W. basketball finishes strong against Vermont

If there was ever a game for three members of the Boston University women’s basketball team to have career scoring nights, Saturday’s regular season finale against University of Vermont may have been it.

The career-highs came from sophomore guard Chantell Alford, who scored 29 points, and senior guards Kat Briggs and Krystyn McIntyre, who added 10 and five points, respectively, as BU (15-13, 12-4 America East) routed Vermont (5-24, 5-11 AE) 75-52 to give the Terriers some much needed momentum heading into next week’s AE tournament.

BU got off to a hot start—something it has struggled with lately—that may have been keyed by two starting lineup changes. In honor of the last home game of the regular season, Briggs and McIntyre started in place of junior guard Alex Young and sophomore guard Mo Moran. Senior center Kerry Cashman, who started the previous 27 games for the Terriers, also got the start.

The teams were scoreless for nearly two minutes until McIntyre hit a jumper at 1:49 for the first basket of the game. Minutes later, Briggs assisted McIntyre’s 3-pointer, much to the delight of the crowd and the BU bench.

“I don’t think the game could have started any better for our seniors,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “I couldn’t be happier [for McIntyre]. She has great energy, great character, and I’m glad that she wasn’t shy. If you’re going to play, then put it up there.

“The energy from our bench was probably more than the energy on the court, which is great. That’s how much [the other players] respect [the seniors] and care about them,” Greenberg said.

The Terriers built a double-digit lead less than 10 minutes into the game on a Briggs three-pointer and never looked back. An 11-0 BU run later in the half extended the lead to 36-14, and the Terriers led 40-21 at the half.

The beginning of the second half yielded more of the same as the Terriers maintained a 15- to 20-point lead for much of the half. Vermont closed the gap to as little as 11 with seven minutes to play, but BU distanced itself again thanks to Alford’s two traditional three-point plays.

With 6:15 and again with 4:48 left in the game, Alford drove to the hoop for layups, getting fouled both times. Alford made the ensuing free throws to extinguish Vermont’s attempted comeback.

Despite some shoves after the whistle in the second half, a visibly frustrated Greenberg couldn’t seem to get the calls she wanted.

“I was irritated,” Greenberg said. “Refs have to see that stuff. I teach our young women to never do something like that. There’s no room for that kind of stuff, and I just didn’t think the three officials could miss it. I’m a fighter and I’ll do anything to protect our players, so when I saw some cheap shots I got a little uptight.”

As the game wound down, Greenberg subbed out the three seniors with two minutes to play so they could get a last ovation from the home crowd. Then, in the last minute with BU winning by more than 20, the crowd started a “Thank you seniors!” chant.

“It was great,” McIntyre said. “I think we came out ready to play and it was really exciting.”

“It was good to get that type of win going into the tournament to give us strength,” Cashman said.

With the win and Binghamton University’s loss, the Terriers earn the No. 2 seed in that tournament, and will play Vermont again next Friday in the quarterfinals. But for Briggs, simply getting back to the basics was most important.

“We had fun today,” Briggs said, “and that’s what we’ve been wanting to get back to: just having fun. I think we remembered tonight why we all have fun playing basketball.”