Women’s Basketball: Terriers beat American in fourth straight win behind Pina, Johnson

By Sam Robb O’Hagan

Boston University Women’s Basketball (9-6, 4-0 PL) defeated the American University Eagles (3-12, 2-2 PL) 73-63 to win their fourth straight game in Patriot League play. 

With about 5:30 left in the third quarter at Case Gymnasium, BU senior guard Sydney Johnson held the ball surrounded by multiple opposing defenders, deep in her own half following a turnover.

The Eagles, holding a two-point lead that was at once as large as 10 in the second quarter, were releasing a sudden full-court press.

Johnson spotted senior guard Maggie Pina across the floor, who immediately upon receiving Johnson’s timely lob unleashed a perfectly placed bounce pass. On the other end was junior guard Sophie Beneventine, whose enthusiastic cut was finished with a layup to end an American lead that lasted almost 15 minutes of game time.

“For them to have the fortitude against a tough team that pressures a ton,” BU Head Coach Melissa Graves said, “[I’m] just really proud of the effort.”

The Terriers’ impressive three-move sequence to tie the game was a window into the source of BU’s success throughout the game; the Terriers were a constant danger in transition, scoring 11 fastbreak points and 13 off turnovers.

The consistent production in transition was a needed boost to what was — through the first half — an inefficient shooting performance from the Terriers. BU shot just 11-for-26 from the field in the first two quarters and went 3-for-9 from three before a dominant third quarter recovered both of those marks to a 50% clip.

“I thought we really honed in and were able to adjust coming out of the half,” Graves said.

Pina and Johnson were excellent in particular, combining for 26 points and seven assists. Junior forward Caitlin Weimar, the Terriers’ season-long top scorer, trailed with 10 points, and led both teams with 10 rebounds.

Weimar was dominant in her matchups with 6-foot-1 Eagles forward Emily Johns, who despite finishing with a team-leading 15 points, consistently struggled to contain Weimar on the defensive end.

Weimar was as impressive on the defensive end herself, recording two blocks and a steal and setting the tone for a Terriers’ defensive performance that surrendered just 22 points in the paint. 

Beyond Johns, the Eagles were unsuccessful and largely unwilling to penetrate towards the basket. 

The Eagles were forced to live and die on their jump shots all game. In the second quarter, which included a 12-0 American run and ended with a six-point Eagles lead, American shot 72.7% from the field and made three 3-pointers. In the second half, that mark plummeted to 34.8%, and the Eagles were outscored by 15 points.

“We were able to go to the zone (defense) for the majority of the rest of the game and got some good stops out of it,” Graves said.

Off the bench, sophomore guard Lauren Davenport contributed a game-leading 16 points in 23 minutes, including a three from the wing with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter to put the Terriers up 13 points going into the media timeout, an early dagger from which American would never recover.

“She (Davenport) was just a great spark,” Graves said, “and she’s been such a great trooper coming out of the starting lineup and moving to the bench. … She even came up to me and asked what she can do better. I thought she owned that, and she did that.”

The Terriers will look to continue their four-game win streak after a resilient performance, and move to 5-0 in conference play, at Case Gymnasium against Colgate on Wednesday at 4 p.m.