If a team gets out-rebounded 47-29 and has its leading scorer foul out, it’s usually a safe bet that team’s going to lose. This wasn’t the case Saturday, however, when the Boston University women’s basketball team visited Lundholm Gym to take on the University of New Hampshire.
Despite being dominated on the boards and losing junior forward Jesyka Burks-Wiley to foul trouble, the Terriers (10-8, 3-2 America East) came back from an 11-point second-half deficit to win on a last-second layup by sophomore forward Aly Hinton.
The teams exchanged baskets before Hinton hit a layup with 30 seconds left to tie it at 75. The Wildcats had a chance to hold the ball and take the final shot, but sophomore forward Candace Williams (14 points, 11 rebounds) turned it over with 24 seconds left to give the Terriers one last chance.
“We didn’t have any one play or any one shooter in mind,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “We just wanted to make sure we didn’t shoot too early. We didn’t want them to get an opportunity if we missed.”
After holding the ball for 20 seconds, freshman guard Kat Briggs passed to Hinton at the top of the key. She put the ball on the floor and drove to the basket. Her first shot was blocked by Ashley Cerniglia, but she immediately grabbed her own rebound and layed it in with one second left to give BU the 77-75 victory.
UNH (3-14, 0-5) scored the game’s first five points before BU got on the board with a jumper from Burks-Wiley, who finished with a team-high 19 points. With 12:30 left in the first half, the Terriers tied the score at 13 on a 3 from senior guard Corinne Jean (5 points).
The Wildcats reclaimed the lead before BU guard Kristi Dini (14 points) came off the bench and hit a trey to knot the score at 20. After taking a 29-24 lead with 3:46 left in the half, UNH tore off on an 11-0 run to take a 35-29 lead into the break.
BU battled back at the onset of the second half, tying the score at 38 on a layup by junior guard Christine Kinneary (7 points, 5 assists). UNH answered with back-to-back 3s from senior guard Ashley Cerniglia, who finished with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats took their biggest lead of the game when freshman forward Denise Beliveau (18 points) knocked down a trey to make it 56-45 with 12:52 left. Almost immediately after, Dini cut the lead to five with back-to-back 3s.
“Kristi’s 3s were huge,” said Greenberg, whose team snapped a five-game road losing streak. “Our guards started to get some penetration and that allowed us to either kick it out to Kristi or look to our forwards inside.”
UNH increased its lead back to 10 with 8:13 remaining on a layup by sophomore center Racheal Fowler (8 points). But Burks-Wiley would respond with a layup with 5:00 left to cut the lead to 67-65
Kinneary’s jumper a minute later tied it at 69. But BU suffered a devastating loss when Burks-Wiley fouled out with 2:01 remaining.
“This is a couple games in a row now that Jes has gotten into foul trouble,” Greenberg said. “She just has to stay focused and balanced. Sometimes she gets a little over-aggressive at bad moments and picks up cheap fouls.”
But with Burks-Wiley out, Hinton was there to carry the load in the closing seconds.