By: Alex Cohen
After Boston University’s Women’s Basketball narrowly beat Holy Cross in an overtime victory on January 25th, the Terriers squashed the Crusaders by a more decisive 62-51 score Saturday.
Despite playing at Holy Cross (13-9, 6-5 PL) this game, the Terriers (12-10, 7-4 PL) never faced much difficulty in the contest, outscoring the Crusaders in all quarters but the fourth, in which they still tied.
It was the fourth straight win for Boston University’s women’s basketball after starting off just 8-10. As they have recovered from injuries, they have become more cohesive as a unit and found their groove.
Part of the Terriers recent success is as a product of Katie Nelson getting more help from her team in the scoring department. Nelson, who leads the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game, shot a paltry 0-6 from the field and 0-3 from three. However, Nia Irving, Maggie Pina, and Riley Childs all scored in the double digits.
Maggie Pina had a game-high 19 points and connected on 5 of her 8 three-point attempts. Over this four-game winning streak she has averaged 16.75 points per game after scoring a single point against Navy before the stretch. Pina has been a huge outside presence for the Terriers and was especially clutch in BU’s last clash with Holy Cross, and in their recent upset against 15-6 Bucknell.
BU won in a large part due to their defense against Holy Cross’ twin towers in Lauren Manis and Megan Swords — the Crusaders’ two star forwards who combine to average 31.1 points per game. In the Terrier victory, they held Manis to just 12 points on 5-13 shooting, and Swords to just eight points and three rebounds.
In the previous contest, BU made life difficult for Swords and Manis, namely through Maren Durant’s physical defense, but they still finished with a combined 34 points. This time the Terriers contained them to even greater effect.
Outside of Manis and Swords, point guard Avery LaBarbera offered 17 points on 6-14 shooting for the Crusaders, but it was not enough, as Manis was the only other scorer to reach double digits for Holy Cross. BU’s stifling defense held the opponent to just 51 points.
This was an impressive victory for BU, who once again beat a Holy Cross team that has had much success on the season. Marisa Moseley’s emphasis on preparedness is clearly paying dividends. Holy Cross’ inability to score a home win after a recent loss to BU is a credit to the Terriers’ hot and cohesive play of late.
The road does not get easier, however. BU plays at Colgate on Wednesday (7:00 p.m. tip-off) before returning to face Navy next Saturday. Both contests are revenge opportunities, as Colgate and Navy handed BU their two most recent losses.
Featured image by Hannah Yoshinaga.
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