Despite solid performance, women’s basketball falls to Holy Cross

The Boston University women’s basketball team couldn’t quite pull out a victory against the College of the Holy Cross. Despite a strong effort from both ends of the floor, it fell 76-62.

The game was highlighted by a near triple-double by sophomore guard Courtney Latham, as she totaled 10 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. The Terriers’ (5-24, 2-16 Patriot League) leading scorer was redshirt junior guard Troi Melton, who racked up 20 points.

BU coach Katy Steding said she has been impressed with Latham’s improvement throughout the season.

“Courtney had a terrific game, and it really showed how much she’s grown as a player and young leader in the last couple of months,” she said. “Court has had struggles, but I thought yesterday she really looked and played relaxed and focused. It means so much to her team when she’s able to do that.”

The contest was close for the majority of the first half as the Terriers came out firing, grabbing a quick 2-1 lead just a minute in on a layup from Latham.

The score remained close as the two teams went back and forth with four tied scores and 10 lead changes. Senior forward Mollie McKendrick gave the Terriers their last lead at the 5:59 mark with the score 12-10. The last tie occurred with the score 20-20 as Melton laid in a shot off the glass.

The Crusaders (15-16, 11-7 Patriot League) would then take over the first half and went on a 12-2 run that concluded with 6:45 remaining in the opening 20. It was then that they posted their first double-digit lead at 32-22. Six points from sophomore Lisa Mifsud highlighted the run. The Crusaders took a 40-26 lead into the break.

Although the Terriers were down, they spread the ball around and shot 38.7 percent from the field in the first half. McKendrick did the majority of the scoring, as she netted a team-high 10 points in the first half.

Steding said the team put itself in a tough position after the first half.

“I thought we did a good job of turning up some pressure, making Holy Cross play a full-court game and taking them out of their offense at times,” she said. “Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a hole in the first half that was tough to come back from.”

The Crusaders continued to pour it on in the second half as they went on an 11-2 run to open the period to break the game open at 51-28 with 17:42 remaining. Senior Emily Parker gave the Crusaders their largest lead of the game eight minutes later at 61-37. Parker was the team’s leading scorer, contributing 18 points.

The Terriers would not give up as they went on their own 25-9 run to cut the lead to single digits at 70-62 with 1:54 remaining. Melton would make the basket to give the Terriers their smallest deficit since the first half and also contributed 11 points during the run itself. However, it came too late, as the Crusaders pulled out the 76-62 victory.

Steding complimented the team’s overall defense and said the team’s backcourt stepped up against the Crusaders.

“I’d say that our guard play and full-court defense was far more effective [Saturday] than other aspects,” she said. “When we are aggressive defensively, we get a lot more out of our team offensively.”

The Terriers exceeded their season averages in both steals and rebounds per game, showing their aggressiveness. The team totaled seven steals and four blocks while it averages 5.2 and 2.6 respectively on the season.

Steding said the team has shown resiliency through the season that she thinks will bode well for the Terriers as they begin postseason play.

“Well, I’ve been saying for a while now that our team is great at coming from behind,” she said. “We never give up, and that will serve us well going into the future.

“What we need to focus on is getting rid of that six-to-10 minute lull that we seem to experience each game,” she said. “With the upcoming Patriot League Tournament game, the team will be really motivated. We play well when it’s live or die, so I’m excited to see our performance on Wednesday at Colgate [University].”