Instant takeaways from BU women's basketball's 74-59 loss at Bucknell
Anete Adler and Aoibhe Gormley shined, but the Terriers could not keep up with Bucknell's offensive output.
The Boston University women’s basketball team entered Saturday’s matchup in Lewisburg, Pa. looking to put an end to its four-game losing streak.
However, Bucknell led by sophomore forward Ashley Sofilkanich gave the Terriers all it could handle.
BU fell, 74-59, at Sojka Pavillion, dropping to 7-12 and 1-7 in Patriot League play.
Here are three takeaways from BU’s fifth-consecutive loss…
BU got off to a slow start and was unable to come back from it.
The Terriers took an early 5-2 lead less than two minutes into the contest. BU then failed to make a field goal for over seven and a half minutes. Bucknell (10-9, 5-3 PL) went on a 17-3 run to end the quarter, taking a 19-8 lead.
BU played relatively evenly with the Bison the rest of the way. But it was never able to cut the deficit within six.
The Terriers did not consistently string together scores and stops to compensate for the slow start, and Bucknell found another gear each time BU got within striking distance.
Bucknell’s offense ran through Ashley Sofilkanich. BU did not have an answer.
Sophomore forward Ashley Sofilkanich is a star. On Wednesday, she tied Bucknell’s single-game scoring record with 44 points to lead the Bison past Colgate in overtime. For the season, Sofilkanich was averaging 20.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game entering Saturday’s matchup.
BU was aware of this. It tried doubling and fronting the post, but Sofilkanich got going anyway. She finished with 22 points and 7 rebounds, shooting 7 of 10 from the field and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line. She also added six assists, brilliantly passing out of the post to find spot-up shooters.
Bucknell also got key contributions from redshirt junior Sophia Sabino (15 points), freshman Reese Zemitis (13) and sophomore Tuana Coskin (12). All three were freed up by the attention given to Sofilkanich.
Bucknell shot 57.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep.
Anete Adler had her best performance of the season. Aoibhe Gormley was great too.
Junior forward Anete Adler had a long road to get back onto the floor this season. She tore her ACL near the end of nonconference play a year ago and was not yet ready to suit up by the time of BU’s opener.
But despite the loss, Adler’s return to the court paid off on Saturday, as she dropped a career-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 3 of 4 from the free throw line. Adler made an instant impact off the bench, earning strong positioning inside off of post-ups and rolls to the rim. She made numerous layups inside, connected on her free throws and even nailed a midrange jumper midway through the third quarter.
Sophomore guard Aoibhe Gormley, who assisted on two of Adler’s baskets, also had an excellent performance. She scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, dished out five assists and had five steals.