Women’s Basketball: Terriers Continue Undefeated Patriot League Run with Win over American
By Charlie DeMatteo
Boston University Women’s Basketball (17-6, 12-0 PL) defeated the American Eagles (5-18, 4-8 PL) 59-40 in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, extending their winning streak to 12 games.
The Terriers started hot and got out to a 15-point lead just seven minutes into the contest and didn’t look back from there in what was a wire-to-wire victory for the Patriot League’s top team.
“I thought this was a really nice win for our team,” BU Head Coach Melissa Graves said postgame. “We have historically not played very well here [at American], and I thought they really came together and found a way to win here today.”
The story of the game was BU’s defense. The Terriers stifled the Eagles on the defensive end and forced American into 27 turnovers, as well as causing the Eagles to shoot just 28.6% from the field.
“Overall I thought it was a really good [defensive] effort,” Graves said. “Last time we played them we had to switch to a zone because we were struggling to guard the paint, and I thought we were able to do that in man [defense] today which was our goal.”
While the Terriers’ defense was stellar, they also brought their A-game on offense. Six minutes in, freshman forward Sam Crispe intercepted an Eagle pass and finished for two with an impressive spin move. Crispe was one of three Terriers who finished with double-digit points as she ended the game with 10.
Fellow freshman forward Anastasiia Semenova connected with Crispe on a backdoor cut for the first basket of the second quarter, which demonstrated just how deep this BU team is. Star forward Caitlin Weimar was limited all game due to foul trouble.
“Sam has been doing a great job for us,” Graves said. “I think for us to be able to win by this margin when Caitlin only played 15 minutes is a testament to two other players stepping up.”
A dominant first-half display from BU saw the Terriers go into the half up 32-14.
The Terriers came out in the second half with just as much intensity as the first. Weimar started the second half with an easy layup followed by a block on the other end. Weimar finished with six points as well as four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
While a 19-point win wouldn’t suggest BU had a tough time scoring today, Graves admits American did a good job limiting BU’s looks offensively.
“We know what American does, they pressure your ball reversals and force over 19 turnovers a game,” Graves said. “I thought they did a good job of that today in moments where it was really hard for us to move the ball to two sides and shift the defense.”
As usual, senior guard Sydney Johnson paced the Terriers. Johnson hit an impressive fadeaway jumper in the fourth quarter to cap off a solid afternoon for the Patriot League Preseason Player of the year.
Johnson led all scorers with 16 and sophomore guard Alex Giannaros chipped in with 12 of her own.
The Terriers will look to continue their hot streak at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. for senior day when they take on the Lafayette Leopards.