The Boston University women’s basketball team battled it out against Lehigh on Wednesday night, ultimately winning in a high scoring game, 89-78.
The Mountain Hawks (15-12, 7-9 PL) immediately felt the pressure of the Terriers two early baskets (17-10, 9-7 Patriot League), but they answered with a three-pointer by junior guard Colleen McQuillen.
Senior guard Kelsi Mingo stayed tight on the ball during the game, giving the team the necessary defensive rebounds throughout. Mingo, who averages just 2.1 rebounds a game, hauled in eight. Senior forward Caitlin Weimar paced the game with nine rebounds, four offensive and five defensive.
Freshman guard Aoibhe Gormley came into the mix, forcing a turnover and later tying up the game at 18 with a shifty 3-pointer with a minute left in the first quarter.
“Aoibhe was very, very aggressive getting downhill and she was able to score the basketball, that made them adjust and it freed it up for [Weimar],” BU head coach Melissa Graves said. “So not only did she help herself, she helped Caitlin and her teammates a little bit. I thought she played with great pace.”
Junior guard Alex Giannaros put up 17 points after the first half alone, including back-to-back-to-back scores and a steal of her own.
The Terriers remained in the lead going into the break but only by a two point margin.
“We didn’t really do a great job [on defense] as they got off a lot of threes and hit I think 11 but our goal was to keep them under five and obviously we didn’t do that,” Giannaros said. “But I think in the end our defense kind of made key stops when we needed some.”
Starting off the second half, Weimar broke the ice, scoring on a layup to extend the BU lead.
Gormley’s third quarter performance was exceptional, putting the Terriers on her back. She totaled 14 points in the quarter, and ended with 21.
“The first play it was wide open, so we kept rolling with it,” Gormely said. “When you’re making wide-open layups, then you start to build some confidence and then just try to keep playing with that and build off of it.”
Even with an electric third quarter, the Terriers did not cool down.
They continued to make key plays, taking advantage of offensive rebounds and accumulating seven second-chance points in the fourth quarter.
The seven fouls committed by Lehigh in the fourth gave them chances to score at the free throw line, with the Terriers going 6-7 from the stripe.
Weimar extended BU’s lead, scoring nine in the quarter to help close out the game.
The Terriers host Holy Cross on Saturday at 3 p.m. and will celebrate the careers of seniors Mingo, Weimar, and guard Sophie Beneventine in their final home game of the regular season.
