Women’s Basketball: Fresh start begins in Moseley’s first game

By: Greg Levinsky

Significant change for the Boston University women’s basketball program turned to reality in Friday’s season-opening road tilt at Northeastern. It’s a fresh start for the Terriers under first-year head coach Marisa Moseley.

In the first game of Moseley’s tenure, the Terriers fell 81-51 to their cross-town rival, but it’s a single step in a process spanning much longer than the 40 minutes of regulation basketball played in the opener at the Cabot Center.

“Just getting that first one under my belt, I don’t think I’ll be any less nervous for the next ones, but we’re done with one,” Moseley said.

A 2004 graduate of Boston University, Moseley was a member of the Terriers’ lone NCAA Tournament team during her junior year in 2003.

Replacing Katy Steding who went 31-88 in her four years at Boston University, Moseley enters her first year as a collegiate head coach after spending time as an assistant at Denver, Minnesota and most recently I her nine years at the University of Connecticut, where the Huskies went 331-14 and took home five national titles during her tenure.

The first-time head coach said she was nervous leading up to her first game in command for a variety of reasons.

“You have a brand new team and you’re trying to take advantage of what you have,” Moseley said. “We’re learning the kids’ skills and also seeing how they were going to react in a game environment as opposed to practice.

“There’s a lot of reasons to be nervous, but those are just a couple.”

The Huskies had an entire elementary school in attendance, and consequently set up a tough atmosphere.

“Holistically, I think just getting a feel for a loud environment was good for me,” Moseley said. “Kind of learning what we need to do as far as hand signals and just making sure that our kids can play in that environment.”

Not one player on the 2018-19 iteration of the Terrier women’s basketball program was recruited by Moseley and her staff, yet she set up individual meetings with all of her players early in her tenure to foster new relationships.

Senior Lauren Spearman appears to have benefitted greatly from Moseley’s hiring. She earned her first career start in the season opener, erupting for a career-best 14 points in 36 minutes to pace the Terriers (0-1).

She appreciated the trust instilled in her by Moseley.

“It was definetly exciting,” Spearman said. “It’s a whole new role for me, and it’s something that I’m not yet used to at this level, but I was excited for the game and I’m excited to see what we can do.”

Moseley said Spearman brings “an opportunity to stretch the floor” among other skills.

“I was proud of her,” Moseley said. “I was proud of what she did, and I definetly want her to built on that.”

In head coach Marisa Moseley, there’s a new wave of championship pedigree, and that’s an important part of the equation.

Greg Levinsky can be reached at glevinsk@bu.edu. Follow him on Twitter @GregLevinsky