The Boston University women’s basketball team let an important conference matchup against the United States Military Academy slip away at Case Gym, losing by a score of 64-52.
The Terriers (11-16 Patriot League 9-7) were killed by a dismal third quarter in which they were outscored 21-12 after entering halftime trailing by two.
The contest was close, as there were six lead changes and the score was tied three times. BU led with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter and were within one with just over two minutes before the fourth. In the final two minutes of the third, Army (20-7 Patriot League 11-5) took control of the game with a 10-0 run to go up by 11 points heading into the final period.
Junior center Sophie Beaudry finished the game with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Senior guard Sarah Hope struggled, shooting 3-10 from the field for eight points while committing seven turnovers.
Freshman forward Nia Irving led the team with 13 points in 34 minutes, her second highest total minutes of the season behind a double-overtime contest against Colgate University. While Irving led the team in scoring, she did not have an efficient night, shooting 5-18, her most shot attempts in a game this season.
In this game, the Terriers missed the presence of senior guard Courtney Latham, who did not dress.
“Courtney is a really tough kid, I think she would have gutted this one out. I know she is bothered that she could not play in this game,” said BU head coach Katy Steding. “She has a tremendous influence on the rest of the girls. It’s an opportunity for the rest to step up. We have won games with [junior guard] Corinne Williams out of the lineup. People need to step up and continue to play their role.”
The first half was a back-and-forth battle. As a team, BU shot 11-33 from the field in the first half and 1-6 from behind the arc, while the Black Knights shot 11-30 and 1-7 from 3-point range.
Army outrebounded BU 23 to 20. After the first half, the Terriers trailed by a score of 28 to 26. The first half was highlighted by four lead changes and the score being tied on two separate occasions as no team could establish control of the game.
The Terriers shot 50 percent from the free throw line and the Black Knights shot 77.8 percent from the line. The discrepancy in free throws was a major factor in the loss for BU.
“Their will was a little stronger than ours, if you look across the stat sheet everything is pretty equal except the free throws. They shot a lot more and made more free throws than us,” Steding said.
Army junior Aliyah Murray led the way for the Black Knights with a double-double, totaling 13 points and 16 rebounds. Sophomore Madison Hovern just missed a double-double of her own as she finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
After building a lead in the third quarter, Army put the game away in the final stanza. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Black Knights were able to build a 16-point lead, which was the highest lead at that point in the game.
BU will look to get revenge when they head to West Point, New York for its final regular season game on March 1.
Before that, BU plays the College of the Holy Cross on Saturday at home for senior night.
“Everyone gets up for senior night,” Steding said. “We’ll have a nice crowd, it’s a little sad to think this could be our last home game. It might be [the seniors’] last game at home, so we mark the occasion and play hard,” Steding said.
