The Boston University women’s basketball team defeated Stony Brook University 82-65 on Thursday at Pritchard Gymnasium and University of Hartford 58-50 on Sunday to continue a seven-game winning streak.
The Terriers (10-9, 7-0 America East) shot 50.9 percent from the field against Stony Brook as they put up their highest point total since Nov. 17 against Yale University.
“We didn’t take many bad shots, and we have a lot of different scorers on our team,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “We felt like we were really knocking down shots when we needed to.”
Sophomore guard Chantell Alford scored a game-high 24 points and junior guard Alex Young added 16 points of her own.
“[Alford] started pushing the ball for us and she was realizing she was open a lot,” Greenberg said. “She was definitely on tonight, especially in the second half.”
Senior forward Kerry Cashman had another strong performance, finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds. Also contributing a strong effort was sophomore guard Mo Moran, who scored 15 points along with four assists and four steals. The two combined to shoot 11-for-17 from the field.
Freshman forward Rashidat Agboola played 21 minutes off the bench and played great defense as well as scoring five points. Agboola has been a key reserve at forward this season.
“She did a lot of good things for us,” Greenberg said. “It might not show in the stat sheet but her minutes were great. She is getting better and better and it worked out well for us that we could get her so many meaningful minutes.”
Stony Brook (4-15, 1-6 AE) started out hot, making five of its first seven shots, and jumped out to a 10-7 lead. The lead changed hands several times, and the score at halftime was 35-28 Terriers.
“Stony Brook came out with a lot of energy and really tried to get us to hurry the basketball and we did early on,” Greenberg said.
However, the second half was BU’s opportunity for a quick start. The Terriers outscored the Seawolves 12-4 to begin the second frame and never looked back.
“We really played a really good game after the first eight minutes,” Greenberg said.
Against Hartford (6-14, 3-4 AE) on Sunday, the Terriers needed another strong second-half run to secure the win.
“I thought our team really gutted it out,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “I don’t really think our team played particularly well, but we really played tough when we had to, and it was fantastic as a coach to watch all of them just step up and make it happen.”
The Terriers started out slow, allowing Hartford to come out with an 8-2 run. Hartford expanded on their lead as the half went on, leading by as much as 10 with 5:53 remaining in the first half. The score at halftime was 27-20 Hawks.
“In the first half we definitely came out with a lot of nervous energy,” Moran said.
However, the Terriers came to life when the second half started. BU began the half on a 14-5 run, and took its first lead with 11:11 remaining in the game off of a 3-pointer by Young. Hartford only retook the lead one more time, as BU pulled away in the final minutes.
“I think when we settle down and we play our game we are very good,” Greenberg said. “But when we get hyped up and we have the ball and just hurry we get out of whack a little bit.”
The Terriers did not shoot well on Sunday, only hitting 35.5 percent of their shots. However, they shot the ball 16 more times than the Hawks, and ended the game with 19 offensive rebounds.
“Our shots weren’t really falling,” Cashman said. “We really concentrated on offensive rebounds so we could get second and third shots just because our percentage wasn’t very high.”
Cashman and junior forward Caroline Stewart combined for 10 offensive rebounds in the game. Cashman ended the game with 14 total rebounds and nine points.
BU also blocked nine Hartford shots in the game, including a momentum-shifting rejection by Cashman as the Terriers were coming back early in the second half.
Moran, who ended the game with 19 points and five assists, was the leading scorer for the Terriers. She also made a key steal in the final minute of the game that clinched the win for the Terriers.
Alford started the game poorly and missed her first seven shots of the game. However, she hit a key 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half, and ended the game with 15 points.
“I think early on she was just hurrying her shots and wanted it so badly that she just wasn’t herself,” Greenberg said of Alford. “I think it shows a lot that she kept attacking and kept shooting.”
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