The Boston University women’s basketball team will try to put a stop to their four-game losing skid on Wednesday night against the University of Massachusetts. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. at Case Gymnasium, and the Terriers will be playing their final home game for nearly a month.
BU (2-7) will have to improve at beating the full-court press, as the inability to do so has been revealed as a weakness over the Terriers’ past few games. Long Island University was the first to use the press against the Terriers, a strategy that was continued by No. 20 St. John’s University and Northeastern University in losses the following week. The offense certainly has struggled against it, finishing the last five games with field-goal percentages under 40 percent and more than 15 turnovers.
“UMass will certainly play [press defense],” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “We are really going to face it because people are seeing a weakness against it.”
BU has been relying on some of its bench players over the past few games with sophomore guard Kristen Sims and freshman guard Melissa Gallo playing more and more minutes. The two even started the last game in the place of sophomore guards Chantell Alford and Mo Moran.
One positive over the past few games has been BU’s free-throw shooting. The Terriers began the season cold from the charity stripe, shooting under 60 percent in the first four games of the season. However, the Terriers have shot over 70 percent in each of their past five games, including hitting all of their free throws in their loss against St. John’s.
UMass (1-7) has struggled in the early part of its season like BU, losing their first six games before their first win of the season against Brown University. Their most recent game ended in a loss to Boston College, who the Terriers lost to as well in their season opener. Perhaps this is the game the Terriers can stop their recent losing streak, but it will be no easy task according to Greenberg.
“It’s going to be really hard,” Greenberg said. “We’ve never been on a four-game losing streak.”
UMass has struggled keeping control of the ball so far this year, averaging 20.4 turnovers per game. As a team though, the Minutewomen have shot the ball pretty well this year, shooting an average of 42.1 percent from the field this season as well as hitting 38.3 percent of their 3-point attempts.
The Terriers will have to focus in on sophomore forward Shakia Robinson, who UMass’ leading scorer and rebounder. Robinson is averaging 13.8 points per game this season, while shooting 59.2 percent from the field and grabbing 7.3 rebounds per game. BU has the players to slow down Robinson though, with senior forward Kerry Cashman and junior forward Caroline Stewart both playing well.
“Our toughest two players are Kerry Cashman and Caroline Stewart, every day of practice and in every game,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg and her BU team will face a familiar foe in UMass head coach Sharon Dawley, who is in her first year in Amherst after spending the previous seven seasons with America East rival University of Vermont. Dawley went 5-13 against the Terriers in her stint with the Catamounts, including an upset 74-66 win in the 2009 America East Tournament Championship.
The Terriers fell to the Minutewomen the last time they faced them, losing 79-73 in overtime. Moran scored 20 points, while sophomore guard Alex Young added 14 more. However, the Minutewomen got the better of them in the end and pulled away with the victory.
BU will play its final game before the holiday break against Marist College (5-2) – one of the favorites in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this season – in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Saturday. The Red Foxes are coming off a win and will certainly be a tough test as the Terriers begin a three game road trip before returning home at the beginning of the new year.
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