{"id":44693,"date":"2024-11-13T11:09:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T16:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=44693"},"modified":"2024-11-13T11:09:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T16:09:18","slug":"womens-basketball-terriers-handle-emmanuel-in-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2024\/11\/13\/womens-basketball-terriers-handle-emmanuel-in-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Basketball: Terriers Handle Emmanuel in Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Sierra Jansen<\/em><\/p>\n

By James Noyes<\/em><\/p>\n

The Boston University Terriers (1-1, 0-0 PL) beat the Emmanuel College Saints (0-0, 0-0 GNAC) 71-38 in an exhibition game at Case Gym in Boston on Tuesday. Although the game won\u2019t appear on their official record, it provided the Terriers with an opportunity to get back into their usual form after receiving a 54-point loss from No. 2 ranked UConn last Thursday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUConn was similar to them in the fact that they collapsed into the paint, they forced you to make a decision,\u201d said BU Head Coach Melissa Graves. \u201cOn any kind of post entry, dive, drive, they\u2019re collapsing. So I thought UConn, it was really hard for us, we were very frazzled. Once we turned it over against the press, it just kind of snowballed and we kept turning the ball over.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Emmanuel employed this defensive strategy early in Tuesday\u2019s game; the Terriers struggled to adjust to the Saints\u2019 zone in the first quarter, shooting 5-13 from the field and turning the ball over four times. They had a tough time moving the ball around inside of the three-point line, and it resulted in BU taking 10 of their 24 total three-point shots in the first quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe really needed the half to get used to, and we kept talking to them about, \u2018flow into zone\u2019. A lot of times the zone makes you stagnant offensively, and I thought we felt that a little bit,\u201d Graves said. The Terriers only scored 14 points in the first quarter, but they made up for their lack of offensive output with their effort on the other side of the ball.<\/span><\/p>\n

BU was dominant on defense all night, and held Emmanuel to seven points on 2-14 shooting in the first quarter. They forced 27 total Emmanuel turnovers, with 14 coming in the second half. Graves said, \u201cthat really ignited our offense. We had a lot of steals, we were able to get a lot in transition because of that, and [get] some easy buckets\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re ahead of where we\u2019ve been in the past defensively. A big reason I attribute it to is our young players, because they bring a phenomenal energy that we haven\u2019t had in the past. They\u2019re going to run through a wall, they\u2019re going to play hard, they\u2019re going to buy into what we\u2019re doing. Are they going to make mistakes? Yeah, but they\u2019re going to make aggressive mistakes. And I think that\u2019s the difference from my veteran teams in the past, who were just stuck in their ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of these young players, 6-foot sophomore forward Sisi Bentley, made a strong defensive impact. To open the second quarter, she assisted on a layup by freshman forward Allison Schwertner before getting back on defense and thriving in the mismatch with the smaller Emmanuel guard Paris Atuahene.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the next possession, Bentley drew a foul on offense and made one of two free throws. She successfully contested a Saints\u2019 layup their next time down the floor, then layed in the transition bucket right after to extend the BU lead to 19-7. Bentley also dove to the floor to recover a loose ball before being subbed out with 6:30 left to play in the quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about Bentley\u2019s performance, Graves said that she was \u201creally happy with her effort tonight, and expects a lot of things from her this year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants to be a big defensive stopper for us, and we always knew she was capable of that,\u201d Graves said. \u201cShe just brings a great energy, she\u2019s really explosive, she\u2019s athletic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bentley, who did not play last season due to an injury, wears number 94. \u201cShe has a goal of being one of the best defenders in the Patriot League,\u201d Graves said. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know, she picked 94 because she wants to guard 94 feet defensively.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bentley was a force down the entire length of the court, and the Terriers\u2019 overall defensive disruption limited Emmanuel\u2019s offense and led to multiple fastbreak scores down the stretch in the second quarter. BU went into halftime with a 25-16 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both teams went back and forth trading baskets to start the second half. Terrier freshman forward Allison Schwertner scored the first six BU points of the third quarter, including an up-and-under reverse layup to stretch their lead to 11 points. Emmanuel guard Olivia Matela answered with a layup of her own, before senior Terrier guard Alex Giannaros drained a three-pointer to put BU up 34-22.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur defense led to offense, and once we got some good steals and into transition, my teammates were able to find me and it was better from there,\u201d Schwertener said. Things did indeed get better from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the next BU possession, Schwertener expertly absorbed the contact in the paint and made a layup, then drilled the subsequent and-one free throw. A successful trap off the Saints\u2019 inbound pass led to a jump ball and another Terrier possession. Giannaros threw a long pass to Schwertener, who laid the ball up again to extend BU\u2019s lead to 39-22. Schwertener scored 11 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt just helps to give me more confidence for the rest of the year to know what I\u2019m capable of, continuing to play as I play and rely on my teammates,\u201d Schwertener said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s my freshman year, so just go out there and have fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fun would be an understatement; Schwertener finished with a game-high 17 points, tied with Emmanuel guard Olivia Matela. 13 of those points came in a dominant third quarter for BU: they scored 27 points in the frame, doubling their first half total, and forced nine Emmanuel turnovers. At the end of the quarter, the Terriers led 52-28.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BU starting five was back on the floor at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and they drove the nail into the Saints\u2019 coffin. After four quick points from sophomore guard Aiobhe Gormley, a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Audrey Erickson, and another layup from Schwertener, the lead was widened to 61-28.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terrier defense stifled Emmanuel all game, and they didn\u2019t take their foot off the gas once in the final quarter. In a bounceback game, BU cruised to a 71-38 win over their local opponents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball, at the end of the day, is just basketball. So you have to have confidence coming out, no matter who you\u2019re playing. Don\u2019t take anyone too lightly and don\u2019t take anyone too greatly,\u201d Schwertener said. \u201cI think just believing in ourselves and knowing who we are, coming out and playing BU basketball every day is the ultimate goal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers achieved that goal on Tuesday night in Case Gym. Next, they\u2019ll take on the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in Durham on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Sierra Jansen By James Noyes The Boston University Terriers (1-1, 0-0 PL) beat the Emmanuel College Saints (0-0, 0-0 GNAC) 71-38 in an exhibition game at Case Gym in Boston on Tuesday. Although the game won\u2019t appear on their official record, it provided the Terriers with an opportunity to get back into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23099,"featured_media":40642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1039,1040],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44693"}],"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\/23099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44694,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44693\/revisions\/44694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}