BU women’s basketball earns a “defensive win,” holding Loyola Maryland to 38 points
The Terriers got back in the win column by allowing just 38 points, the fewest they have given up in the Melissa Graves era.
Over five minutes into the third quarter on Wednesday night, the Boston University women’s basketball team had yet to score a second-half field goal. Loyola Maryland, who trailed all game, had cut the deficit to three.
But when the Terriers desperately needed a basket, Aoibhe Gormley saw a matchup she liked.
The sophomore guard, operating at the left wing, waved freshman forward Allison Schwertner to the opposite side of the lane. She called classmate SiSi Bentley over for a ball screen, only to reject it, leaving her unsuspecting defender a step behind.
Gormley took two dribbles on the drive, was bumped by Loyola Maryland’s Amandine Amorich, and converted the layup while falling away from the rim.
She drained the free throw to complete the three-point play.
One possession later, Gormley utilized a screen set by junior forward Anete Adler before weaving through a sea of Greyhound defenders and netting an open right-handed layup.
“Just taking what the defense gives me,” said Gormley.
All of a sudden, BU led by eight. A few sequences later, the Terriers were up by 12, having held Loyola scoreless for over four and a half minutes.
The Greyhounds never cut the deficit to single digits from there, as BU earned a wire-to-wire 55-38 victory at Reitz Arena in Baltimore, Md.
“I thought we really locked into the defensive gameplan for 40 minutes,” said head coach Melissa Graves. “I was really, really happy with the defensive effort.”
Loyola’s 38 points are by far the fewest the Terriers (9-16, 3-11 PL) have given up in a game this season. The previous low (48) came against Northeastern on the season’s opening night.
The last time BU allowed fewer than 38 points in a game (Jan. 26, 2019, in a 49-35 win at Navy), Melissa Graves was in her first season as an assistant coach at Wake Forest.
The Greyhounds (9-16, 3-11 PL), who entered with the second-best field goal percentage in the conference during Patriot League play (.427), were held to just 31.3 percent shooting and 21.4 percent from 3.
“This was a defensive win where we locked in,” Graves said.
Crucially, BU also won the turnover battle. One game after coughing the ball up 21 times at Colgate, the Terriers committed a season-low seven turnovers and forced Loyola into 17. BU also outscored the Greyhounds 16-3 in points off turnovers.
“We wanted to keep being aggressive. We wanted points off turnovers,” said Graves.
“That was a big focus for us,” added Gormley when asked about the low turnover mark. “I think that was a collective team effort.”
Gormley matched her season-high with 16 points while shooting a perfect 6 for 6 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line. She added 6 rebounds and a team-high 3 steals.
Gormley netted six of BU’s first 12 points and provided the crucial third-quarter scoring punch to allow the Terriers to pull away.
“I thought Aoibhe did a phenomenal job getting downhill,” said Graves.
Loyola sports the smallest frontcourt in the Patriot League. Its two starting forwards are 5-foot-11, and its tallest player is 6-foot-2. BU took full advantage, outscoring Loyola 34-18 in the paint and earning 23 trips to the foul line. The Greyhounds only attempted six free throws.
The 6-foot-5 Adler netted 13 points. Schwertner added seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
“We got the ball inside to our posts, who were very dominant,” Graves said. “We wanted to keep being aggressive.”
The Terriers struggled to score for much of the contest. Through three quarters, BU was just 12 for 38 from the field and had endured three scoreless droughts longer than three and a half minutes.
But in the final frame, the Terriers shot a staggering 7 for 9 from the floor, powered by layups and short jumpers.
With the victory, BU crucially pulled even with Loyola for eighth-place in the Patriot League standings.
The Terriers are, for all intents and purposes, out of contention for a top-six seed and a first-round bye in the Patriot League tournament. However, BU can still earn the seventh or eighth seed, which would mean hosting a first-round game at Case Gym. A loss on Wednesday would have plummeted BU to two games below the eighth spot.
“These are the games you need to win,” said Graves. “We can’t change the past, but we can keep trying to progress.”
“We talked as a team on what kind of finish we need to have here going into playoffs. We need some momentum. We need some confidence going into playoffs,” Graves added. “If we can try to win at least four of the last five, that’s a goal too.”