Women’s Basketball: Terriers fall to Saint Joseph’s despite stout defensive effort

Featured image by Jacob Ireland

By Finn Rogan

Boston University women’s basketball (5-3) fell to the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (8-0) 62-47 at Case Gym on Tuesday night. BU battled throughout the game but ran into injury and foul issues that spiraled their effort.

“As disappointing as this is, I think we did some really good things and there’s some positive things to take away,” BU head coach Melissa Graves said.

Terrier sophomore forward Anete Adler started off the game with six straight points for BU, using creative post moves to find her shots. 

But, things began to sour for BU when Adler went down with a non-contact injury. Silence fell across Case Gym and fans anxiously waited for Adler to get up. She did, but her night was done less than four minutes into the game. Adler returned to the bench with crutches during the second half.

BU was able to play through the adversity for a few minutes, but three late-quarter turnovers led to a 15-10 deficit after the first. There were five lead changes in the first ten minutes.

In the second quarter, St. Joe’s junior guard Mackenzie Smith found her groove. She led the Hawks on a 12-0 run to start the quarter. By the time the Terriers found some offense through junior guard Alex Giannaros, they were down by double-digits.

Smith scored nine points in a row, and 15 total in the second quarter. However, Terrier senior forward Caitlin Weimar also began to find her offense, scoring six points in a row in the middle of the period. 

When BU cut the lead to nine points, they implemented a full-court press, which caused some Hawks confusion but did not stop Smith from one last second-quarter 3-pointer, her third of the half.

At the break, the Terriers were down 37-25 after BU freshman guard Aoibhe Gormley hit a mid-range buzzer-beater to close out the half.

The Terriers came out ready to defend in the second half, once again implementing a full-court press. 

“We needed to turn on the press a little bit to try to get some stops there, and if not get a stop at least take time off the shot clock because they love to run sets,” Graves said.

The Terriers ended the third scoring 16 of their 17 points in the quarter off Hawks’ turnovers.

St. Joe’s still found a way to match BU’s scoring in the period, even while playing through a tenacious press and halfcourt defensive scheme. The Terriers trailed after three quarters, 54-42.

“We really regrouped at halftime and we came out in the second half, we obviously tied the third quarter,” Graves said.  

The fourth quarter, much like BU’s last matchup away at eighth-ranked Colorado, was a struggle for the Terriers on offense. However, they only allowed the Hawks to score eight points in the last 10 minutes.

“We had a pretty good fourth quarter defensively,” Graves said.

BU’s momentum from a solid third quarter was killed when Weimar fouled out just a couple of minutes into the fourth. Weimar finished with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting. After her exit, the Terriers never looked comfortable on offense, scoring just three points in the remaining minutes without her.

The Hawks killed the pace, slowing the game down as the seconds dwindled. The final after four quarters was 62-47.

The Terriers were unable to overcome an excellent effort from Smith, who scored 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting and made three 3-pointers. She also tallied four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

For the second game in a row, the Terriers played an opponent who will be pushing for the NCAA tournament in March. 

“St. Joe’s is a very good team, I think they have a chance to win the A-10 conference,” Graves said.

The moment of the game for the Terriers came when Giannaros hit a step back mid-range two, which caused her defender to stumble and Case Gym to explode.

Giannaros said after the game that due to opponents game-planning for her 3-point shot, she has been working on playmaking and other offensive aspects of her game so she can remain effective. She took just one 3-pointer and missed it, but still finished the game with 12 points and five assists.

The Terriers will return to Case Gym on Saturday night at 7 p.m. when they take on the Harvard Crimson (5-3).