The Boston University women’s basketball team chalked up its fourth consecutive win last night at Agganis Arena and is now 3-0 in America East after handling the Binghamton Bearcats, 81-63.
Senior co-captain Christine Kinneary fell one point shy of her career high with 22 points and fellow senior co-captain Jesyka Burks-Wiley finished with a double-double (22 points, 11 rebounds).
‘A lot of teams in the conference are going to try to pick me up full court, pressure me,’ Kinneary said. ‘So I just spoke with coach and I felt like if they were going to play up on me I could really get to the basket.’
Despite being in foul trouble for the majority of the game, senior Amarachi Umez-Eronini chipped in 10 points, four boards and three assists in her 22 minutes of playtime.
The Terriers (9-6, 3-0 AE) pulled away from Binghamton (6-10, 1-2) by driving the lane, picking up fouls and shooting 83 percent from the charity stripe in the first half.
‘[Kinneary] and [Umez-Eronini] have the green light. If they see any lane they take it,’ BU coach Kelly Greenberg said. ‘We want to put it on the floor. We want to get to the free-throw line. We’re good free-throw shooters.’
BU was shooting a league-best 72 percent from the free-throw line coming into the matchup, and improved that number by nailing 76 percent against the Bearcats.’
Coming into the game, Binghamton was the best 3-point shooting team in America East (36 percent) but was held to just 23-percent shooting by the Terrier defense.
‘We just really wanted to be up on them, all over them on the wings, not really giving them much space,’ Kinneary said. ‘We work a lot on 1-on-1 defense in practice, just moving our feet, making sure that we’re long. Those are the things we just emphasize every day in practice and we really brought that to today’s game.” ‘
The first five minutes of the game featured eight lead changes and was tied at eight until Kinneary scored on a fast-break layup at 5:30, giving the Terriers a lead they would hold for the rest of the game. Kinneary scored 18 of her 22 points in the first half.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Burks-Wiley and freshman Alex Young inside of the final six minutes of the first half gave BU a 33-19 lead.
Another triple from freshman Caroline Stewart inside of three minutes gave the Terriers a 42-22 lead ‘-‘- their largest of the half.
BU shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc in the first half and held a 49-33 lead at the break. The Terriers racked up 18 points in the paint and turned 16 Binghamton turnovers into 13 points.
BU continued to dominate play in the second half, as Binghamton never came within 15 points of the Terriers’ lead.
At 17:35, Kinneary continued her offensive assault by hitting a heavily contested hook shot in the lane, giving the Terriers a 56-36 advantage.
BU’s bench contributed 11 points in the second half, including five points from forward Kerry Cashman. The 6-foot-2 sophomore added three boards and two blocks in the half.
Stewart hit a hook shot in the post and turned a steal into a Burks-Wiley layup all in less than three minutes, giving the Terriers a 64-45 lead.
‘[Stewart] and [Cashman] continue to get better,’ Greenberg said. ‘They have such great attitudes. They’re perfect teammates for our four seniors and [junior Aly Hinton]. They really are sponges. They play against [Burks-Wiley] and [Hinton] every day and they learn from them just by playing against them.’
Umez-Eronini put the finishing touches on the win with a sweet dish to Cashman with less than three minutes remaining, giving the Terriers a 77-54 lead.
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