After a victory over first-place Lehigh, BU women’s basketball is starting to dream
Led by Giannaros, the Terriers notched their first three-game winning streak of the season and are peaking at the perfect time.
BOSTON — Alex Giannaros sat at the dais in the Eilberg Lounge above Case Gym on Wednesday night after the Boston University women’s basketball team’s best win of the season and peered at her stat line: A season-high 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 7 for 12 from 3, with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block.
But one set of numbers stood out to the senior guard: 2 for 4 from the free throw line.
“I missed two free throws,” Giannaros muttered before the official start of the postgame press conference.
“Yeah, you’re trash bro,” sophomore guard Aoibhe Gormley joked.
It was Giannaros and Gormley, the former of which moved to ninth on BU’s all-time scoring leaderboard, who helped propel the Terriers to a statement victory, 80-68, over first-place Lehigh (23-5, 14-2 PL) at Case Gym.
BU (11-16, 5-11 PL) never trailed as it earned a third consecutive victory for the first time this season. The Terriers also snapped Lehigh’s 12-game winning streak — the last eight of which were by double digits — handing the Mountain Hawks their first loss since Jan. 8.
BU’s first two victories of the win streak, over second-to-last-place Loyola Maryland and last-place American, were steps in the right direction but not necessarily season-altering wins. After a convincing victory over Lehigh — voted as the 26th-best mid-major team in the nation — anything seems possible for these Terriers as the Patriot League Tournament looms.
“Really, really happy with this win. Obviously, we knew that if we wanted to try to compete for a championship, when we get into the tournament, you got to compete with this team,” head coach Melissa Graves said. “I thought we did a great job today of that, and I think it’s really built us some confidence now moving forward.”
Gormley, who finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, shared a similar sentiment.
“Beating the number one team proves that like we are right, we know we can play with anyone in the league and we still can win the championship.”
Uttering the words ‘compete for a championship’ or ‘win the championship’ would have been unthinkable even just a week and a half ago, when the Terriers lost by 20 at Colgate and fell to 2-11 in the Patriot League.
But now, the prospect of BU going on a Patriot League tournament run no longer feels so far-fetched.
Lehigh entered the contest allowing just 56.2 points per game in conference play. BU had 45 at halftime and finished with 80, its second-highest output of the season. The Terriers shot 27 of 49 from the field, 11 for 25 from 3 and tacked on 15 of 23 free throws.
In the opening half, BU pushed the pace in transition and the Mountain Hawks couldn’t keep up. Gormley spurred the fast-paced attack and twice blazed coast-to-coast for layups. It is how BU has wanted to play all season, but has rarely accomplished: Leaving teams in the dust in a 94-foot track meet.
“We didn’t think that they could guard us when we were pushing pace like that,” said Gormley. “That started with our defense, so getting them to miss shots helps us to get out and run.”
Lehigh, which leads the league in points per game (70.1) and field goal percentage (.446), scored just 26 points on 10-of-28 shooting and 2 for 13 from 3 in the first half. BU’s defenders looked as active as they have all season, taking pride in staying in front of their assignment and closing out to 3-point shooters.
“We always talk about ‘Let our defense fuel our energy,’” Graves said. “I thought we were tremendous the first two quarters, especially that first quarter.”
On the offensive end, the Terriers got anything they wanted. BU utilized its transition game, the pick-and-roll and quick ball movement to keep the Mountain Hawks on their heels.
Giannaros erupted for five 3s in the first 12 minutes of action. The fifth, a transition 3 from the right wing off of a cross-court feed from Gormley, gave the Terriers a 32-13 lead and forced Lehigh head coach Addie Micir to call timeout. Gormley, screaming, beelined to Giannaros for a chest bump as the Terrier bench and all of Case Gym erupted.
“When Alex is on fire like that, it’s pretty incredible to watch,” Gormley said. “I’m just as excited as probably everyone else in the gym.”
Giannaros dished the compliments right back.
“I think our pace in the first half was able to get me open in a lot of places, especially with Aoibhe,” said Giannaros. “If you don’t guard her, she’s getting a layup. If you choose to guard her, I’m getting a 3.”
Junior Anete Adler contributed 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks. The 6-foot-5 forward dished out of the post to create open looks from deep and used her length to thwart Lehigh’s interior looks.
“Her ability to not only score inside but to find out to shooters and create that advantage was really, really beneficial for us,” Graves said.
With just over a minute left in the first half, Adler had two defenders around her in the post. She kicked out to sophomore forward Audrey Ericksen, who drilled the right corner 3 to give the Terriers a 45-22 lead, tied for its largest advantage of the contest. Ericksen finished with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, her highest-scoring game since a 20-point outburst on Dec. 1.
Lehigh forced turnovers and fought back in the second half, led by a 2-3 zone defense that extended well beyond the 3-point arc and put pressure on BU’s ball-handlers. The Mountain Hawks forced seven turnovers in the third quarter — 20 total — and outscored BU 22-14 in the frame. Three giveaways in the first three minutes of the half forced Graves to burn a timeout.
“After halftime, they really started trapping us and being aggressive. And at first, we were kind of flustered by it,” said Graves.
Lehigh, however, never cut the deficit within eight points in the second half. After an 8-0 third-quarter run cut the Mountain Hawks deficit to just nine with 13 minutes remaining, Giannaros scored five straight points.
In the fourth quarter, Lehigh never scored more than three consecutive points and two late-game buckets from Giannaros iced the game in the final minutes.
“You don’t want to kind of just hang our hats on this one game and celebrate it like it’s the last, but it’s definitely a confidence booster for everyone, for myself as well,” Giannaros said. “So just keep on rolling with what we’re doing right now.”
More reading on BU women’s basketball:
Instant takeaways from BU women's basketball's 80-68 victory over first-place Lehigh
How Alex Giannaros grew into BU women's basketball's "everything person"
Sophomore guard Aoibhe Gormley (left) and freshman forward Allison Schwertner. Photo by Erin Bush/BU Athletics.
