Aoibhe Gormley arrives in overtime loss at Loyola, and that’s huge for BU Women’s Basketball

By Sam Robb O’Hagan

It would not be a stretch to say that Aoibhe Gormley, the freshman guard averaging under four points a game, was BU’s best player on Saturday. Yes, Caitlin Weimar finished with a 22-point double-double. Yes, fellow freshman guard Inés Monteagudo canned a go-ahead 3-pointer with under a minute to go that would have — or should have, depending on who you ask — pulled the Terriers across the finish line. And yes, BU’s 70-65 overtime loss to Loyola Maryland dealt an enormous blow to the Terriers’ revived hopes of a regular season title.

Head coach Melissa Graves was, of course, aware of all of this when she took questions after the game. But she didn’t even need a direct question to heap praise on Gormley, who had just dropped a career-high 15 points and tied a career-high with seven assists.

“Aoibhe did a great job today,” Graves said. “I’ve said this before. She’s playing really well.”

That Gormley was at the front of Graves’ mind is telling. It’s not like there was a lack of developments to consider after a nail-biting extra-period loss in which BU blew a lead it held for almost 36 minutes. But, evidently, Gormley’s play was of the most important.

That checks out. In the second half, BU would’ve been run off the floor without her. The Greyhounds, after making six shots in the entire first half, climbed back relentlessly after the break, only for Gormley to trudge, stroll, or race down the floor and hurt their feelings every single time. When Loyola cut it to two possessions early in the third, Gormley responded on back-to-back possessions with perfectly executed entry passes to Weimar for easy layups. When the Greyhounds trimmed the lead to 3, she exploded down the lane, drew two defenders and swung an overhead hook pass to a rolling Weimar, who completed a three-point play. And in the fourth quarter, when Loyola cut it to a point? Another dribble-drive into a sudden dump-off to Weimar. Like it was nothing.

And, by the way, junior Alex Giannaros, BU’s starting point guard and one of the best in the Patriot League, sat most of the third in foul trouble before actually fouling out with four minutes left in the fourth. This was Gormley’s offense in the second half. 

Loyola could not stop her.

“She took a lot on her shoulders,” Graves said. 

Gormley has grown used to that. She has played in every game, and Graves’ intent to use her as a ball-handler and a facilitator — a true point guard — was apparent from the start. It has been a significant role to take on as a freshman and Gormley learned it the hard way. Four and five-turnover performances in late December and early January were marred with intercepted passes in which the idea was admirable but, perhaps, just a little too overzealous. It was a calibration issue; when to try something, when to relax. Very clearly, though, she had talent. 

Take it from Graves herself, who, after Gormley’s seven-assist performance against Navy last Saturday, had this to say:

“She’s really starting to pick up how we want to play and the pace we want to play at. We’ve really worked a lot with her, with trying to understand when is a good time to push — ‘Is this opportunistic in transition? Or do we need to slow it down and run sets?’” Graves explained. “I thought she did a great job of that. She really controlled pace. Again, as a freshman, it takes a little time to understand those pieces.”

In her last four games — the four biggest games of BU’s season, to date — Gormley has been close to flawless. Her assist/turnover ratio was over 3 on Saturday and in a win over Army and was over 2 in the win over Navy. She is third on the team with 70 assists this season.

But also, and this is key, there was the career-high 15 points. Gormley has dropped a combined 29 in the last four, and that’s not even counting a 13-point outing on February 2. She went to the line 12 times on Saturday, making 10 of those free throws to make up for the scoring BU lost with Giannaros on the bench. She was not, as she was at the start of the year, easily penetrating the paint only to dump it off. Gormley was a legit scorer.

“She’s really playing well…trying to run the offense, get the ball inside,” Graves said, “but also attacking downhill and scoring.”

Gormley was feeling it. Even the 3-ball, where she had ventured just 23 times coming in, wasn’t too far on Saturday. When Loyola again cut the lead to a possession with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the ball found Gormley, who stood at the logo as the shot clock dwindled. The Greyhounds had her dead to rights.

She hurt their feelings again.

It wasn’t Giannaros that the Greyhounds couldn’t stop. In all honesty, it wasn’t really Weimar, either. It was Gormley, and maybe it wasn’t such a coincidence that, only when she went to the bench with three-and-a-half minutes to go, did Loyola finally break through.

So, yes, BU lost. It’s true. But goodness, how badly the Terriers have needed a player like Gormley — one not named Caitlin or Alex — to step up. This isn’t to ignore that BU has gotten immense play from a myriad of role players along this gauntlet final stretch. Monteagudo has made multiple critical 3-pointers without an ounce of hesitation. Sophomore forward Anastasiia Semenova has delivered huge performances in conference play; senior guard Kelsi Mingo has become one of the league’s best 3-point shooters. 

But it’s Gormley whose role gives her control of the offense and it’s Gormley who has used it to keep BU going without its two superstars. Weimar fouled out in that win over Navy; Giannaros fouled out on Saturday. Gormley delivered career games each time.

How valuable that could turn out to be. All season, the Terriers have been searching for a player to hold down the fort with Weimar or Giannaros off the floor. With three enormous games left and the tournament to follow, they just might have found her. 

“Being aggressive, in these pressure moments, as a freshman,” Graves said, “I’m really proud of her for that.”

FEATURED IMAGE BY ZUZU JANSEN