The Boston University women’s basketball team didn’t register its first field goal in Saturday’s game against Lafayette College until almost 10 minutes into the first half.
Despite a disastrous start, the Terriers (5-18, 2-10 Patriot League) were able to surge in the second half, leading to a 56-49 win over the Leopards (11-12, 4-8 Patriot League), their first victory in nearly a month.
The Terriers entered Saturday’s game coming off two promising performances against Lehigh University and the United States Naval Academy, but the same team that made those games close was not present in the first half of this one. BU played too quickly for its own good — rushing passes and shots and making bad decisions — but the Leopards refused to let it slow down. Their passing was crisp, their hustle never let up and they were able to find open shots. The Terriers’ offensive efforts seemed futile while the Leopards, on the other hand, opened the game on a 13-1 run.
The only Terrier who showed up to play in the first half was freshman guard Corrine Williams. At long last, she scored the first field goal for the Terriers with a 3-pointer from the corner with just over 10 left in the first. She scored just over a minute later for their second field goal of the day. Williams seemed to spark something in the offense, as after her three-minute, one-woman show, both sophomore guard Courtney Latham and senior forward Mollie McKendrick were finally able to convert on consecutive possessions, bringing the Terriers to within six.
Neither team would score for the remainder of the half, bringing the Terriers into the locker room trailing by a tally of 19-13. The 13 points in the first were a Terrier season-low.
Both teams had some severe shooting troubles entering halftime. The Terriers shot a paltry 18.5 percent from the floor. Remove Williams from that equation, and the team went 2-for-21, or just 9.5 percent in the first half. Thankfully for BU, the Leopards weren’t far behind them — they only went 7-for-27 in the first.
The Terrier freshmen changed the game in the second half. While Williams continued to be consistent, finishing with 12 points and just two rebounds shy of a double-double, it was freshman guard Meghan Doogan and freshman forward Erin Bayram who were the critical pieces in the Terrier momentum shift. Bayram’s jumper with 15:18 left to play was immediately followed by a three from Doogan that got the entirety of Case Gym fired up. Soon, a jumper from redshirt junior guard Troi Melton brought the game within one. After Bayram sunk both of her freethrows with 11:48 to play, the Terriers took their first lead of the game and never let it go.
“I’m really proud of the freshmen who came in and did a lot of work,” said BU coach Katy Steding. “It’s what we preach to them all the time — be ready whenever your name is called … Erin especially. She did a really great job. She didn’t do anything fancy, she just came in and went to work. And that’s what we need from people.”
The Terriers were unstoppable in the second half. With Bayram and Doogan lighting the spark, the Terrier veterans took charge. The Terriers were riding a 21-3 run at one point in the second, led mostly by McKendrick. After a disappointing first, she went off and finished with a double-double. The Leopards were able to bring it to within two, only to have Doogan sink the three for the dagger. After trading points in the final minutes, the Terriers were able to walk away with the 56-49 win.
While Steding was rightfully upset at the Terriers’ performance in the first half, she commended her team for turning it around to pull out the victory.
“Sometimes, you’ve just got to decide to compete,” she said. “We weren’t competing in the first half. We weren’t doing anything very well. We had, what, 14 turnovers in the first half and a myriad of other problems. Our shooting — atrocious. Eighteen percent. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team shoot 18 percent. We did almost shoot 60 percent [in the second half], so we only ended up with 37 percent, which is not so great either, but at least the second half, we took care of business.”
