On Wednesday night, the Boston University women’s basketball team will travel down to New Haven, Conn., to face Yale University in its second game against an Ivy League foe this season.
The last time that BU (3-4) faced Yale (4-3) was more than a year ago, on Nov. 17, 2010. That game, played at Case Gymnasium, ended in an 83-64 Terrier victory.
Now visiting Yale, the Terriers hope to snap their two-game losing streak and come away with their first road win of the season.
Despite this skid, the team hasn’t let the last two games affect their forward-facing attitude in any way.
“When it happens, certainly right after the game, we’re disappointed,” said BU head coach Kelly Greenberg of the losses. “We have a lot of basketball ahead of us. We keep moving forward. We learn from things we did in losses and in wins.”
The Terriers will be looking to move forward on Wednesday night and hope for the win that will put them back at .500.
In both of its last two games, BU has failed to score 60 points, and if the team wants to beat Yale, getting its offense, led by junior guard Chantell Alford, back on track against a faltering Yale team is the team’s primary objective.
Yale’s two-game winning streak was brought to an abrupt halt Monday night after losing to the University of Delaware 77-45. But Greenberg doesn’t think that means Yale will be any easier to beat.
“Defensively they are very aggressive – that will be something we have not faced yet,” Greenberg said. “It will be a nice challenge for us.”
Despite only scoring 45 points and shooting 30 percent on field goals against Delaware, Yale is still a very strong team. At the University of Houston Thanksgiving Tournament, the Bulldogs scored a total of 139 points to their opponents’ 122.
Captain Michelle Cashen leads the Bulldogs, and she gave an impressive performance in the Thanksgiving Tournament, despite struggling more recently against Delaware.
“They’re good,” Greenberg said. “Their point guard is very good. She can do a lot of things. We need to her slow her down.”
One thing the Terriers will have to work on is getting rebounds. In their recent games they have struggled to take control of offensive rebounds, something Greenberg believes played a significant role in their lost against Harvard University last week.
BU has 250 rebounds compared to the 298 it has allowed opponents to recover. It averages 35.7 rebounds per game, a significantly smaller amount than their opponents’ 42.6.
Despite these specific struggles, Greenberg maintains that what is important is that the team constantly improves as a whole as it faces different opponents every week.
“We are just trying to sharpen up all areas,” Greenberg said.
If the Terriers win Wednesday night at Yale it will be their first away win of the season. Despite the fact that the BU team has gone 0-4 away from Case Gym, the Terriers have won all three of their home games this season.
Wednesday’s game is the first of three games that will be played in the next seven days, as the Terriers will go on to face Marist College at home on Saturday and Boston College in Newton on Dec. 13.
Whatever struggles the Terriers may have had in the past, Greenberg believes they are ready to play Wednesday night.
“We’re competing, we’re playing hard,” said Greenberg. “We need to balance that with playing smart and making sure we get a good shot.”
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