The Boston University women’s basketball team will embark on a two-game road trip this week, starting with a Wednesday matchup against a tough American University team.
After a disappointing showing over the winter holidays, during which the Terriers (4-13, 1-5 Patriot League) dropped six of seven games and at one point rode a nine-game losing streak, the team was able to scratch out its first conference victory against Colgate University Jan. 14.
In its other six games, the team was outscored by an average of nearly 15 points per game and shot over 40 percent from the field just once against Lafayette College Jan. 10.
In the team’s one bright spot against Colgate (2-15, 1-5 Patriot League), sophomore guard Sarah Hope led the charge, sinking a career-high six 3-pointers on her way to 22 points. Hope has been the only Terrier this season to start every contest and is second on the team in scoring with 9.7 points per game behind sophomore forward Meghan Green. After leaving early due to injury against the University of Loyola Maryland Saturday, however, she is unlikely to be available against American (11-6, 6-0 Patriot League).
BU coach Katy Steding said injuries have affected the Terriers lineup throughout the season.
“With our team this year, I think there are six, seven, eight, 10 critical people, and we miss any of them when they’re not available,” Steding said. “I don’t know that it changes the game plan per se, but it changes our looks offensively, but we’re down a shooter, a fairly prolific scorer, so that does affect us.”
Without Hope in Washington, D.C., the Terriers will be up for another tough matchup against the Eagles. The team will have to lean on Green, who leads the squad in points per game and rebounds per game with 13.1 and 7.6, respectively. Yet the odds still don’t look to favor the Terriers. On the road this season, the Terriers are 0-8. Steding said the struggles on the road are difficult to pinpoint and admits that sometimes, it’s just easier to play at home.
“We’ve struggled to score sometimes. We’ve struggled to find a rhythm,” Steding said. “We’ve had occasions where we’ve been very disciplined and very focused, and we’ve had situations where we haven’t. I don’t think you can pinpoint any one thing.”
Going into the nation’s capital, it won’t be any easier.
Sitting atop the league standings, the Eagles are the only team to remain undefeated in Patriot League play and are in the midst of a six-game winning streak. While they are performing exceptionally well on the whole, the Eagles’ conference play this season has been just dominant.
Against Patriot League teams, the Eagles score more (66.7 points per game), shoot more efficiently (44.9 percent) and hold opposing squads to fewer points (57.2 points per game) than they do against non-conference teams, resulting in six wins by an average of nearly 10 points.
Leading the way for the Eagles is their star guard Jen Dumiak, who’s averaged 17.8 points, 50.7 percent shooting from the floor and 53.8 percent from behind the arc in her last six games.
In terms of their game plan, Steding said being aggressive is the key to taking down this tough Eagles squad in front of their home crowd.
“One of the things that we have to do is manage their outcomes. We need to be quite a bit more aggressive than we have been defensively,” Steding said. “We need to make sure we limit them to one opportunity, not several. We need to make sure that we’re getting second-chance opportunities, that we’re forcing some turnovers, that we’re being more aggressive [and] that we’re taking the fight to the other teams.”
