Women’s Basketball: Irving’s hot third quarter not enough against Marist
By: Andrew Mason
For the past few years, the Red Foxes of Marist College have given the Boston University women’s basketball team (1-2) its fair share of trouble. On Friday night, the scarlet and white were stopped short yet again, dropping the sixth straight head-to-head matchup, 68-57.
Senior guard Lauren Spearman heated up early in the contest, knocking down four shots from beyond the arc to bring the Terriers to a team 50 percent shooting (11-22) in the first half. However, 28 percent shooting in the final two quarters was enough for the Red Foxes to seal the victory.
“Marist is just a very good overall team who shoots the three [pointer] extremely well,” said junior forward Nia Irving, who finished with a team-high 16 points to go with four rebounds. “They’re very well disciplined in their sets. I think this game could have gone either way but unfortunately we just didn’t come out on top this time.”
Irving was the clear bright spot in the scarlet and white’s second half, grabbing 10 of her 16 points in the third quarter.
“I had lots of rest from being in foul trouble the whole first half,” said Irving, who drew two early first-half fouls. “I knew we might need a spark, so I just tried to make up for what I had missed from being out.”
Senior Naiyah Thompson reached a season-high 13 points, while Spearman finished with 12 points and seven boards.
Terrier fans got their first look at freshman Riley Childs, who was out before Friday due to shin splints. While the Medway, Massachusetts native recorded no points, she grabbed five rebounds and an assist in her first 16 collegiate minutes.
Leading the way for Marist was junior Rebekah Hand (15 pts, 6 rebs, 4 asts). The guard out of Argyle, Texas averaged a team-high 16.1 ppg in 2017-18 and put up 14 last time she faced BU.
While it seems BU hasn’t yet solved the puzzle of Marist, the Terriers have faced a plethora of learning situations through their first three games of the season. Going into conference play, the scarlet and white will need to figure out how to close out games against teams with the same level of talent as the Red Foxes.
“We’ve gotten blown out the last few years [against Marist], this year we played a very close game against them when they returned all their starters,” Irving said. “We know what we need to work on in practice, so now it’s just improving upon these things and applying what we practice to games.”
Up next the Terriers get ready for a three-game homestand in Case Gym. Playing well at home has been a specific area of emphasis in head coach Marisa Moseley’s first season at the helm.
“We want to go undefeated at home and really make a statement throughout the rest of these non conference games,” Irving said.
BU starts defending home court with a Tuesday matchup against the Bryant University Bulldogs (2-2). The night’s action tips off at 7 p.m. from the campus of Boston University.
