The Boston University women’s basketball team fell to the University of Rhode Island, 57-41, Wednesday night in Case Gym.
With the loss, BU (0-8) remains winless in 2015, while the Rams go back to .500 (4-4). Despite the setback, though, the game was closer than the box score would indicate.
Junior guard Sarah Hope had a historic shooting night, as she dropped a career-high 23 points and her seven 3-pointers matched a school record.
The Terriers’ improved defense was overshadowed by their offensive woes. Aside from Hope, only two other Terriers made field goals in the first half. Senior guard Clodagh Scannell hit from downtown and sophomore forward Kara Sheftic had two buckets down low.
BU finished the night with only four players making a field goal, as they shot 19.7 percent as team, and that includes Hope’s terrific night. While field goals were few and far between, BU did take a 23-21 lead into the half.
“The first half was excellent in terms of execution,” said BU coach Katy Steding. “It felt like we were controlling the boards better, and we controlled the tempo, which was really important from the start.”
URI came out of the locker room looking like a different team. The Rams were aggressive on both sides of the floor and attacked the basket with ferocity. Leading the Rams’ charge was sophomore Charise Wilson. Although it was not one of her best games, Wilson set the tone in the beginning of the third quarter by attacking the rim and hitting shots early on.
The wheels began to fall off in the third quarter for BU. The only points the Terriers scored came on a Hope triple at the beginning of the frame. Momentum completely shifted as the Rams outscored the Terriers 17-3 in the third, and took a commanding 12-point lead into the final period.
Steding’s reasoning for what went wrong in the third was quite simple.
“We took too many quick shots and we didn’t hit lay-ups,” she said. “We got good shots, but we lost our focus in terms of who’s supposed to be shooting.”
BU showed resiliency in the final quarter, but the scoring differential in the third quarter was too much to overcome.
Aside from BU’s anemic offense, post play proved to be a deciding factor in the game.
The Rams dominated down low thanks to two seniors. Samantha Tabakman notched a double-double, scoring 12 points, while recording 19 rebounds to go along with four blocks. Tayra Melendez swatted six shots and added eight rebounds.
Despite their offensive struggles, the Terriers kept the game close because of their improvement on the defensive end. It was second chance points that proved costly for them.
“I was particularly proud of how crisp our zone looked,” Steding said. “We were in our matchup zone. I thought people were rotating, they were communicating, they were in the right place before the cutter was there, which has not been the case before.”
Aside from the third quarter, the Terriers put themselves in a position to win thanks to Hope’s shooting and the effectiveness of their zone. But once again, BU came undone in one quarter, which cost it the game. Nonetheless, Steding remained positive after the final buzzer.
“At some point this team is going to transition from a 30-minute team to a 40-minute team and I’m so excited about that because we can compete down to the very end,” she said.
