Women’s Basketball: BU pulls away from New Hampshire to start season 2-0

Photo by Jessica Lam

By Alexa Podalsky

It was a classic game for Boston University women’s basketball (2-0) as they breezed past the University of New Hampshire (1-1) at Case Gym on Friday night. The Terriers held the lead for the majority of the game and sent the Wildcats home with their first loss of the season. 

BU won the first tip-off, and almost immediately, junior guard Alex Giannaros connected on a three-pointer to open the scoring for the Terriers within seconds.

While BU’s offensive skills helped them hold the majority of possession, they couldn’t put points on the scoreboard throughout most of the first half. The Wildcats’ defense made it difficult for the Terriers to score. UNH’s defense had great coverage and managed to block BU from scoring on multiple occasions.

With 15 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter, senior forward Caitlin Weimar collided with an aggressive UNH defender and had to walk off the court. But that didn’t slow down the Terriers, who scored a buzzer-beater to end the first quarter leading 14-11. 

Weimar returned to the game early on in the second quarter as the Wildcats’ offense worked harder to capitalize on their possession, but they were doomed to lag behind the Terriers. The arena was loud; fans were shouting and the BU band screamed “Go BU.”

By the third quarter, it was clear that senior guard Adara Groman was the dominant player for UNH on the court. With every shot BU made, Groman made another to respond. BU’s defensive skills fell short of covering her on almost every UNH possession. 

The Terriers picked up their game after a timeout deep into the third quarter. They made half of their attempted field goals and three-pointers in the third period, which was a sharp increase from their 20% three-point percentage in the second quarter. 

“We talked at the half about how we wanted to push pace more and try to get out in transition a little bit more”, BU head coach Melissa Graves said. “Even though we talked about it before the game and through the game, I think it started to click for us.”

The Wildcats called a time-out with less than a minute left in the third quarter. They trailed by eight points and faced a rowdy opponent on the court. 

With seven minutes left on the clock, Giannaros proved she was the star of the game for BU. She made a jumper to score her 13th point. She finished with 16.

“I was taking shots that came to me,” Giannaros said. “Making sure that whatever we could get, get the best shots possible.” 

Despite UNH’s comeback attempt late in the fourth quarter, the Terriers pulled through to win their second game of the season, 56-47.

BU will move on to play Yale University at Case Gym on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The team hopes to uphold their strength when playing the Ivy League opponent. 

“[Yale] is a team we’ve lost to two years in a row,” Graves said. “So we’re definitely playing with a chip on our shoulder.”