{"id":40123,"date":"2024-02-04T12:32:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T17:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=40123"},"modified":"2024-02-04T12:40:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T17:40:07","slug":"womens-basketball-bu-falls-to-lehigh-at-the-buzzer-in-fifth-straight-road-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2024\/02\/04\/womens-basketball-bu-falls-to-lehigh-at-the-buzzer-in-fifth-straight-road-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Basketball: BU falls to Lehigh at the buzzer in fifth straight road loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Jacob Ireland<\/em><\/p>\n

By Henry Dinh-Price<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Junior guard Alex Giannaros caught the ball on the left wing just inside the 3-point arc with five seconds remaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She spun towards the baseline, took two dribbles, got one foot in the lane, and put up a right-handed scoop layup with Lehigh\u2019s junior guard Ella Stemmer on her hip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Giannaros\u2019 game-tying attempt floated toward the rim but came up short, hitting the front iron and falling into the hands of Stemmer with less than a second remaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ball game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just to kind of get an isolation for Alex if we could. We\u2019re down two so we\u2019re trying to go for two and get to the rim if possible,\u201d said BU head coach Melissa Graves. \u201cIt was just a play that we practiced in practice, we put in and tried to execute it but, you know, didn\u2019t fall our way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers (13-8, 5-5 PL) had their chance to force overtime but came up empty, falling 64-62 against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (13-8, 5-5 PL) at Stabler Arena on Saturday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU was notably without star senior forward Caitlin Weimar, who sustained an injury in Monday\u2019s loss to Holy Cross. She did not travel with the team to Bethlehem, Pa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Weimar, the Patriot League\u2019s leading scorer and rebounder, is averaging 18.8 points and 11.3 rebounds this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

In her absence, Giannaros stepped up, scoring 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Senior guard Kelsi Mingo added 14, and freshman guard Aiobhe Gormley chipped in with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t enough to overcome the Mountain Hawks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are moments where I felt like, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re really doing this and we have definitely the capacity and the capability to win, you know, without Cait,\u2019\u201d Graves said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe would\u2019ve helped in a lot of ways, right, but I didn\u2019t feel like we were really, really hurting without her today, if that makes sense. And I think that\u2019s pretty obvious because it was such a close game.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> a close game, but early on it looked like Lehigh might run the Weimar-less Terriers out of the gym. Lehigh jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the opening minutes as BU struggled to get anything going. The Terriers opened 0-for-8 from the field with four turnovers before a right-wing 3 from Giannaros got BU on the board just under five minutes in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe missed like four layups. We missed two open 3s. So it wasn\u2019t like we were forcing some bad shots,\u201d said Graves of the slow start.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018We just need to focus and finish the good shots\u2019 and for them to understand like, we can do this,\u201d said Graves. \u201cI think there\u2019s a big question mark from the team going in like you\u2019re missing your best player, the best player in the conference, right? So like, what is this going to look like?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But after missing its first eight shots, BU made 5-of-6 to end the quarter, trimming Lehigh\u2019s\u00a0 lead to just two points, 16-14.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU\u2019s hot shooting continued into the second quarter, scoring 19 points on 9-for-16 shooting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers took their first lead of the game with six seconds left in the half when freshman guard Audrey Ericksen caught a pass from Gormley in the lane and converted an open layup.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Lehigh junior guard Colleen McQuillen raced up the floor and finished a right-handed scoop layup as the buzzer sounded to regain Lehigh\u2019s lead. The Mountain Hawks went to their lockers ahead 34-33.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there were moments of little lapses where, in games like this where you lose by two, every possession is important,\u201d Graves said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the third quarter got underway, the Terriers could not miss. BU opened the half shooting 8-for-8 with four made 3s to take a 53-48 lead, its largest of the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After starting 0-8 from the field, that run to start the third quarter capped off a stretch in which BU made 22 of its last 30 field goal attempts, a 73.3 percent clip over 22 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they really stepped up in Caitlin\u2019s absence,\u201d Graves said. \u201cWe had a really, really good effort, especially after a slow start.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in the final 13 minutes of action, BU went ice cold once again, making just two of its final 16 shots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lehigh ended the quarter on a 9-1 run and entered the fourth ahead 57-54.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU\u2019s defense responded, holding the Mountain Hawks to seven points on 3-of-10 shooting in the final frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told them before the game, it\u2019s going to be won on the defensive end,\u201d Graves said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Terriers couldn\u2019t capitalize, scoring just eight points themselves in the fourth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU had endless chances, including Giannaros\u2019 layup attempt at the end, but ultimately went scoreless over the final 1:43 and came up short.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Terriers, it marks their fifth straight road loss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of close ones on the road,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI think we\u2019re right there. It\u2019s just a lock in piece and understanding how tough it is to have a win on the road. It\u2019s very, very tough and our league is so good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With the loss, BU now sits in fifth place in the Patriot League standings at 5-5, much lower than its expectations of a top spot in the conference. But with eight games remaining in league play, Graves isn\u2019t worried.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even look at that standing right now because there\u2019s a lot more basketball to play,\u201d said Graves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t look at that and feel like we\u2019re gonna finish in the middle or the bottom. I look at that and feel like we have the upper hand a little bit as we get those teams that beat us on the road back home, to a place where we know we can be successful and we have been successful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lucky for BU, it will return to Case Gym next Saturday to host Bucknell. The Terriers fell to Bucknell (6-14, 3-6 PL) on the road 62-51 on January 17th. But at 4-0 in Patriot League play and 10-1 overall, BU is a different team at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just a comfortability piece. You know, obviously, I think our home crowd, our band, our cheerleaders, they give us a lot of energy,\u201d Graves said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The full week off in between games will also give BU time to regroup after suffering back-to-back losses for the first time since December 5th, and hopefully enough time to get its star, Weimar, back in uniform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe had an injury in the Holy Cross game, so she was obviously out today and then moving forward, we have a bye week and hoping for her to be back for the next one,\u201d said Graves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Jacob Ireland By Henry Dinh-Price Junior guard Alex Giannaros caught the ball on the left wing just inside the 3-point arc with five seconds remaining.\u00a0 She spun towards the baseline, took two dribbles, got one foot in the lane, and put up a right-handed scoop layup with Lehigh\u2019s junior guard Ella Stemmer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23098,"featured_media":39418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1039,1040],"tags":[1128,1129,69,1145,1848],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40123"}],"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\/23098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40123"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40126,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40123\/revisions\/40126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}