The Boston University women’s basketball team will look to end its current three-game skid on Wednesday night, when it takes on Lafayette College at Case Gym
The Terriers (8-10, 3-5 Patriot League) came close to earning a victory last Saturday against the second-place United States Naval Academy. BU managed to come within one point of tying the Midshipmen (16-3, 6-2 Patriot League) with just eight seconds to go in the fourth quarter, but was unable to secure the win.
The loss marked the third straight for the Terriers, which ties their longest losing-streak of the season so far.
Despite the score of the game, BU head coach Katy Steding said she was proud of her team’s fight and determination.
“It was a good game, and we were right there with them,” Steding said. “They played really hard with a couple of changes [to] the lineup and the offense we were attacking with.”
Senior guard Corrine Williams will be a player to watch for the Terriers, as she has certainly heated up in the last few games. She has reached double digits in four of her last five games, including a career-high 22-point performance in Saturday’s loss.
BU senior center Sophie Beaudry also seems to be in the midst of a hot streak, as she is coming off of her first double-double performance of the season after scoring 10 points and collecting 11 rebounds.
The Terriers seem to be gaining some momentum to face off against the Leopards (7-11, 3-5 Patriot League) and get back to their winning ways.
“I don’t think [the team] ever had grandiose doubts about where we were at or what we were doing,” Steding said. “I think we’ve missed the mark a couple times. It’s putting a complete game together for the girls and helping them fight though couple of the doldrums when we have a little bit of a scoring gap.”
Lafayette is entering Wednesday’s matchup having lost four of its last five. The Leopards are currently 2-7 on the road this season, but still boast a handful of talented players.
Freshman forward Natalie Kucowski averages a team-leading 11.6 points per game and is coming off of a double-double performance, her seventh of the season, against American University last Saturday.
Kucowski has been the recipient of three Patriot League Rookie of the Year awards so far this season, and Steding knows her team will not be able to take her lightly.
“[Kucowski] is pretty versatile,” Steding said. “She can bring it up in transition, she can shoot threes … We have to make sure that she doesn’t go off on us. They have different personnel, they’re young in the post and experienced at guard. We have to make sure that their top shooters don’t get the good looks that they get from the outside.”
Kucowski’s teammate, senior guard Anna Ptasinski, also leads the Lafayette offense, averaging 9.1 points per game and owns an impressive percentage of .402 from beyond the arc this season.
The Terriers and the Leopards share identical conference records and are currently tied for sixth place in the Patriot League with Loyola University Maryland.
Steding noted that her team still has some things to work on as it begins to approach the end of the regular season.
BU has not had a lead at the end of each of its last 10 quarters, which dates back to the third quarter of its matchup against the College of Holy Cross on Jan. 13th.
Steding hopes to address this issue, stressing the importance of defense and stating that it will be the key to a victory Wednesday night.
“We start with defense,” Steding said. “We have to make sure that our intensity is up so that we don’t dig ourselves a hole in the first part of the game. We really stress the importance of getting stops on defense because that feeds our offense too.”
