The ending was an all-too-familiar one for the Boston University women’s basketball team, a sixth consecutive America East tournament exit before the semifinal round. But in their brief stay in Burlington, Vt., the Terriers accomplished one feat, while giving their fans some hope that there might just be a little light at the end of the tunnel after all.
The Terriers entered the tournament as the eighth seed and having won four of their previous six games following a 10-game losing streak. In Wednesday night’s first round game against ninth-seeded Hofstra University, the Terriers had their most efficient offensive performance of the season in beating the Pride, 82-72. After a slow start that saw BU trail by as many as six points midway through the first half, the Terriers took the lead for good on a jump shot by freshman guard Courtney Jones with 6:01 left before halftime.
BU led, 42-35, at the intermission, and held a double-digit advantage for the duration of the game. The Terriers turned the ball over only nine times (a season-low), shot 50 percent from the field (29-of-58) and had five players score in double-figures. Senior center Alison Dixon led BU with 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, while Jones scored a career-high 17 points and connected on all but one of her four three-point attempts.
The win was BU’s 10th of the season, marking the Terriers’ first double-digit win total in five seasons and only their third season with 10 or more victories since 1990, when BU lost in the championship game of the now-defunct North Atlantic Conference. The previous year, the Terriers won the second of their only two conference championships.
Less than 24 hours after eliminating Hofstra, the Terriers had to face the top-seed and tournament favorite University of Delaware in the quarterfinals. The Terriers lost their two regular season games to the Fightin’ Blue Hens, but they had second half leads in both of those games. And when BU roared out to a 19-9 lead with 8:56 left in the first half, it looked like they might send the team that dominated the America East during the regular season to a stunning first-round tournament exit. But it was not to be, as the Terriers’ season came to a close with a closer-than-the-score-indicated 67-49 loss.
BU continued to hold the lead for most of the game against Delaware, but with 14 minutes left in regulation and the Terriers clinging to a 37-34 edge, BU’s upset hopes finally ran out of steam.
After shooting 38.5 percent (10-of-26) in the first half, BU did not look much better in the first six minutes of the second half. Delaware started playing like the 24-win team that they are. Delaware forward Christina Rible started dominating the undersized Terriers in the paint, scoring 13 of her game-high 20 points in the final 14 minutes. After Dixon and junior forward Dia Dufault combined to shoot 8-for-10 from the field in the first half, Delaware’s defense did a better job of denying them the ball after the intermission, as they combined for only two field goal attempts and two points in the second half. The Terriers finally succumbed to fatigue and Delaware’s defense turning the ball over 10 times in the final 13:14 while making only five of their last 15 shots.
Delaware took the lead for good with a 13-0 run midway through the second half. BU got within eight points (51-43) on a three-pointer by freshman guard Katie Terhune with 6:43 remaining, but Delaware finally put the pesky Terriers away with a 16-4 game-closing run.
Terhune led the Terriers with 18 points, but she only shot 7-for-19 from the field. Still, Terhune completed a solid freshman season with a team-leading scoring average of 16.2 points per game, including a team freshman record of 438 points. With three years of eligibility still remaining, Terhune undoubtedly has bright days ahead.
Alison Dixon finished her four-year collegiate career with 1,630 points, good for second on the team’s all-time scoring list. While she will certainly be missed next year, BU will return all of their other players next fall, along with freshman center Michelle Carr and junior guard Pilar Verde, both of whom saw little in the way of playing time this year because of various injuries.
BU hasn’t had a winning season since going 18-10 in 1995. They haven’t won a conference championship since 1989, and they haven’t appeared in a national postseason tournament since 1980. With their leading scorer and all but one player returning, BU fans have reason to believe that those streaks will be ending soon as well.
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