{"id":40859,"date":"2024-03-15T04:17:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T08:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=40859"},"modified":"2024-03-15T12:45:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T16:45:10","slug":"we-knew-that-we-owed-them-one-eight-days-after-losing-by-37-bu-womens-basketball-dominates-colgate-to-advance-to-second-straight-patriot-league-championship-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2024\/03\/15\/we-knew-that-we-owed-them-one-eight-days-after-losing-by-37-bu-womens-basketball-dominates-colgate-to-advance-to-second-straight-patriot-league-championship-game\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe knew that we owed them one\u201d: Eight days after losing by 37, BU Women\u2019s Basketball dominates Colgate to advance to second-straight Patriot League Championship Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get this out of the way first \u2014 BU looked like a champion. Any way you slice it. It was ruthless, it was dominant, it played flat-out ridiculous defense, it had the best player on the court. Truly extraordinary, not least when you remember that the Terriers walked into this very building eight days before, with a regular season title on the line, and lost by <\/span>37. <\/span><\/i>And then on Thursday, as if BU had just flipped a switch, it arrived back in Hamilton and didn\u2019t even give Colgate a sniff.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s fitting, really, that BU did this in front of the raucous Colgate men\u2019s team. The group that, just 24 hours prior, won its fourth-straight Patriot League title on this same court. The Terriers knew about Hamilton, about the Cotterell Court crazies, about the Colgate women\u2019s 11-5 record and four-game winning streak at home, about their very own putrid record on the road and, of course, their own <\/span>recent history in central New York<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cColgate, and what they put together for the semi,\u201d head coach Melissa Graves admitted, \u201cit was tough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her team took all of that, walked into the place for the Patriot League semifinal and shut the whole thing down. And maybe we should have expected it. Because if Colgate (18-13, 10-8 PL) has the toughest atmosphere in the conference \u2014 and it very well might \u2014 BU <\/span>has the most dominant player<\/span><\/a>. And there isn\u2019t a shred of doubt about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to see a championship-type player turn the lights out? Try Caitlin Weimar, just steps away from that men\u2019s team \u2014 which was rocking again after the Raiders had <\/span>finally<\/span><\/i> shown life \u2014 demanding the basketball in the post with three minutes to go in third. Colgate had just rattled off a 7-2 run and had cut a wire-to-wire BU lead to single digits. Weimar got the rock, took two dribbles, dropped her shoulder, and was elevating.<\/span><\/p>\n

And no one reaches the 6-foot-4 senior when she\u2019s going up. Certainly not Colgate\u2019s Chidinma Okafor who was left, for some reason, in single-coverage. Okafor was not alone on Thursday. And she was not the only Raider big that suffered for the inevitability of the conference Player of the Year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bucket, whistle, silence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goodnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

CAN’T. STOP. CAIT!!! Three-point play! #GoBU<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch on ESPN+: https:\/\/t.co\/RZaFt0t7Vi<\/a>@PatriotLeagueTV<\/a> | @ESPN<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/85ZHGs5otF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 BU Women’s Basketball (@TerrierWBB) March 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n