Despite getting off to a sluggish start against the University of Maine, the Boston University women’s basketball team clawed its way into fifth place in the America East conference, holding off the Black Bears, 63-61, Saturday afternoon at The Roof.
The Terriers (14-12. 6-7 America East) scored just one bucket in the game’s first five minutes and shot a dismal 36 percent from the floor in the first half. Maine (12-12, 6-7) took advantage of BU’s slump, as seniors Abby Green and Ashley Underwood accounted for nine of the Black Bears’ first 11 points and were instrumental in extending the lead to nine midway through the first half.
However, that was the largest the Black Bears’ lead would get, as BU’s defense tightened its grip, forcing four of their eight first-half turnovers with less than three minutes to play in the half.
After trailing for more than 16 of the game’s first 20 minutes, the Terriers took the lead with the half winding down, as sophomore Cheri Raffo buried a jump shot two steps behind the 3-point arc with just 36 seconds on the clock.
Sophomore Christine Kinneary kept the pressure on the Black Bears, stripping the inbounds pass from Maine senior forward Bracey Barker. With a flustered Green draped on her back, Kinneary hit the ensuing lay-up, completing the old fashioned three-point play on the free throw. The five-point swing put BU up, 21-19, with 19 seconds left in the half, capping a 9-0 Terrier run that erased Maine’s lead.
“We said at the beginning that we needed to be more aggressive,” Kinneary said. “That was a given and that’s what I talked to coach about. I saw the chance to grab the ball and did. Right after that series of plays, we got the momentum going our way and it pushed it into the second half.”
The Black Bears salvaged what momentum they could, but senior Katie Whittier’s layup with eight seconds remaining did little to damper BU’s spirits.
“There really wasn’t a lot of offense the first half for either team,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “It was a dreadful half of basketball. We went on a little 4-0 run to tie it at nineteen, which I always say at the end of the half is big — ‘let’s get some momentum.’
“But really, we didn’t talk too much about offense at halftime, we just talked about getting okay shots,” she continued. “[I said] ‘Let’s really keep focusing on not letting them get an inside game going like they did up at their place.'”
The Terriers followed Greenberg’s orders, keeping Maine out of the paint and off the free-throw line. The Black Bears finished with a total of 22 points in the paint and a mere six points off nine attempts from the line.
Rendering Maine’s post-up offense ineffective, the Terriers carried over their defensive intensity to the other end of the court, turning the ball over just once in the second half.
“As the game went on, we got more confident,” Kinneary said. “It’s hard not to turn the ball over, but when we came down the court and they pressured us, we found the openings and made good passes. We had to hold onto the ball.”
BU matched its first-half point total of 21 just eight minutes into the second half, putting together a 42-point second-half display that saw the Terriers shoot 20-of-44 from the floor.
Consecutive jump shots by senior tri-captain Katie Meinhardt and junior Kasey Devine carried the Terriers out to an 11-point lead, their largest margin of the day, with 11 minutes left to play. The Black Bears responded, however, by attacking the Terriers’ perimeter defense. Barker and Underwood both found the bottom of the net from behind the arc twice in the closing minutes of the game to recapture the lead at 57-56.
“It got close at the end,” Raffo said. “They closed the gap, but we stuck with it.”
With just 41 seconds to play, the Terriers found themselves on the wrong end of a one-point deficit. Following BU’s final time out, Kinneary found Raffo once again off the inbounds pass to set the Terriers’ final play in motion. Raffo took two dribbles before being double-teamed, forcing her to dish the ball to freshman standout Aly Hinton. “We drew up a play for Cheri,” Hinton said. “If she got doubled, the forward had to be there to give her help about where I caught the ball. I took a dribble and got the open look, and it felt good coming off my hand.”
Hinton’s jumper from the top of the key fell through the net, putting the Terriers on top with just 27 ticks to go. “We had a great play written up at the end of the half and Aly was able to get a good shot off,” Kinneary said. “It worked out perfectly.”
The Black Bears’ last chance came off the fingertips of junior guard Kris Younan as time expired, but her look from the top of the arc clanked off the right side of the rim.
The Terriers will try to extend their two-game winning streak tomorrow at the University of Hartford, when it also looks to avenge a 57-42 shellacking the last time the two teams played at The Roof on Jan. 31.
“[Hartford] has Danielle Hood, who is one of the best players in our conference,” Kinneary said. “We need to make sure we focus on shutting her down. Our guards will be responsible for that, but we need to keep up our defensive intensity and make sure not to let anyone drive down the lanes. If we can take care of that, we will have a good shot at putting up a fight.”