Even though the Boston University women’s basketball team is still in search of its first road win of the season, it may not have to travel very far at all to get it. In fact, it will take just an 11-minute bus ride from the Terriers’ home Case Gymnasium to Solomon Court as the team visits cross-town rival Northeastern University Monday night at 7 p.m.
The Terriers (2-6) will try to rebound from a 66-42 home loss at the hands of No. 20 St. John’s University Saturday afternoon.
Two Terriers to keep an eye on are junior forward Caroline Stewart and senior center Kerry Cashman. The two upperclassmen, who BU coach Kelly Greenberg called the team’s two best players, were held scoreless by St. John’s over the weekend. Cashman is averaging 8.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while Stewart is pulling down 7.8 boards and scoring 7.5 points per game thus far this season.
Junior guard Alex Young—another one of the most consistent Terriers—will be looking to score double digits again. She has accomplished the feat in 18 straight games, including every game this year and is averaging 16.5 points per game this season. Young has led BU in scoring in four of out its eight games so far, including Saturday, when the 5-foot-9 3-point specialist scored 11 points, thanks in part to a perfect 5-of-5 performance from the free-throw line.
Despite Young’s points, five assists and four rebounds, she turned the ball over six times against St. John’s. Greenberg knows Young could do better and thinks the team as a whole should not focus so much on shooting from outside the arc.
“She’s playing very well, but she could play a lot better,” Greenberg said. “And we’re shooting way too many 3’s right now. We’re relying on the three way too much.”
The Terriers, who only had Sunday to prepare for NU (2-4), had to hurry to prepare for NU’s press defense and an offense that differs dramatically from the one they played Saturday.
“Northeastern is going to press us. They have pressed everyone they’ve played,” Greenberg said. “They really can shoot the 3, unlike [St. John’s, who] would rather put it on the floor. So for us, in our turnaround time, we have to prepare for a team that shoots a lot of 3’s and can shoot [well].”
Unfortunately for BU, the team will have to guard not only against NU’s 3-pointers, but also its own psyche. A dangerous combination of a brutal travel schedule, several high-level opponents and an all-around rough start to the season has some of the younger and less experienced Terriers feeling down.
“Our mindset right now is not great,” Greenberg said. “We have to be tough. We have to be mentally tough and ready to make some changes.”
Some of those changes may take the form of changes in playing time distribution among the team’s starters and bench players. Against St. John’s, three Terriers—freshman guard Melissa Gallo, sophomore guard Kristen Sims and sophomore forward Jacqueline Kuczynski—accrued an average of 18 minutes off the bench. This is a big change from prior games, when Greenberg relied heavily on her starters.
“As a coaching staff, you’re constantly learning,” Greenberg said. “You can’t keep playing the same people when things aren’t going well.”
In addition to being stronger mentally, Greenberg said the team also has to be tougher physically.
“I think our sophomores are a little soft right now,” Greenberg said. “I’m not sure why, but we just have to compete more at practice and get better and stronger and just say ‘No way. No way is anyone taking this ball.’”
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