Sports, and life for that matter, are a matter of inches, at least according to Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday. But, for Boston University women’s basketball’s Katie Meinhardt, it’s a matter of feet. Or lack thereof.
Meinhardt, coming off a turf toe injury early in the season and a healing bone bruise which made her sit out for a week, scored 17 points for the Terriers (2-3) in the most action she’s seen since last March. The Terriers rode the effort, as they downed the Blue Devils of Central Connecticut State University 79-49 on Wednesday night in New Britain, Conn. Playing 20 minutes with as many good feet to work with as a metric ruler, last year’s America East Rookie of the Year hit double figures for the first time all season. The Terriers had four players join Meinhardt in double figures, including senior Katie Terhune, with a game-high 23 points, as they defeated the Devils (2-5) for the eighth consecutive time.
After head coach Margaret McKeon said she expected Meinhardt to be ‘100 percent’ for the game, the sophomore guard proved it. Not that she didn’t have help.
Terhune’s 23 came on the heels of 24-point effort against Fordham University on Dec. 3, which put the third leading scorer in BU history into the BU 1,500-point club with 1,517 career points. After struggling early in the season, Terhune’s back-to-back 20-point efforts come against her usual prey. Last year, she scored a game-high 22 points against the Devils, as the Terriers conquered the team 69-51 at Case Gymnasium.
After dancing with the Devils for the first five minutes of the game, the Terriers went for a run that turned into a sprint. Outscoring the Devils 21-2 over the next 8:30 of the game, BU shot 60 percent in the first half. They went into the half up 39-21, and Meinhardt led all scorers at halftime with 10 points.
The Devils never got closer than 16 points behind in the second half, and fell behind by as much as 34 at one point. BU’s defense was too strong, creating 25 turnovers, while the offense coughed up the ball only 14 times. Even freshman Gabriella Guegbelet’s 19 points and 12 rebounds couldn’t get sympathy for the Devils.
For the first time all season, junior Becky Bonner was held to single figures in scoring, but mainly because the others were doing it well enough themselves. Juniors Adrienne Norris and Larissa Parr added 11 and 10 points to the mix, respectively. And though the Terriers were out-rebounded 38-36, senior Marisa Moseley pulled down nine on the night for the ladies in red.
With the win, BU improved to 16-2 in the all-time series against Central Connecticut. From here, the Terriers come back to Beantown to have a battle of the same color Scarlet vs. Crimson when they take on Harvard University on Sunday.
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