Women’s basketball falls at Harvard

Despite an exciting second-half surge, the Boston University women’s basketball team was unable to come away with a win Wednesday night in its first road game of the season at Harvard University, as the Terriers were toppled by the Crimson by a score of 76-67.

The Terriers (0-2) fell behind early in the contest, allowing Harvard (2-1) to score 10 points before even getting on the board in the fifth minute of the game when freshman guard Courtney Latham got BU’s night started on a two-point jump shot.

The remainder of the half went just about as well as the first five minutes. The Terriers were 5-of-27 on field-goal attempts and scored 11 of their 21 opening half points on free throws.

While BU was struggling on the court, Harvard successfully netted 16 of 33 attempts and was 2-for-4 at the line, leaving the Terriers down 38-21 and in a 17-point hole when the buzzer sounded to end the first.

“We started off just really slow in every category in the first half,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “And, unfortunately, during the same time we started off so slow, Harvard couldn’t miss, and it was not a good combination.”

The Terriers came out stronger in the second half, turning the heat up on defense in addition to finding the necessary means to power the offense as well. BU managed to keep the game within 15 until about nine minutes remaining in the game when the Terriers allowed the Crimson to gain a 22-point lead.

There was a bit of an initial back and forth, but it wasn’t until there were seven minutes remaining in the half that BU really started to battle back in. Finally, with 2:40 left on the clock, the Terriers had finally cut their deficit to single digits, trailing 69-60.

“I think a lot of it came because of our intensity on defense,” Greenberg said. “It probably was a little bit too late, but we scored in a variety of ways. … We got to the line. [Sophomore guard Katie Poppe] hit a big three, then [sophomore guard Clodagh Scannell] hit a big three.

“Everyone on the court really stepped up, and we went to a full-court press and really created some havoc for them, and we were able to turn the ball over and score off of it, so it was a good run.”

While the Terriers could not mount a comeback, Wednesday’s game saw many different Terriers contribute to the stat sheet.

Junior forward Mollie McKendrick and senior forward Whitney Turner led the team in points during the game with 14 apiece, setting a career high for McKendrick and tying Turner’s best.

Poppe also had a noteworthy performance, as she had a career-high 11 rebounds on the evening.

“They’re … very tough players for us,” Greenberg said. “If I had to say, our toughest players on the team are [McKendrick], [Turner], and [Poppe]. They’re just physical. They do what they have to do in different moments.”

Latham also had an impressive night, recording 11 points while finishing a perfect 7-for-7 from the line.

“[Latham] did a lot of great things for us. She got to the line quite a bit and knocked down all of her free throws and has great energy on the court and speed … she continues to get better every day,” Greenberg said.

Although the Crimson never relinquished the lead over the full 40 minutes, the Terriers nonetheless showed resiliency at Lavietes Pavillion.

“I was very proud of our players, in that we were down 22 and we came back and cut it to six, and really gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game,” Greenberg said. “We just plugged away, and we just got to figure out how to make sure we come out stronger in the first half.”