Instant takeaways from BU women's basketball's 61-49 loss to Colgate
BU started red hot, then couldn't get anything to fall in the final three quarters, costing the Terriers another Patriot League game.
Three takeaways from the Boston University women’s basketball team’s 61-49 loss to Colgate at Case Gym on Saturday afternoon…
BU finally started fast, but to no avail.
The biggest problem for BU (7-8, 1-3 Patriot League) so far in conference play has been poor starts — each of the Terriers’ first three PL play opponents recorded season-highs in first-half scoring. BU won each of the first three second halves, but the slow starts cost the Terriers two losses.
Then, BU scored 19 points in the first quarter and led by a point heading into the break on Saturday, only to lose the second half by 13.
Second halves haven’t been a problem at all this season — in non-conference or in PL play — but just when they needed a strong showing after the break, the Terriers couldn’t do find it.
BU’s offense started on fire, then collapsed.
BU was 9 of 10 from the field and scored 19 points in the first quarter… then went 2 for 11 in the second. In the second and third quarters, the Terriers scored just 15 combined points, and though Colgate (12-5, 2-2 PL) was only 2 of 15 from the field in the second frame and went nine minutes without scoring at one point, the Raiders only trailed by one at the half. Raider guard Taylor Golembiewski (career-high 28 points) then caught fire in the third quarter, and Colgate entered the fourth quarter up, 44-34.
It was a bizarre turn of events for BU, which got into the paint with ease in the first quarter and finished all of its layups, which had been a problem to start conference play. The entries into the paint continued into the second quarter, but BU suddenly started missing everything.
Even more unusual: when the Terriers’ offense struggles, it’s normally because their defense does, too — BU’s offense is best in transition, so it needs defensive stops to run out from — but the Terriers got plenty of Colgate misses on Saturday, and still couldn’t clear 50 points.
Aoibhe Gormley got the nod in the starting lineup.
Gormley won a competition with fellow sophomore Bella McLaughlin to start at point guard to begin the season, but head coach Melissa Graves quickly moved to a starting lineup that featured both. Each then suffered brief injuries towards the end of the non-conference slate, and since, Graves has played with the lineups; she started McLaughlin and brought Gormley off the bench in Wednesday’s win over American.
Gormely was excellent in that victory — finishing with 8 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and only 1 turnover. She replaced McLaughlin in the starting lineup on Saturday and recorded 2 points, 4 rebounds and a steal.
Sophomore forward SiSi Bentley, after a 15-point outburst against American, made her second straight start versus Colgate and the fifth of her career, bumping McLaughlin out. Graves told the ESPN+ broadcast team that all three are deserving of a starting place and that future decisions could be based on specific matchups with opponents.
Still, Gormley and McLaughlin (team-leading 12 points) spent plenty of time on the floor together despite one starting on the bench.
“I love playing with Aoibhe, I’ll start with that,” McLaughlin said on Dec. 29 after a win over Yale, which she started and Gormley didn’t. “It really helps to have two point guards on the floor, because it’s like whoever is closer [to the ball after an opponent’s miss] can run [in transition] with confidence, we don’t need to go back and get it. We play really fast with both of us on the court.”
BU wants to play fast — that’s the benefit to playing both to start the game — but then again, BU also needs to defend, which is the benefit of starting Bentley, who Graves said before the season is the team’s defender.