{"id":29528,"date":"2022-01-12T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T04:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=29528"},"modified":"2022-01-12T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T04:10:08","slug":"womens-basketball-strong-defense-leads-bu-past-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/01\/12\/womens-basketball-strong-defense-leads-bu-past-army\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Basketball: Strong defense leads BU past Army"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alex Giannaros shoots over an Army defender Wednesday. Giannaros led the Terriers with 24 points in the 64-56 win. JOE EACHUS\/ WTBU SPORTS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Joe Eachus<\/em><\/p>\n

In a back-and-forth battle, the Boston University women’s basketball team defeated the Army Black Knights 64-56 Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Each team had its struggles on offense, as Army (7-6, 2-2 PL) shot 36.9% from the field and BU (8-7, 4-0 PL) shot 40.3%.<\/p>\n

However, the game was largely marked by the Terriers’ defensive efforts, as they won the rebound battle 41-29 and added six blocks.<\/p>\n

BU head coach Melissa Graves noted that strong defense was one of the Terriers’ keys to the game.<\/p>\n

“Limiting their second-chance opportunities and keeping them under their averages from three was really, really big for us,” Graves said.<\/p>\n

BU held Army to 25% from beyond the arc, below the Black Knights’ season average of 29%.<\/p>\n

Freshman guard Alex Giannaros was again one of the stars of the game, scoring a career-high 24 points on 45% shooting.<\/p>\n

Junior guard Sydney Johnson added 14 points and was strong on the defensive end, contributing one block and one steal.<\/p>\n

“Defensively, usually each team has their go-to player that we focus on, and we try to not let that person dominate and make their other teammates have to produce,” Johnson said of the Terriers’ defensive plans.<\/p>\n

Giannaros said she believed the Terriers’ strong defense aided in their offensive scheme as well, allowing them to add points in transition and getting the team into a good place offensively.<\/p>\n

BU held Army guard Alisa Fallon, who came into the contest averaging 14.3 points for the Black Knights, to zero points on just three shots.<\/p>\n

Each team barely eclipsed the 20-point mark in the first half, with BU leading Army 22-21 at halftime.<\/p>\n

After halftime, BU found its groove, building as large as a 15-point lead.<\/p>\n

“I think the biggest piece [at halftime] was that we knew they’re a physical team. They’re bumping us, so just trying to push through that first bump and get to the rim… being able to attack the rim at will,” Graves said.<\/p>\n

In the third quarter, sophomore forward Caitlin Weimar went down with an apparent lower-body injury and needed assistance off the court. While she sat for the rest of the game as a precautionary measure, Graves said that she’s expected to be OK.<\/p>\n

BU seemed to use Weimar’s absence as motivation, going on a 20-7 run for the rest of the third that effectively put the game out of reach.<\/p>\n

Army battled back in the closing minutes of the fourth, but it was not enough to complete a comeback.<\/p>\n

The Terriers resume conference play on Saturday with a trip to Annapolis, where a rematch with the Navy Midshipmen awaits. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joe Eachus In a back-and-forth battle, the Boston University women’s basketball team defeated the Army Black Knights 64-56 Wednesday. Each team had its struggles on offense, as Army (7-6, 2-2 PL) shot 36.9% from the field and BU (8-7, 4-0 PL) shot 40.3%. However, the game was largely marked by the Terriers’ defensive efforts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19139,"featured_media":29543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1,1039,1040],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29528"}],"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\/19139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29528"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29551,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29528\/revisions\/29551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}