After sporting equally underwhelming records last season, the Boston University women’s basketball team and Northeastern University looked to begin their seasons with a win as they faced off in Case Gym on Friday.
Despite a strong start, in which they led by as many as 10 points, the Terriers (0-1) fell apart over the course of the game, losing to the Huskies (2-0), 77-44.
After Northeastern senior Samantha DeFreese started the scoring on the Huskies’ first possession, BU redshirt senior Troi Melton got her first points just over two minutes in, and looked as though she was going to set the pace for the Terriers offense. Following the Melton layup, the Terriers went on an 11-2 run.
The first quarter represented the best basketball BU played all day and provided a great start to what seems like an improved season. The Terriers finished the quarter leading 15-8. Melton had more points in the first quarter (nine) than the entire Huskies team. As a collective, the team shot just shy of 43 percent from the floor.
BU began the second quarter trading blows with the Huskies. Freshman guard Payton Hauck got her first career points as a Terrier with a three just over 30 seconds after she was subbed in. Those would be the only points the Terriers would get from the bench in the rest of the quarter.
Meanwhile, Northeastern senior Kazzidy Stewart drained 10 of the Huskies’ 20 second-quarter points, as they would take a 28-26 lead into halftime.
Junior guard Sarah Hope came in with just seconds left in the half, making her first appearance since midway through last season.
“I think they out-toughed us,” said BU coach Katy Steding. “They hit back. I feel like we threw the first punch and when they hit back we just kind of rolled over, and that’s not a trick we should be doing.”
Once the Terriers lost the lead, they never got it back. The third quarter marked a collapse, as the Terriers only managed to score nine points, three of which came from the foul line. Melton found her first point since the first quarter, but nothing more. The Huskies, on the other hand, dominated, scoring 23 points.
The killers for the Terriers in the second half were their defensive rebounding and their ball control. They were out-rebounded 47-33 in the game, and in the second half, the Huskies had 15 second-chance points to the Terriers’ two. Turnovers were costly as well, as 21 of the Huskies’ 49 second-half points came off turnovers.
Steding was disappointed with the way her team played inside.
“We have to box out,” Steding said. “We have to box out and get a body on people and stop being so soft. Part of it is our size differential, but part of it is our physical toughness that we need to exhibit daily in practice and daily out here.”
The Terriers play with a blitzkrieg-style offense, and at various times in the second half, that style shot them in the foot. They were rushing shots, trying to speed things up and it caused damage.
“We got into panic mode because we couldn’t stop them so we wanted to try to get it all back at once,” Steding said. “[But] when we made multiple passes and we got ball reversals we looked great. We got good open shots, we got good looks at the rim.”
Steding offered a blunt response to the team’s poor performance.
“It comes down to, ‘we need to get tougher.’ Period.”
