Women’s basketball falls to Northeastern in season opener, 73-62

The Boston University women’s basketball team did not start the 2013-14 campaign the way it had hoped when it lost its Friday home opener 73-62 to Northeastern University at Case Gym.

Although they got a career-high 27-point performance from senior guard Danielle Callahan, the Terriers (0-1) could not overcome a 28-point night from Northeastern (1-0) guard A’lece Mark.

“I think it was a tale of two halves, we went to the line in the first half and they went to the line in the second half,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg.

The Terriers started the game on a 9-0 run before the game changed into a back-and-forth contest, as each team fought for the lead throughout the night.

The first half was a struggle for the Terriers with regard to turnovers, as they compiled 11 in the first 20 minutes of play. BU was able to cut down on the turnovers in the second half, finishing the game with 17.

“We forced 20 turnovers against a experienced team so that’s pretty good for us,” Greenberg said. “We had 11 turnovers at the half, so it was good to only finish with 17. We would like to be around 15.  In the first couple games I thought that would be something that we would really struggle with, so I’m happy with 17.”

Northeastern began to pull away midway through the second half, but BU responded with 3-pointers by Callahan and sophomore guard Katie Poppe to put BU up by a score of 51-45 with 10:42 remaining in the game.

Despite the brief 6-0 Terrier run, the Huskies were able to capitalize on a cold-shooting streak by BU and went up 63-58 with three minutes left.

“We gave up two huge threes,” Greenberg said. “That was the difference makers.  They were both offensive rebounds and they killed us.  We had played really nice defense and we clamped down and we got some nice stops, but then we gave up back-to-back threes on offensive rebounds.”

Senior forward Rashidat Agboola and senior forward Whitney Turner were featured heavily in the closing minutes of the game as the team made a concentrated effort to get them the ball in the paint.

Despite solid performances from Agboola (12 points) and Turner (nine points), the top player for the Terriers Friday night was Callahan.

Callahan was 6-of-11 from the field, including a stellar 10-of-11 performance at the free-throw line. She also added three assists and three rebounds. Northeastern switched its defensive schemes when Callahan began to hit shots from beyond the arc, making it harder for Callahan to get the ball.

“They were switching it up a lot,” Callahan said. “At first they were playing a lot of zone, then they switched it up to man so we were trying to get looks whenever we could. We were just trying to take whatever the defense was giving us.”

When Callahan did get open looks, she did not miss often, as she was 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

BU is expected to be a team in transition this season after losing senior guards Chantell Alford and Mo Moran to graduation last year.  The BU freshmen struggled in their first game of their collegiate career, as they were 0-of-12 from the field over the course of the game.

Greenberg said she hoped that this game served as a learning experience for some of her younger players.

“[Freshman guard] Courtney [Latham] and [freshman guard] Sarah [Hope] couldn’t buy a basket and I chalk that up to nerves,” Greenberg said. “I think they were nervous and I expected that and as a coach I was more than ready to play them.  They have to get experience somehow.”

The progression of this young Terrier team will certainly be a theme throughout the season, something of which Greenberg is well aware.

“It’s still early, we’re still trying to figure things out rotation-wise,” Greenberg said. “All of our shooters besides Danielle, I mean [Poppe] hit a few, but our guards were really 0-for right down the line. Like I said, I chalk some of that up to nerves, but I think it was a really good basketball game.”