Coming off a near upset win over American University behind 23 points from redshirt junior guard Troi Melton, the Boston University women’s basketball team will play its final home game of the season against Bucknell University on Saturday.
The Terriers (5-21, 2-13 Patriot League) have had four of their five wins on the season at home, while the other came in a neutral site game against Stephen F. Austin State University on Nov. 29, 2014. The team’s road record sits at 0-13 away from Case Gym.
On Jan. 24, when both teams faced one another, Bucknell (16-10, 8-7 Patriot League) earned a 72-56 win with a combined 45 points from the 2014 Patriot League Rookie of the year sophomore Claire DeBoer and senior Audrey Dotson.
In the same game, BU got a then-career-high of 16 points from Melton on 7-for-13 shooting, which she then exceeded in Wednesday’s game versus American (18-8, 13-2 Patriot League).
The Bronx, New York native has come on due to a lack of scoring punch for the team. After a couple years of minimal action, Melton is averaging 6.4 points per game while being second on the team in field goal percentage for players who have more than 65 minutes played at 42.1 percent.
She is also second on the team in steals with 22, trailing only sophomore guard Courtney Latham, who has 35.
Steding said Melton has the potential to have another strong game against the Bison.
“We are still a team looking for consistent performances night in and night out,” said BU coach Katy Steding. “Troi has been one of the people, there are several of them, that have been really solid performers all year. They may have four points one game and 14 the next. Troi has been better towards the latter half of the season. She’s done a really good job at being more aggressive to the basket. She can put the ball on the floor and use her burst of speed to get open.”
The teams’ first meeting in January was particularly rough for Latham, as she had two points, counteracted by six turnovers.
Latham has rebounded, as she is first on the team and fifth in the Patriot League in assists with 73, but still has a problem holding onto the ball, evidenced by her 85 turnovers.
Sophomore forward Meghan Green was also in double figures with 14 points the last time the Terriers and Bison faced. Green remains 10th in the Patriot League in scoring averaging 11.8 points per game and eleventh in rebounding, averaging 6.6 boards per game.
Since the last time the teams met, the Bison have gone 3-4 in the Patriot League and sit in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings.
Dotson and DeBoer are the only Bison players averaging double-digit points per game with 13.5 and 11.2, respectively. DeBoer also leads the team in rebounding with eight per game, contributing to the highest rebounding margin in the Patriot League.
Steding said containing DeBoer is a key part of her team’s gameplan.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of success containing DeBoer before,” Steding said. “But just making sure we’re playing good team defense rather than leaving it up to one person. We have technical errors, but when we have those errors, we have to make up for it with teamwork rather than one person taking it for us. I’m hopeful that whoever gets the assignment, that they all feel like it’s not a one-person job but that it becomes everybody’s responsibility.”
Meanwhile for the Terriers, things have been rough, as they are 1-6 in that same stretch of games. Their lone win came against Lafayette College on Feb. 7.
The only statistical category where the teams stack up closely is at 3-point field goal percentage defense, where the teams are ranked eighth and ninth in the conference. In a different vein, Bucknell excels in holding its opponents to low point totals, giving up an average of 57.3 per game, while the Terriers are dead last, letting up an average of 65.6 points.
“We’re always looking to get better defensively,” Steding said. “I feel like we’re really good at getting to the first part of teams’ actions for the most part. We play it like we talked about. When something breaks down individually like we don’t stay in our stance or box out individually, most teams take advantage of us.”
Steding said the biggest problem for the Terriers might be their negative scoring margin. They are ninth in the conference with a negative 10.1 margin on the season, while turning the ball over an average of 17.4 times per contest.
“They take advantage of us on turnovers,” Steding said. “Obviously we want to get better at securing the possession and giving teams just one shot and running after that. If we can do some of that, that would be great.”
I transferred to BU after playing a year of college hoops at Wesleyan University. Previous experience includes interning at the 7NBC-Boston (WHDH-TV) sports desk. I'm excited to cover women's soccer this fall for the Daily Free Press. Follow me here: @kfin2bu
