Women’s Basketball: Terriers Stifled by UCF Defense

By: Andrew Mason

BOSTON — The Terriers were held to a season-low 32 points in a Wednesday night loss, all thanks to an incredible defensive performance by the University of Central Florida Knights. UCF was able to force 22 turnovers and keep the Terriers to 31 percent shooting in securing a 47-32 victory for the road team.

BU struggled to get anything going offensively. Usual leading scorer Katie Nelson was held to just four points on 2-of-9 shooting, the lowest production of her college career. The UCF defense seemed too intense for BU to handle, disrupting ball movement and keeping the Terriers on their heels.

“Their zone was really stretched out and aggressive,” said Corrine Williams, senior captain for BU. “It took us too long to get used to their aggressiveness.”

One key component of the Knight’s defense was freshman Masseny Kaba, who grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds on the night. The Dorchester native added five points and two steals, along with six turnovers in her return to Massachusetts. 

Kaba led a Knight squad that proved to be unstoppable on the boards. UCF grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, while holding BU to three. For the game, the Terriers were outrebounded 44-27.  

“We didn’t box out well, gave up too many second chance points giving them easy baskets,” Williams said.

Williams (12 points, 2 assists, 4 rebounds) led the Terriers in scoring, the only BU member in double digits on the night.

“Whatever the team needs I’m willing to do it,” Williams said. “The ball just found me tonight on kick-out and extra passes. Once we get more people to connect, we’ll score more points.”

As a team that allows opponents over 65 points per game, the Terriers did a solid job limiting good looks for UCF. Redshirt senior Zakiya Saunders had the hot hand, pouring in 20 points off 8-of-16 shooting from the field.

BU has now dropped two games in a row, the first back-to-back losing streak all season. The Terriers drop to 5-4 on the season, with no more home games left in 2017.

Up next BU travels to Providence, R.I. to take on the 9-1 Bears of Brown University. Both teams have plenty of time to prepare as the game is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 22.