Women’s Basketball: Terriers head to Dartmouth after Delaware win

By: Rusty Gorelick

Coming off a home win against the University of Delaware on Sunday, Boston University will play Dartmouth on Wednesday as they chase their fifth win of the season. The Terriers sit at 4-2 on the season, and they will look to pick up their first away win of the season in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Last time out, the Terriers took down Delaware 72-61, led by Katie Nelson’s 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. The Terriers hit six of their 13 three-point attempts so they will look for hot shooting to lift them over the Big Green.

Dartmouth plays with a lot of speed and aggressiveness, and the 16.5 turnovers they give away and the 18.3 they force per game show that. The Terriers struggled mightily with turnovers against the Blue Hens, giving the ball away 20 times while only assisting 15 baskets.

BU hits 39.5 percent of its field goal attempts this season, and it holds its opponents to hit just 37.8 percent of their shots. Dartmouth, who sit at 2-4 on the season, has made an efficient 40.9 percent of their shots this season, but they allow their opponents to hit 41.7 percent from the field.

Dartmouth’s defense clearly lacks, and coach Marisa Moseley should look to feed the ball inside to Nia Irving. Irving, a 6-foot-1 forward, dropped 15 points and hauled in nine boards against the Blue Hens on Sunday. She averages a team-high 13.7 points per game, indicating that Moseley will stick with the strategy of pounding the ball into the paint.

Both BU and Dartmouth have blocked just 15 shots through six games this season, and both allow north of 60 points per game, so do not expect a defensive struggle. BU will attempt to build off the strong first half they put together over the weekend: they hit 55.56 percent of their threes in the first half, but made only 25 percent in the second half over the weekend.

Dartmouth allows their opponents to it 33.7 percent of their threes in addition to allowing a high opponent field goal percentage as a whole. The Terriers will likely shoot for an inside-out approach to Wednesday’s game, similar to the way they played against Delaware. Nelson and Lauren Spearman made all of BU’s six threes on Sunday, and those guards will have to strike a balance when it comes to pulling up from deep or feeding Irving in the paint.

BU has lost both of their games on the road, yet based on their last game, they should feel confident as they head to Hanover. With Nelson growing into a dependable and game-changing lead guard and Irving cleaning the glass and scoring tough baskets, the Terriers now have a multidimensional offense, and look for Moseley and her squad to try and get buckets from all areas of the floor as a result.