The Boston University women’s basketball team continues its four-game road trip Tuesday night with a game against the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
After losing tilts against Harvard University and Dartmouth College by nearly identical scores over the break, the Terriers (0-5) are seeking their first win of the season against a River Hawks (0-5) team that has also struggled this season.
The 2015-16 campaign has been difficult for the River Hawks. They, like the Terriers, will be searching for their first victory Tuesday night. Despite its poor record, Lowell looks promising after losing to the University of Rhode Island by eight points Saturday.
In all but one of their games this season the River Hawks have decreased their opponents’ margin of victory, showing drastic improvement from their opener against No. 5 University of Maryland, which they lost by 49 points.
Leading the way for Lowell are its top scorers, forward Kayla Gibbs and guard Nicole Hayner. Both Gibbs and Hayner are averaging over 10 points per game (15.4 and 13.3, respectively) and Gibbs — who’s nearly averaging a double-double with her 9.6 boards per game — is shooting 63.5 percent from the floor.
Hayner leads the River Hawks in 3-point shooting. She’s good for 39 percent from beyond the arc. Apart from Gibbs and Hayner, however, Lowell isn’t shooting the ball well with a 35.6 percent mark collectively.
BU coach Katy Steding noted that the team needs to know the scouting report inside and out to limit the River Hawks’ top scorers.
“It’s a matter of trying to limit gives and touches on the block and throwing some different looks on them defensively,” Steding said. “And [we need to] get out on Hayner and make sure she doesn’t have a career night on us. We talked with the girls about knowing the scouting report. That’s a big part of the game plan. You can’t let open shooters get their favorite looks.”
The Terriers are also showing signs of improvement as the season progresses. Saturday against Dartmouth (1-4), BU played well in the second half. While the Terriers ended up losing by 20, they decreased their average deficit to 26.4 points per game.
The first quarter vs. the Big Green was forgettable, as BU was outscored 29-10. In the following three quarters, though, the Terriers were only outscored 43-42, no doubt helped by 52.2 percent second half shooting.
Steding said she is proud of the way her team bounced back in the team’s loss to Dartmouth.
“A hallmark of this team is that we’re going to get all of our weaknesses exposed right away, and as we continue to work on those I think it does speak to our resilience that we were in that game after that [first quarter],” Steding said.
Redshirt senior guard Troi Melton had eight of her 16 points in the second half. She leads the Terriers in scoring, with an even 10 points per game. While BU’s field goal percentage is worse than its upcoming opponents’, its showing against the Big Green shows that it can keep up with teams on the offensive end.
“We can compete player-for-player with teams at this level,” Steding said. “But we cannot afford to get way down or get too comfortable being up. We have to play every possession like it’s a fresh possession.”
The Terriers’ lack success once they start taking shots from behind the arc. As a squad, BU is shooting 19.7 percent from 3-point range. Apart from junior guard Sarah Hope who’s had seven, only two other Terriers have recorded multiple threes. Meanwhile, their opponents are hitting their looks from long range at a 35 percent clip.
The Terriers are looking to either defend or shoot the three better to stay afloat Tuesday.
“We’ve worked hard to get to a better place,” Steding said. “The girls are really ready for this game, maybe more so than any of the other games.”
