Despite being only three points behind with less than a minute left in the game, the Boston University women’s basketball team fell to Harvard University, 62-57, on Wednesday night in Cambridge.
The game put an end to the Terriers’ two-game win streak.
“I’m always disappointed with a loss – no mater what the score is,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “I thought we played really hard. We played with a lot of heart.”
Wednesday’s game marked the 27th time Harvard (2-4) and BU (3-3) have played one another. After the game Harvard pulled ahead in the series 14-13, having defeated BU in four of the last five encounters.
At the beginning of the first half the Terriers struggled a bit, especially when faced with a large number of personal fouls called against them. Five were called in the first ten minutes alone.
Sophomore forward Rashidat Agboola, whose 12 points made her BU’s third highest-scorer, had three personal fouls called against her during the game.
Despite this, the game remained close, with the lead changing five times in the first six minutes of play.
BU was lifted out of its early funk by the efforts of junior guard Mo Moran.
Moran had 18 points on the night and, combined with junior guard Chantell Alford, who had 19 points, for 37 of BU’s 57 points.
“Mo Moran is always tough,” Greenberg said of the guard whose strong play partially revitalized the Terriers in the second half.
The game remained close throughout the first half, which came to an exciting close when Alford scored a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half to put the Terriers up, 30-29.
The 3-pointer was one of BU’s two on the night.
The Terriers would not hold this lead for long, however, as 10 minutes into the second half Harvard broke away after embarking on a 10-0 run. The Crimson wouldn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
“We didn’t shoot it very well. We didn’t rebound it very well,” Greenberg said. “But we made good adjustments throughout the game.”
The Crimson’s strong passing game was difficult for the Terriers to defend against and, consequently, BU was unable to stop Harvard.
After Harvard pulled ahead, Alford picked up the slack from a slightly less dynamic Moran. Alford netted 14 of her 19 points during the second half.
Alford and Moran both eventually boosted the struggling BU offense, bringing the Terriers within three or four points multiple times throughout the second half.
After an 8-0 run during which they forced three turnovers, the Terriers came within one point of Harvard.
“You always think you’re going to win,” Greenberg said, “and that’s just my personality.”
Down by three with less than a minute left in the game, BU turned the ball over, did not score, gave up a long 3-pointer and failed to rebound the ball.
Many of BU’s difficulties stemmed from its failure to recover offensive rebounds.
From the beginning of the first half the Terriers struggled to recover the ball, and ultimately it cost them.
“Unfortunately we just gave up too many offensive rebounds and gave them too many opportunities,” Greenberg said. “And it really came down to that.”
The two teams had almost the same field goal percentage, but Harvard ended the game with 13 more rebounds than the Terriers as they continuously recovered the ball after missed shots from both teams.
“As a coach, you can’t dwell too much on this game. You’ve got to keep looking forward,” Greenberg said. “We have to keep progressing. We’re going to learn from tonight’s game.”
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