For the first time since the 2009-10 season, the Boston University women’s basketball team hosted a postseason game at Case Gym, taking on Sacred Heart University. With a solid run towards the second half, the Terriers (24-5, 13-2 America East) pulled out the victory over the Pioneers (21-11).
The game was the first in nearly a month, as the Terriers’ regular season was cut short one game, due to the University of Maine’s team bus crashing on I-95.
“It was a first for all of us,” said BU coach Kelly Greenburg, “That was a first for me to have that long layoff. Sacred Heart played six games since we played last. They had that advantage.”
The first half of the Terriers’ WNIT game was filled with some roller-coaster action, with both squads going back-and-forth on the scoreboard, each trying to grab momentum in the game.
At first it was the Terriers who came out firing. Senior guard Chantell Alford hit the first two field goals of the game, both 3-pointers, giving BU a quick 6-0 lead.
“It always feels good,” Alford said. “I think that got us going at the start. It’s a little confidence building.”
Although it seemed as if BU would run away with the game, SHU answered with six of its own on the strength of guards Gabriell Washington and Ericka Norman, who chipped in two apiece in the 6-0 run for SHU.
The two teams seemed to be in a boxing match, and were going toe-to-toe, as the score remained close throughout the opening part of the game.
However, the Terriers slowly inched and grabbed a sizeable lead by the end of the first half of play.
BU moved the ball around efficiently and was beating the zone that the Pioneers’ defense was playing. Along with Alford’s 3-pointers, senior guard Kristen Sims and junior guard Danielle Callahan both were integral in the first half from behind the 3-point arc, which led to the Terriers shooting five-for-nine from long range.
“We plan on taking too many of a certain shot,” Greenburg said. “We’ll take layups, layups, layups. I think we got a little too three happy.”
As a team, the Terriers shot an impressive 51.7 percent from the field in the first half, which aided in the team building a lead.
To go along with the efficient scoring, the Terriers clamped down on defense, holding the Pioneer offense to 32.1 percent from the field in the first half, after the initial part of the game when both teams were going at it offensively.
After back-to-back layups by Sims and a block with four seconds to go in the half, BU held a seemingly comfortable 38-27 going into the locker room.
In the second half it appeared as if BU was going to run away with the game as it took a 44-29 lead out of the gate. Alford helped force a shot clock violation on SHU’s first possession and she and junior forward Rashidat Agboola scored to pad the Terrier lead.
However, the Pioneers had other plans. They went on an 8-0 run sparked by Washington and forward Blair Koniszewski, and cut the Terrier lead to 46-41. Both players had tremendous games, as Washington led Sacred Heart with 16 points and Koniszewski had 14.
The five-point deficit for Sacred Heart was as close as it would get, however. Led by Alford and Agboola, the Terriers started working their interior offense a bit more, and began to dominate the paint.
Especially impressive was Agboola, who scored 15 for the game, shooting 60 percent from the field, with most of her points coming in the second half of the contest. She also grabbed 10 rebounds, giving her another double-double on the season.
The defense was strong as well after letting the Pioneers get some easy baskets in the second half. The Terriers held SHU to shoot just under 40 percent for the game and kept the Pioneer three point game at bay, holding them to only make one 3-pointer in the second half.
“We buckled down a little bit,” Greenberg said. “We made things a little more difficult. We finally said, “enough, let’s stop this nonsense.”
After it was all said and done, the Terriers pulled out the victory, and will move in the second round of the WNIT to play Fordham University.
“I thought it was a good game,” Greenberg said. “But we made big plays. It was a great team win, and we’re excited to play the next one.”
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