Coming off a two-game homestand, the Boston University women’s basketball team hit the road Wednesday night to take on American University and was defeated 75-45.
The Terriers (4-14, 1-6 Patriot League) have lost 11 of their last 12 games and did not fare much better against the Eagles (12-6, 7-0 Patriot League) as they only mustered 17 points in the first half.
“We’ve been going through a rough stretch lately,” said BU coach Katy Steding. “But as a young team, that’s just going to happen. But there really is no excuses. Is it frustrating? Yeah. Do we need to get better? Yeah, but we can’t get too down on ourselves. We’re competing every night. It’s just part of the learning curve, and I know we’ll get better. Just give us time.”
The Terriers took the lead in the first minute, as senior forward Mollie McKendrick hit a jump shot to open up the game. From there, it was rough sledding, as the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run. The Eagles then expanded their lead to 18-9 with 10:58 left in the first half.
Seniors Arron Zimmerman and Shaquilla Curtis carried the Eagles offense in the first half, as the Terriers’ defense had no answers for the forward-guard duo.
“They really hurt us early,” Steding said. “We never plan for people. We like to play our set defense. We don’t like to isolate anyone. It takes a whole team to play defense, and we just didn’t execute very well today. I’d like to say we looked good at times, and we played a lot better defense than the score would imply. But, you know, sometimes, that happens, a team just can’t miss.”
The Terriers continued to struggle the rest of the half, as American just could not be stopped. Freshman Emily Kinneston came in the game off the bench and immediately made an impact, scoring six points near the end of the first half.
“They have a lot of good players,” Steding said. “They have a lot of weapons, and when you’re shooting like they were, it’s contagious. [Kinneston] came in and did a lot of good things for them. But once again, we can’t ever just defend one player. Defense is a team game, and we just need to improve. The effort is there, just not the execution, just yet.”
The Terriers went into the halftime break down 39-17, looking dismantled. They came out in the second half with a lot of energy, but to no avail, as American continued to pour it on.
The two teams constantly traded buckets in the second half, as BU kept it to within 20 points until about the nine-minute mark. The Terriers received contributions from a variety of players in the second half, including redshirt junior guard Troi Melton and sophomore forward Meghan Green.
It was too little too late, unfortunately, as American’s lead ballooned to 31 points with 3:50 left in the second half. When the final buzzer rang, the scoreboard illuminated a 30-point blowout.
“We can’t hang our heads,” Steding said. “It’s just one game. I have to remind them that this is just one game. And we will get better than this. These things happen over the course of a long season. We just have to grind and get through it and learn from it. We’re young. I can’t say that enough. We’re going to learn.”
A combination of BU’s struggling offense and American’s scorching hot one led to the lopsided result. Steding was not discouraged, though, and said the team has a bright future.
“We have nowhere to go but up,” Steding said. “And that’s exactly what we’ll do. Just like the players, I’m learning too. This season has been a learning experience for us all. But, sometimes, you need to go through rough stretches to reach good ones. And I think we have some good ones in store for us.”
When I'm not crying about another Geno Smith turnover, I am covering sports for The Daily Free Press. I am a New York Jets, Mets and Knicks fan, so I do not know what winning is. Please, have mercy and follow me on Twitter at @MannyGomezz
