The road-tested Boston University women’s basketball team will play its first home game since Feb. 11 when it takes on the cellar-dwelling University of Maine at Agganis Arena on Sunday at 12 p.m.
The Terriers (19-6, 13-0 America East) have won 14 consecutive games, but none more exciting than their most recent ‘-‘- an 80-75 overtime victory over their arch nemesis, the University of Hartford.
Four minutes into the second half, the Terriers found themselves trailing by 17 points ‘-‘- a very unfamiliar position for a team that hasn’t lost a game in 2009.
Seniors Christine Kinneary (27 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) and Kristi Dini (11 points, 4 boards) picked up the offensive slack in place of the team’s leading scorer, senior Jesyka Burks-Wiley (9 points, 5 rebounds), who battled foul trouble throughout the game and logged only 26 minutes.
Freshman guard Alex Young broke out for a career-high 19 points and shot 50 percent (3-of-6) from 3-point territory. Young iced the game for BU when she nailed two free-throws in the closing seconds to give the Terriers a five-point lead.
‘We’re not surprised by anything [Young] does on the offensive end,’ BU coach Kelly Greenberg said. ‘She’s a legitimate scorer. She can score in many ways, and it’s definitely a very nice luxury to have.’
Greenberg gave her players Wednesday and Thursday off to help them recuperate from their draining game with Hartford.
‘We did plan to have [Thursday] off,’ Greenberg said. ‘On the bus Tuesday night, it was just kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh, let’s take off Wednesday as well.’ It makes a lot of sense. I’m really glad we did it. Not just for the players, but it’s good for the coaches, too.’
Burks-Wiley, who has been playing through pain all season on a bad right knee, will wear a facemask Sunday after breaking her nose against the Hawks.
‘[Burks-Wiley] fractured the tip of her nose in Tuesday night’s game,’ Greenberg said. ‘Jes has been playing on a pretty tired knee, so that’s one positive to take from Tuesday’s game [that Burks-Wiley only played 26 minutes].”
The Black Bears (4-23, 2-12) are coming off of a 61-44 home loss to the University of Vermont. Senior forward Colleen Kilmurray led Maine with 19 points in addition to pulling down seven boards.
The Black Bears are led in scoring and rebounding by junior forward Brittany Boser (10.3 points and 5 rebounds per game). Boser is shooting a team-best 84.7 percent from the charity stripe.
Maine has the lowest scoring average (51.6 ppg), worst scoring margin (-15.7 ppg) and worst field-goal percentage (.346) in the conference.
Both of the Black Bears’ conference wins came in a three-game span when they topped the University of New Hampshire and the University at Albany.
Maine’s last meeting with BU resulted in an 87-72 win for the Terriers in Orono. Burks-Wiley netted a career-high 32 points and snagged 13 boards en route to becoming the eighth player in program history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her career.
Ironically, BU was coming off another exciting victory over Hartford before facing the Black Bears, and will look to avoid a letdown against the last place team in the conference again on Sunday.
‘Now it’s about, ‘Hey, there’s three games left. We really could go undefeated,” Greenberg said. ‘So, there’s a different level of excitement now, which for a coach, that’s great. I don’t think I have to worry about getting them up for the game too much. We kind of have ourselves in the position that the girls are going to be excited no matter what.’
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This article is extremely biased and unprofessional. It is not objective and poorly written.