Katy Steding, head coach of the Boston University women’s basketball team, has longed for her players to put together a thorough, 40-minute game in the 2015-16 season.
That’s exactly what she observed Wednesday night against Colgate University, as the Terriers (3-22, 3-11 Patriot League) emerged as 71-58 victors away from home. With the win, BU surpassed the Raiders (4-20, 2-12 Patriot League) in the conference standings and relied on a diverse cast of characters to call the win column home once more.
Sophomore guard Meghan Doogan led the charge with a career-high 23 points, including 15 from 3-point range. However, Steding was most proud of how her team never wavered from its game plan and trusted in one another.
“We made a really concerted effort to really focus on our defense, playing good position defense and so on and so forth,” Steding said. “It was a very, very good team effort with unselfish play that really helped us get it done. Meg Doogan went off right away and that really sparked us and gave us a big lift, and people got more enthusiastic after that. It was just a really good, unselfish team win.”
A major reason BU came out on top was its performance on the boards. The Terriers have been hit-and-miss in this regard all year long, but outrebounded Colgate 49-33. Junior guard Courtney Latham and graduate student guard Troi Melton starred in this respect, as each grabbed 11 boards.
Coming into Wednesday night, the duo averaged just under five rebounds a game, a strict departure from their sterling performance against the Raiders. Nonetheless, Steding was not surprised to see them put together two of their better showings of the year.
“I would say Courtney is one of the best rebounding guards I’ve ever coached, and you don’t have to work on it with her,” Steding said. “She has a nose for the ball and actually does a good job of rebounding in every game … Then Troi is super athletic and has a nose for the ball. She’s so fast that if she’s a step behind someone, she can make up the gap in a hurry. She really led the charge in that respect.”
Another strong element of BU’s game was its ability to limit senior Josie Stockill, one of the nation’s best shot blockers. Steding placed sophomore guard Corrine Williams and sophomore forward Kara Sheftic on the senior, trying to limit her effectiveness.
They finished with 11 and eight points, respectively, but most importantly kept Stockill to only six rebounds. She also only blocked three BU shots.
“We put Corrine Williams on her, and Kara came off the bench tonight and did a nice job on her too,” Steding said. “I thought Corrine was terrific, so measured, so controlled and she really knows the game. She did a really good job staying in position defense and worked really well with Troi on their two inside kids. That was a really good combination, but I thought Corrine did a really good job on [Stockill].”
Looking ahead, BU will next take on Bucknell University, a team that is tied for first place in the Patriot League, this Saturday. The Terriers fell 74-56 to the Bison (19-6, 13-1 Patriot League) Jan. 23, but Steding is not deterred by that result.
Instead, she feels her team has grown in many regards and will be ready for the next challenge coming its way.
“We’re going to learn from a win, which is a great position to be in, and capitalize on the things we did well,” Steding said. “We’ll get ready for Bucknell because they have a strong team, and I thought we played really well against them in the first half last time at their place. If we can really be focused and concentrate on a team effort, we’ll be in good shape for Saturday.”
Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.
