepared a feast with an ample supply of turnovers.

These desserts aren’t as easy to swallow for the Terriers as those filled with apple or cherry. But their opponents didn’t hesitate to gulp them straight from the women’s hands.

The Terriers, who finished 19th in the nation and first in the America East Conference in steals last season, saw things from the other side of the Land of Larceny this weekend. In dropping both games of the BU Invitational Tournament over the weekend, the Terriers turned the ball over 56 times, while forcing just 44 cough-ups. Though the defense forced more turnovers per game this weekend than the 21.7 average of a year ago, it could not make up for the benevolence of the offense.

Both of BU’s opponents the University of Florida and Texas A’M University looked much quicker and more composed than the Terriers in the season kickoff. The Gators and Aggies appeared a step ahead of the Terriers for the greater part of both games, winning 66-56 and 61-53 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

‘We’re playing against athletes here,’ said BU coach Margaret McKeon. ‘I’m not saying we don’t play against athletes in our league, but these girls hit gaps. You have to be ball-strong, confident with the basketball and use your dribbling to create a passing lane. You have to move without the ball. Those are things we don’t really do that well, obviously.

‘I never thought going into both games,’ she said later, ‘that we were not going to handle the pressure to the effect that we didn’t handle it this weekend. I didn’t anticipate that at all.’

Much of the confusion can be attributed to the fact that the newly acquainted Terriers are still not fully set in their roles, according to McKeon. The women were not able to find a consistent rhythm all weekend and looked to be unprepared for their opponents, both of which play in premier conferences.

Senior guard Katie Terhune, the third-leading scorer in BU history, seems to be most out of place, McKeon said. Terhune, who shot 6-15 for 18 points over the weekend, must now share her scoring role with the rest of the potentially high-scoring team especially junior transfer Becky Bonner, who scored 32 points on the weekend.

Terhune will find ‘how that’s going to work for her. But it will take time,’ according to McKeon.

‘Katie Terhune is struggling right now with her role,’ McKeon said. ‘She understands that she’s supposed to get shots, and supposed to be a scorer for us … but my concern with Katie Terhune is she’s averaging five turnovers a game. If she wants to play the two or three [guard], she has to make better decisions.’

There were times when the women showed signs of togetherness. Sophomore guard Rachael Vanderwal had a few easy layups from backdoor cuts. The scoring was spread out, as four women had eight points or more. The team shot 40 percent from the field Sunday, but on only 50 shot attempts.

‘The reason we’re getting 50 shot attempts is that we’ve got shooters, but we can’t get them the ball to shoot,’ she said. ‘We can’t even handle it to create our own shots. The thing is, when you have 30 turnovers, that takes 30 shots away.’

It was not only the amount of turnovers but also the importance of them that cost the Terriers.

Sunday, the Terriers took their first lead of the game at 36-35 with 12:36 remaining as Bonner drilled an off-balance three-pointer as she tripped over her defender’s foot. Bonner and the crowd made it heard in Kenmore Square.

The momentum appeared to be rolling with McKeon’s team after the Aggies’ Toccara Williams stepped out of bounds and Texas A’M head coach Gary Blair bounced the ball in anger, right off a referee’s foot. The ball made its way to McKeon, who hurled it back to the ref as quickly as she could to keep things moving.

But then came the costly turnovers. Bonner lost the ball on the ensuing possession, and Aggie Charlette Castile was happy to scoop the ball up and use the ball left on her platter to hit a trey, putting A’M ahead 38-36.

The Terriers could never fully regain momentum, turning the ball over eight times over the final 12 minutes. Each time BU drew close, an errant pass, a lost dribble or a traveling violation sent the sharp Aggies offense back to work.

But there is no reason for distress this early, McKeon said. Rather, the games are great ways to diagnose early problems.

‘We’ve got to go back to the drawing board,’ she said. ‘These are a great two games, and it’s unfortunate we didn’t get a win. But next game we have [No. 6] Stanford, and we’ll find out what we’re made of … so, it’s going to be another true test. But I think we’ll be a much better basketball team for playing these teams.

‘So, once we take care of the turnovers and why the turnovers are occurring, which we can do,’ McKeon added, ‘I think we’ll be a much better basketball team.’