The Boston University women’s basketball team fell to the United States Military Academy Wednesday night in West Point, New York by a score of 72-38.
The Terriers (3-24, 3-13 Patriot League) began the contest on a 5-0 run, but Army (24-2, 15-1 Patriot League) answered with an 11-2 run of its own to take a lead that it would not relinquish.
The biggest difference between the two sides was offensive execution. The Black Knights shot over 45 percent from the field and nearly 43 percent from behind the arc. In contrast, BU shot just over 27 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent on 3-pointers.
“I thought we played pretty tentative,” BU head coach Katy Steding said in an email. “Our objective was to use the shot clock but I thought it also made us less aggressive. [It was] effective for the first five minutes or so, but I really thought we lost steam after they started hitting a lot of threes.”
The star of the game was undoubtedly Army senior Kelsey Minato. The Huntington Beach, California native entered the game as the only player in the nation to average at least 20 ppg, shoot 44 percent from 3-point range and shoot 85 percent from the free throw line.
Minato reached all of those benchmarks except for free throw shooting, as she was 2-of-3. However, she made 11 of her 18 field goals and was 6-10 from deep, as she finished the game with 30 points.
After the game, Steding raved about the play of Army’s star guard.
“She’s a very talented player obviously, but more so I’m just impressed with how focused she is,” Steding wrote. “She reads defense and screening actions so well. And clearly she can shoot as well as any player I’ve seen. And she’s so unselfish – everyone around her is better because of her.”
Senior Aimee Oertner pitched in 14 points and seven rebounds for Army to go along with six blocks. Despite Oertner’s defensive presence in the paint, BU was roughly even with Army in points in the paint, with the Black Knights holding a 26-24 edge.
After taking an initial lead, Army went on to outscore BU 22-11 in the first quarter. While BU was competitive in the second quarter, it failed to mount any threat of a comeback in the second half. The Terriers shot 6-of-28 from the floor for a measly 21.4 percent after halftime, as it became clear the Black Knights were going to run away with the game.
Afterwards, Steding wrote that Army was among the best teams that BU has faced this season.
“They are aggressive, great scorers and tough on both ends of the floor,” she wrote.
Sophomore guard Corrine Williams led the Terriers with 11 points. Aside from Williams, BU had little success on offense, as only six players total scored points, compared to nine for Army.
Sophomore forward Meghan Doogan knocked down a three on BU’s first possession and went on to finish the game with eight points. Junior guard Sarah Hope only played eight minutes, and was 0-for-2 on field goals.
It was a forgettable night for the Terriers, but Steding remained positive after the game, looking at what BU did well as well and what the team can do to learn from a game like this.
“I thought we did pretty good against a very aggressive defense, and I do think that we made some good runs at them,” Steding wrote. “I think going forward we need to get a few more shots to drop, be tougher with the ball and rebounding, and clearly we’ve got to do a better job [defending] at the 3-point line.”
