Women’s Basketball: Terriers Complete Comeback Against Northeastern for Their First Win of the Season

Featured image by WTBU

By Celine Cheung

Boston University’s Women’s Basketball Team came back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Northeastern University 61-57 at the Cabot Center. In true rivalry fashion, the game certainly was a dogfight, and the underdog prevailed.

“From our last game to this game, we talked a lot about response, and I thought we absolutely did that today. We had a monster fourth quarter where we really defended, and we executed our offense, so just really really proud of the team,” BU Head Coach Melissa Graves said.

BU gained possession from the tipoff, but Husky Yirsy Queliz was the first to score in the game with a 3-pointer. Terrier sophomore guard Hildur Gunnsteinsdottir then followed with a 3-pointer off of a Husky dribbling turnover. The score was tied at 5-5 a little less than halfway into the first quarter, and then the Huskies went on an 8-0 run. BU, on the other hand, had a scoring drought for 4:17, which was finally broken by Inés Monteagudo, off a steal by junior guard Bella McLaughlin.

The Huskies led the Terriers 15-8 at the end of the first quarter. Nariya Simmons and Queliz led with five points each. Monteagudo and Gunnsteinsdottir led the Terriers with three points, as both of them dropped in a shot from deep. BU was 2 of 11 from the field overall, and the two shots made were 3-pointers. Ericksen then made two free throws to bring the quarter total to eight. Northeastern shot nearly twice as well as the Terriers in the opening frame.

Building off the momentum from the end of the first quarter, Monteagudo made a three and then stole the ball and passed it up the court to Gunnsteinsdottir, who laid it up and in off the fast break. They cut the lead to two points, but the Huskies quickly retaliated with a seven-point run. McLaughlin put an end to the run with a layup, but Collins then countered with a pull-up jumper off of the fast break in the paint. 

With two made free throws from Anete Adler to end the half, the score was 36-26. Northeastern either led or tied for the entire half, forcing BU to constantly play catch-up.

BU forced four turnovers in the second quarter and had 12 points off turnovers during the entire first half. However, it wasn’t enough to combat against the Huskies, as the lead grew by three more points by the end of the second quarter, compared to the first quarter. They shot 54.5% from the floor, compared to Northeastern’s 60%.

With just under four minutes left in the third quarter, Husky sophomore Justice Tramble went on a 4-0 run, with a second-chance tip-in layup and a fast break layup, leading to BU calling a timeout. With both teams going on scoring runs, the lead remained at 13 points for the Huskies.

After a 3:13 scoring drought at the end of the third quarter, McLaughlin drove in and scored a layup on the fast break. Schwertner then blocked Holohan’s layup, and the defensive rebound led to a made 3-pointer by Schwertner. The Terriers shot 36.1%, compared to the Huskies’ 26.8%, but the quarter ended 50-39, with the Huskies outscoring the Terriers for the third quarter in a row. 

Collins and Gunnsteinsdottir traded triples to open up the fourth quarter. Semenova went to the line for her second time of the game and made both free throws. McLaughlin then utilized her speed off of a defensive rebound and drove in for a layup. With the lead cut to seven and a personal foul on Queliz, Northeastern called a timeout. 

Coming out of the timeout, Semenova splashed in a 3-pointer, bringing the Terrier scoring run to 10-0. Collins then extended the Husky lead back up to six with a pull-up jumper on the fast break.

With her fifth assist of the game, McLaughlin found Adler down low for the layup to bring the lead down to four with a little more than three minutes left in the game. A personal foul on Beaudion-Foliaki brought BU into the bonus, which allowed Adler to shoot and make two attempts from the line. Beaudion-Foliaki fouled again, and McLaughlin made one of two free throws to cut the lead to one.

Gunnsteinsdottir found Adler for a layup, and BU gained their first lead of the game. A missed pull-up jumper from Northeastern brought Gunnsteinsdottir to grab the defensive rebound and hit a 3-pointer down the court. With Northeastern on a 4:55-minute scoring drought and BU on a 12-0 scoring run, the Huskies quickly called a timeout. However, they were not able to find any more opportunities to score against the tough Terrier defense, and they ended the game on a 5:13 scoring drought. 

BU had a huge fourth quarter and completed the comeback against Northeastern, 61-57, despite only leading for 1:02 minutes in the game. They were down by 14 points with eight minutes left in the third quarter and did not allow a single point in the second half of the fourth quarter. BU outscored Northeastern 22-7 in the fourth quarter. With Gunnsteinsdottir scoring 15 points and McLaughlin and Adler scoring 10, the Terriers had three players in double digits and nine different players who scored overall, emphasizing their team’s depth. 

The Terriers will face the University of New Haven on the road this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Streaming will be available on NEC Frontrow.

“We’re gonna get another win now. We feel really good, and the energy was so great. We’re just gonna keep it up in practices and get another win,” sophomore guard Hildur Gunnsteinsdottir said.