On Sunday afternoon, the Boston University women’s basketball team had a little trouble rebounding—in more ways than one. The Terriers (13-11, 10-2 America East) could not bounce back from their first conference loss of the season on Wednesday as they fell to University of Hartford (11-14, 8-4 AE) 66-59, due in large part to being outrebounded 45-26.
Both teams started out slow in the first half—the score was tied 2-2 more than five minutes into the game—but the offense picked up as the half continued, and the Hawks held a 31-27 advantage going into the locker rooms.
Hartford used a steep rebounding advantage (25 to 6) and sharp three-point shooting (5 for 6) to prevent BU from leading once during the first 20 minutes. The Terriers used an 11-2 run to tie the game with as little as 2:52 left in the half, but could not capitalize on the momentum to get ahead.
“[Hartford] kept on getting second- and third-shot opportunities and that killed us,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “That was the game right there. The [rebounding] differential in the first half was just way too much, and it really set a tone for them, and it hurt us in a lot of ways.”
Sophomore guard Mo Moran finished the first half with 11 points, easily surpassing her game-average of 10.2, and finished the game with 15 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
“She certainly has the ability to do that,” Greenberg said of Moran’s overall performance the last few games. “She can get physical at point guard. She’s a great competitor and has done a lot of good things for us.”
At the start of the second half, the Terriers entered foul trouble. Senior center Kerry Cashman, junior guard Alex Young, and sophomore guard Chantell Alford all had three fouls three minutes into the half, and Cashman was forced to momentarily sit just minutes later after picking up her fourth.
The Hartford offense was boosted by several key runs, highlighted by a 7-0 one over the span of just 53 seconds to extend its lead to a then-game high 48-39, but the Terriers fought back each time. BU trailed by two, 58-56, with just over three minutes to play, but Hartford guard Mary Silvia proceeded to hit a key 3-pointer.
As the game wound down, the Terriers continued to tread water and stay within striking distance. Hartford started to waste the game’s remaining seconds, and, due to BU’s foul woes, the team did not foul to stop the clock. For much of the second half, Greenberg had to balance her players’ foul troubles and playing time.
“We wanted to keep them in there, and we did a pretty nice job getting back into the game,” Greenberg said. “But unfortunately, I think we spent so much effort and energy getting back to make it a closer game, that at the end we were just playing it out a little bit.”
By the time BU did foul, it was too late: Alford fouled Silvia with 18.7 seconds to go and BU down 65-59. It was Alford’s fifth foul as she finished her day with 19 points—including the 800th of her collegiate career—and three steals.
“She hit some big shots for us today,” Greenberg said.
Cashman managed to play the last 13 minutes with four fouls, and finished with a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Hawks from winning their fifth straight game.
Now, the suddenly sliding Terriers now hold just a half game lead over second-place University of Maryland-Baltimore County (16-10, 10-3 AE) in AE and need to straighten out with just four regular season games left.
“We need to regroup and we need to get back to our strengths,” Greenberg said. “We need to reconfigure some things and get better at everything, really. All of the teams in our conference are really ready for our stuff, so we’ll have to mix up our offense.”
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