Thanks to an efficient and balanced offense, which featured three players scoring in double figures, the Boston University women’s basketball team soundly defeated Stony Brook University, 64–45, at Case Gym Wednesday.
“It was a really good game,” BU (19–4, 9–1 America East) coach Kelly Greenberg said. “We did some nice things. One of our goals was to shut down their posts on the inside and I don’t think we gave them many baskets or anything, so … we really achieved that tonight.”
The Terriers, who held the lead for the entire game, started off strong thanks to scoring from four out of their five starters. They built a 20–7 lead with fewer than 12 minutes to go in the first half.
The Seawolves (12–11, 4–6 America East) answered back, outscoring the Terriers 14–8 over the next nine minutes to cut the deficit down to seven, 28–21, with 3:11 remaining. However, BU scored the final seven points of the first half, punctuated by one of senior guard Chantell Alford’s four 3-pointers of the night, giving the Terriers a 35–21 halftime lead.
The Terriers’ offense had a great first half, hitting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) of its shot attempts, while the Seawolves ended the half with a 37.5 (9-of-24) field goal percentage. By the end of the opening frame, two BU players had already scored in double figures, as Alford led the team with 14 points while junior forward Rashidat Agboola scored 10.
A 14-point lead was good news for the Terriers, as they are 14–0 this season when leading at halftime.
“I thought we came out on all cylinders, and it wasn’t like we were really slow and being patient, which is a good thing,” Greenberg said. “We balanced it out. We were aggressive, yet patient when we needed to be. I thought Chantell and the two forwards running our ‘one-look’ really got us some great looks.”
While the Terriers’ offense was the big story in the first half, it was the team’s defense that dominated the second half of the game. The Terriers held the Seawolves to only one made field goal during the first six minutes of the half, as the lead swelled to 50–23 with 13 minutes to play in the game.
“The first six minutes were great,” Greenberg said. “We started playing more with our feet and not assuming what they were going to do. All five of our players are just really tough and are not going to let people break us down. We were finishing with some good defensive rebounding at that point, which is always the key to good defense.”
Once again, the Seawolves responded, going on a 16–3 run to bring the deficit down to 14 with fewer than nine minutes to go.
BU’s defense once again stepped up in the final minutes of the game, preventing Stony Brook from hitting a field goal for over five minutes while continuing to pad its lead. Stony Brook only made one more basket in the final five minutes of play and the Terriers earned the 64–45 victory.
Alford led all scorers with 20 points. It was the seventh time this season she recorded at least 20 points in a game. Agboola finished with 17 points while senior guard Mo Moran chipped in with 12 points. Junior forward Whitney Turner led BU with a career-high six assists.
BU finished the game with a 48.1 field goal percentage (25-of-52), while Stony Brook hit 33.3 percent (17-of-51) of its shots. BU was also perfect from the free-throw line in the game, hitting all seven of its shots from the charity stripe.
BU will look to continue its winning play against Binghamton University. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m.