The Boston University women’s basketball team fell to the United States Military Academy on Wednesday night at Case Gym in a game with major playoff implications.
The Terriers (11-16, 9-7 Patriot League) were unable to secure a win at home in the first of two matchups against the Black Knights (20-7, 11-5 Patriot League). As a result, they lost ground in the chase to host a first-round playoff game. Now, the Terriers find themselves a game behind American University for fourth place in the Patriot League.
While the first half featured numerous lead changes and sharp ball movement, there was no shortage of ill-advised shots and missed rebound opportunities. Both offenses struggled, in part to very aggressive defense. The Black Knights assumed a full court press early on in the game, while the Terriers resorted to double-teaming.
Consequently, both teams were held to under 40 percent field goal shooting in the first half.
BU was relatively successful on the glass, but missed several chances to secure defensive rebounds, which resulted in second chances for Army in the first half. Furthermore, junior center Sophie Beaudry had difficulties boxing out her aggressive low post opponents. The Terriers’ frontcourt was only able to grab nine rebounds while the Black Knights amassed 13, a large enough difference to give Army a slight advantage at the end of the half.
In addition, the Terriers’ double-teaming efforts were successful, as the Black Knights committed 12 turnovers. However, the defensive feat was neutralized by 11 BU turnovers.
In the second half, the same defensive strategies reappeared. Army continued with full-court pressure while BU stuck to trapping. Ultimately, the difference came down to a 10-0 run by Army in the final two minutes of the third quarter. The Black Knights outplayed the Terriers with more tenacity and determination when it was most needed.
“Sometimes their will was a little stronger than ours,” said BU head coach Katy Steding.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, Army surged thanks to its full-court pressure. This effort produced turnovers and several rushed shots from the Terriers, which resulted in BU’s largest deficit of 16 points. The Terriers made several attempts to get back into the game, but Army held its ground and retained a double-digit lead until the end.
Additionally, Army’s success in stifling BU’s backcourt resulted in several fast break buckets and impacted BU’s ability to get back on defense or create any offense.
Despite BU turning the ball over one fewer time than Army, the Black Knights still scored 11 more points off turnovers than the Terriers did.
“I don’t think we did a very good job of keeping the ball out of the right hands,” Steding said. “We did an okay job defensively. We didn’t finish the deal so many times. They had multiple points off offensive boards and a lot of points off of our turnovers.”
Consequently, the Terriers’ 12-point deficit late in the fourth quarter proved too significant. Although the team forced turnovers in the last couple minutes, the deficit was too large to overcome with so little time remaining.
The most concerning and game-deciding statistic was free throws. After stout defense toward the end that got them to the free throw line, the Terriers did not convert and ended the game converting only half of their free throws. Contrarily, the Black Knights shot 77.8 percent from the line and also attempted seven more free throws.
“If you look across the stat sheet, everything is pretty equal except for the fouls,” Steding said. “The free throws. They were wonderfully good from free throws. They had more shots from free throws but they still had a higher percentage.”
The Terriers have one more game against the Black Knights in their last regular season game. On the road, BU will have the chance to redeem itself and even the series at one game a piece. Steding recognizes that the team needs to be better in the next matchup.
“It’s not about avenging this loss,” Steding said. “This is not who we’ve been. It’s about us playing like our normal selves.”
