Women’s Basketball: BU loses thriller at American, drops first game of Patriot League play

Featured image by Jessica Lam

By Sam Robb O’Hagan

When they look back at it, it will be the one that got away. All along a five-game winning streak, BU kept finding a way to claw out of nail-biting finishes. A drawn-charge and a steal in the final minute of an 80-77 win over Harvard. Multiple game-tying shots, then a game-winner, in an overtime win at Northeastern. 22 steals in the Patriot League opener against Navy. The Terriers (10-4, 2-1 PL) just kept making the plays.

On Wednesday, in a thrilling 91-87 double OT loss at American in its first Patriot League setback of the season, they didn’t.

And they had it. Clinging to a one-point lead with four seconds left in regulation, star senior forward Caitlin Weimar missed her second of two free-throws. The Eagles (5-9, 3-0 PL) didn’t have a timeout, but had four seconds to scramble up the court and heave a prayer for the win.

As the free throw clanked off the rim, senior guard Kelsi Mingo fouled as she lept for the rebound, fouling out of the game and sending the Eagles to the line. No full-court scramble needed. American drained both free throws and sent the game to overtime.

The Eagles’ offense didn’t create anything in the paint throughout the 50 minutes, but BU committed 20 fouls. American made 20 of its 26 free throws.

In double overtime, as BU trailed by a point with under a minute to play, the Eagles missed a 3-pointer. BU was on a 6-0 run after falling behind by seven. Star junior guard Alex Giannaros had created easy layups on back-to-back possessions. This was it. 

But American found the offensive rebound. A couple seconds later, a miscommunication between Weimar and BU guard Aoibhe Gormley allowed American’s Laura Nogues (24 points) to walk down the lane for an easy layup.

The Eagles corralled 12 offensive rebounds and finished with 19 second-chance points. 

BU called timeout, now trailing by three with 22 seconds left. On the inbound, the Terriers went straight to Weimar, who drove baseline against junior Eagles’ forward Emily Johns (22 points) but couldn’t get past. Weimar, falling out of bounds, had nowhere to go. She threw the ball away. Game over.

The Terriers committed 24 turnovers, the second-most in any game they’ve played this season.

American scored 32 points, more than a third of its final tally, off them. 

“To me, that’s the simplest way to say it,” BU head coach Melissa Graves said. “We didn’t take care of the ball.”

The Eagles, forced to settle for jump shots against BU’s impenetrable interior defense, shot 41.7 percent from the field to the Terriers’ 49.2 percent clip. But the Eagles took 11 more shots.

“We just give away so many possessions when we turn the ball over,” Graves said.

That, in the end, was the difference.

Otherwise, BU was excellent. It made 30 field goals; it shot almost 50 percent from the field. The Terriers found ways into the paint throughout the game, using creative pick-and-roll action, entry passes into Weimar in the post, or by simply beating opposing defenders off the dribble. The offense created quality looks with ease — all game long.

Weimar, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year and two-time defending Player of the Week, recorded a 26-point, 11-rebound double-double. Giannaros dropped a career-high 30 points.

“Alex (Giannaros) was tremendous, and she pushed through big time when she was clearly tired towards the end and we needed her in there,” Graves said. “And then obviously, Caitlin (Weimar) continues to do that consistently each time.”

BU got flashes from its role players, too; freshman guards Audrey Ericksen and Aoibhe Gormley finished with nine and eight points, respectively, and made clutch free throws down the stretch. Senior guard Sophie Beneventine made three silky mid-range jumpers after beating defenders off the dribble.

“I thought we had good stuff from our point guards,” Graves said. “Sophie and Aoibhe haven’t been huge scoring threats but they’ve been able to get downhill and finish.”

The Terriers made seven 3-pointers on a 39 percent clip. They had 15 assists. This was, perhaps, their most impressive offensive performance of the season.

“Definitely, I think we’re where we need to be,” Graves said.

But they committed 24 turnovers. And it undid their effort when it mattered most.

“We’re one of the top efficiency teams in the country when we don’t turn it over, which is great, it’s incredible,” Graves said. “But we give away so many possessions.”

“It’s just, again, we need to take care of the ball more.”

On defense, BU was almost impenetrable. Weimar blocked five shots. She and Giannaros recorded three steals apiece.

American scored 91 points, but just 14 of them — 14 — were in the paint. The Eagles were averaging 43 in the paint in their two Patriot League games coming in.

“Our game plan was to try to take away and limit paint points, which I thought we did a great job of,” Graves said.

But American just would not miss. It made jumper after jumper, 3-pointer after 3-pointer. It made 23 field goals from outside of the paint, 11 of them 3s.

“They made some shots they don’t normally make, you know, so they were a little hot in an unexpected way,” Graves said. “I think we could do better with the urgency of, say when we cover the paint, to get back out to a (perimeter) player when they receive the ball.”

American made 30 shots, but make no mistake, BU got what it wanted.

“Just like little things we need to tweak, but overall, I thought we did what we wanted to do game plan wise,” Graves said.

The ‘but’? The offensive rebounds. BU surrendered 12 of them, many late in the game, including the big one in the last minute of the second overtime period.

“I think we lost it on the offensive end (with the turnovers), and then they also had 19 second chance points and a lot of those happened at the end of the game,” Graves said.

That’s it. Turnovers and rebounding, in an otherwise impressive outing, turned a win into a loss. The thinnest of margins matter the most in conference play, and the Terriers suffered for them in their first Patriot League loss of the season.

“It is something I told them, like we need to learn from it,” Graves said. “It’s got to be an effort at practice that we change what we’re doing and focus on valuing the possession and focus on boxing out.”

BU, and especially Graves, isn’t used to that. Now in her third season at the helm, Graves is 31-7 in the Patriot League regular season. The Terriers lost one game in the conference slate last year: the very last one. 

Saturday was just BU’s second conference loss in the month of January under Graves’ leadership.

But this season is different. BU is younger than its ever been, with six freshman on the roster and eight new players.

“I didn’t expect for us to do what we did last year and go 17-1 in conference and not lose a game until the last one,” Graves said. “It’s just trying to keep an even keel and understand this year, we’re a very, very young team, and taking those learning experiences.”

The Terriers let it get away, but losses like this were inevitable. BU may have the same postseason aspirations as last season, but times are different.

Said Graves, when asked if finally dropping a close game could be a blessing in disguise for her young team:

“Yeah, definitely. Not panicking or anything like that.”