For the second time in three seasons, the Boston University women’s basketball team finished as America East champions of the regular season.
In the final post-season tuneup, the Terriers defeated the University of Hartford 57-52 on the Hawks’ home court, where the America East Tournament will also be played.
Not only did BU (22-7, 15-1 America East) earn the title with this last victory over Hartford (19-11, 10-6 America East), but a significant milestone was also reached when junior point guard Mo Moran scored her 1000th career point. This marks the first time three Terriers have ever reached 1000 points in the same season, as classmate Chantell Alford and senior Alex Young surpassed the mark earlier this year.
“[Moran] really carried us one minute at a time in today’s game,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “When things weren’t going our way offensively, she was huge for us.”
“Huge” may not sufficiently characterize the play of Moran on Saturday. The junior went the distance, playing all 40 minutes of the game, and racked up 20 points and six rebounds. Moran was a successful 2-for-4 from deep, and didn’t miss a single one of her eight free throws.
With Alford – the team’s leading scorer on the season – spending more than half of the game on the bench, Moran’s play was crucial in the win.
Junior guard Kristen Sims saw extended minutes as a result of Alford’s time off the court as well. Sims had a favorable outing on both sides of the ball, scoring seven points and recording a team-high two steals.
“[Alford’s] wrist is bothering her [to the point] where she is not being as aggressive as she usually is,” Greenberg said. “We just thought if she’s not going to be herself then let’s go with Kristen and be more aggressive, and Kristen came up big in different situations.”
Neither the Terriers nor the Hawks established a truly convincing advantage over the course of the battle. Each team found itself unable to inflict anything greater than a six-point deficit over its opponent, and the lead changed hands seven times.
Ultimately, the victor was decided in the final four minutes of play. The Terriers gained a tenuous two-point lead with 3:52 remaining when sophomore forward Whitney Turner scored on a layup.
The Hawks then retained possession of the ball until fewer than three minutes remained, at which point sophomore forward Rashidat Agboola, who also accounted for 12 points, grabbed a rebound at BU’s end of the court.
The ensuing offensive try by the Terriers was unsuccessful, but Agboola grabbed the clutch offensive rebound and cleared the ball out to Moran at the top of the key. Moran then missed a jumper, but senior guard Alex Young grabbed another BU offensive rebound.
“[Rebounding] ended up being better than scoring,” Greenberg said. “The clock is ticking and it’s in our favor – we had the four-point lead . . . That was huge; we could kick it back out and we didn’t try to force anything.”
Rebounding was certainly a deciding factor on the night, as the Terriers nearly doubled the 23 boards grabbed by the Hawks with 41 of their own.
BU then killed another 30 seconds off the clock before Alford was fouled on a drive to the bucket. The former America East Player of the Year managed to score all five of her points in the last two minutes of the game on 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) free-throw shooting.
In the final five minutes of play, the BU defense held Hartford to just six points, while its offense managed to put up 12.
“[Hartford is] tough. They have real solid [players] at all five positions,” Greenberg said. “It’s not like you can really focus in and maybe double the post too much, because they can knock down threes . . . I thought, overall, our defense made good adjustments and did a nice job.”
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