{"id":13478,"date":"2018-01-07T13:12:10","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T18:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportswtbu.com\/?p=13478"},"modified":"2020-01-09T17:45:55","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:45:55","slug":"womens-basketball-irving-leads-terriers-to-big-win-over-loyola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2018\/01\/07\/womens-basketball-irving-leads-terriers-to-big-win-over-loyola\/","title":{"rendered":"Women&#8217;s Basketball: Irving Leads Terriers to Big Win Over Loyola"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/01\/38159356495_e1d1823077_o.jpg\" height=\"3456\" class=\"wp-image-13486\" width=\"5184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/01\/38159356495_e1d1823077_o.jpg 5184w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/01\/38159356495_e1d1823077_o-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/01\/38159356495_e1d1823077_o-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/01\/38159356495_e1d1823077_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 5184px) 100vw, 5184px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By: Andrew Mason<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">BOSTON <\/span>\u2014 <span style=\"font-weight:400\">The Boston University women\u2019s basketball team grabbed its most convincing win of the Patriot League season on Friday night, rolling by Loyola Maryland<\/span>, <span style=\"font-weight:400\">75-56<\/span>,<span style=\"font-weight:400\"> behind 21 points and seven rebounds from Nia Irving. The sophomore forward has led her squad in both categories for five of the last seven games, guiding BU to a 7-6 overall record and a 2-1 mark in Patriot League action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Coming off three straight contests at Case Gym, the scarlet and white looked comfortable inside their home against the Greyhounds. After a 14-2 run late in the first quarter, BU grabbed a sizeable lead and never looked back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cWe had more energy going into this game than we had in previous games,\u201d Irving<\/span> said<span style=\"font-weight:400\">. \u201cThat energy just kind of propelled us into a solid start.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The Terriers put on their best shooting performance to date, with an outstanding 56.1 percent from the field. BU stayed disciplined with their shot selection, attempting only eight <\/span>3<span style=\"font-weight:400\">-pointers on the night. All four threes came from freshman Katie Nelson, who leads the team with 31 makes from deep on the year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">In addition, Nelson contributed 16 points, five assists<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight:400\">and four rebounds. Center Sophie Beaudry scooped up 11 points, five boards<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight:400\">and three blocks as she continues to be a reliable producer for BU. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Aside from the desire to break out of a mid-season slump &#8211; the Terriers had lost four of their last five games &#8211; Irving admitted that she felt the team had something a little extra to play for on Friday night. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cIt was Kara [Sheftic]\u2019s birthday, so we obviously wanted to get that win for her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">On her birthday, Sheftic tallied nine points &#8211; four of five shooting &#8211; to go nicely with one board and an assist in 18 minutes of action. But perhaps her most memorable moment of the night was an emphatic block on an attempted Greyhound reverse-layup that Sheftic sent deep into the baseline. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Despite the demanding victory, the Terriers were dramatically outmatched in one area &#8211; offensive rebounding. While BU was able to haul in 10 offensive boards, Loyola snatched 24, which were converted into 17 second<\/span>&#8211;<span style=\"font-weight:400\">chance points. The Terriers were able to make up for it elsewhere, as being on the wrong side of a margin that size is usually all but asking for a loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cWe gave up way too many rebounds in general, and that shouldn\u2019t be happening when our team is so athletic,\u201d Irving noted. \u201cIt\u2019s something that will be the focus point in our practices.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">BU also faced trouble in stopping Loyola sophomore Stephanie Karcz, who single-handedly kept any hope of a Greyhound comeback alive. Karcz was firing on all cylinders, tallying 23 points, 13 rebounds and five steals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">With classes still over a week away from resuming, the Terriers get set to embark on perhaps the toughest chapter of their schedule all season. Over the next nine days, BU plays three of four games on the road, each contest in a different state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Aside from the strenuous travel, this stretch includes games against the three current PL leaders: Lehigh, American<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight:400\">and Holy Cross. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cIf we continue to stick to our strengths and just play our game while we\u2019re on the road, we shouldn\u2019t have a problem,\u201d Irving said. \u201cWe should be in a good place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The Terriers first travel to Bethlehem, Penn<\/span>.<span style=\"font-weight:400\"> to take on Lehigh University. The Mountain Hawks sit at 8-6 overall, 2-1 in Patriot League play, and are coming off a 54-49 loss to Holy Cross last week. Tip-off is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. in Stabler Arena. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Andrew Mason BOSTON \u2014 The Boston University women\u2019s basketball team grabbed its most convincing win of the Patriot League season on Friday night, rolling by Loyola Maryland, 75-56, behind 21 points and seven rebounds from Nia Irving. The sophomore forward has led her squad in both categories for five of the last seven games, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17192,"featured_media":13487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1040],"tags":[1053],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21836,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13478\/revisions\/21836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}