Women’s Basketball: Too Little, Too Late For The Terriers
By: Alex Smith
The Boston University women’s basketball team got Patriot League play underway on Wednsday afternoon, hosting the Holy Cross Crusaders. The Terriers (0-12) struggled to score in the league opener, and the game finished 60-41 in favor of the Crusaders, who picked up a point in the two schools’ season long Turnpike Trophy rivalry. BU now leads 5-1 after sweeping Holy Cross in all five fall sports.
Corrine Williams headlined for the Terriers, as she dumped in a team-high 10 points and snagged 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Her return has made an immediate impact for the Terriers filling up the stat sheet with an assist, a block, and two steals just a game after her six steal outing against Vermont.
BU scored just 15 points in the first half, and couldn’t find much room against Holy Cross’ zone. Sarah Hope was clearly the focus of the Crusader defense, as she went 1-3 shooting on the night, rarely finding the space to load up and fire away from deep.
The Terriers were stifled inside as well, as Molly Hourigan controlled the paint operating in the middle of the zone. Though the 6’4 senior only finished with three points, she grabbed 13 rebounds and had four blocks to her name en route to Turnpike MVP honors.
Those four blocks hardly do justice to the fact that she was an absolute wall inside for Holy Cross, and the number of times BU got a clean look at the rim while she was in the game could be counted on one hand. Her brilliant defensive night was only marred by her fifth foul which earned her a trip to the bench for the game’s final few minutes.
Infiniti Thomas-Waheed poured in 20 points for Holy Cross for the game high, and was particularly devastating from downtown, dropping in 9 of her points from the corner spots. The 5’10” Newton native also swatted away three shots and grabbed five steals to go along with her 6 rebounds, and likely was surprised to see her teammate take home MVP honors.
Ultimately it was BU’s inability to score until late that was their downfall in the contest. They got above 10 points only in the fourth quarter where they matched Holy Cross’ 17 points, and much of that came after Hourigan was forced to make for the bench. Holy Cross’ gameplan was a good one without a doubt, but it is concerning to see the Terriers’ offense so easily stifled.
BU also struggled with turnovers, an area they had been improving on in their late non conference matchups. BU gave away possession 21 times, and finished with 50 total shot attempts to the Crusaders’ 64. The Terriers have yet to outshoot an opponent this season.
BU will look to turn the page on what has been a tough 2015 slate on the 2nd, as it prepares to host Lehigh at 2:00 p.m. The game can be seen on the Patriot League Network.