Instant takeaways from BU women's basketball's 82-72 win over American
The Terriers erupted on offense to win their second consecutive game.
BOSTON — Wednesday night’s win at Loyola Maryland was all about the Boston University women’s basketball team’s defense, but on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym, BU won because of its offense.
On Senior Day, the Terriers erupted for a 82-72 victory over American, winning their second consecutive game. BU (10-16, 4-11 Patriot League) is on its first win streak of PL play and second of the season.
The Terriers’ 82 points were the most they’ve scored in a game all season.
With the win, Lafayette’s loss to Lehigh and Loyola’s loss to Colgate, the Terriers are now tied with Lafayette for seventh place in the league standings, a game ahead of Loyola in eighth place. It means BU controls its own destiny for a home first-round PL tournament game with three regular-season games to go.
Here are four takeaways from the win:
BU did whatever it wanted on offense.
The Terriers went into halftime with 40 points, the most they’ve scored in a first half during Patriot League play and second-most all season. They were shooting 52 percent and had only committed three turnovers.
Put simply, BU’s offense couldn’t be stopped. The Terriers finished the game shooting 52 percent from the field and 38 percent from downtown.
In the halfcourt, the Terriers fed their posts with ease. They blew by perimeter defenders for open layups or to dump off to cutters in the lane. In the first half, BU had 26 points in the paint to AU’s six (it was 42-18 for the entire game).
Promisingly, the Terriers were outstanding in transition, constantly pushing the pace of Eagles’ misses for easy layups at the other end. Head coach Melissa Graves wanted that to be BU’s offensive identity before the season, but before Saturday, it hadn’t materialized. Against American, however, her team was flying around the court.
By the end of the third quarter, BU already had 65 points, which would’ve been the third-most its scored in a game during PL play. The Terriers had three players score at least 14 points, and on her senior day, co-captain Alex Giannaros had 18 and made six 3-pointers.
The Eagles’ only defense was BU missing shots, and the Terriers made more than they missed.
Aoibhe Gormley is surging.
BU’s starting point guard had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in the first half alone. The sophomore finished with 14 points, three days after tying her season-high with 16 against Loyola Maryland, and added 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Over her last four games, Gormley is averaging 13 points and 4 assists and is shooting 66 percent from the field.
Gormley is BU’s fastest player, and AU couldn’t keep up with her at any point on Saturday. She blew by defenders in halfcourt sets throughout the game and was a menace in transition. It has been an up-and-down season for Gormley — it’s been an up-and-down season for everyone — but the Quincy, Mass. native is playing at an All-Patriot League level right now.
It feels a lot like Gormley’s freshman season, when she also surged late and became one of BU’s most impactful players down the stretch.
Anete Adler was dominant.
The junior 6-foot-5 forward finished with a career-high 24 points on 10 of 11 shooting.
Her play, like Gormley’s, is improving immensely as the season goes on. It took Adler 13 games to score in double figures this season, but since she broke through, she’s finished with at least 10 points in over half of her games.
BU is starting to rely on Adler more and more — she took a season-high 14 field-goal attempts on Wednesday — and it's working. American had no answers for Adler whenever she got the ball in the post. BU’s guards looked to her early and often, and Adler made them right.
BU allowed too many 3-pointers.
Entering the game, BU was allowing by far the most 3-point attempts to opponents of any league team during PL play (it was also allowing the most 3-point makes).
The story was no different against American. The Eagles went 14 of 36 from downtown, a clip that kept them in the game even as BU was on fire at the other end. AU held the Terriers lead around 10 points throughout the second half.
It was the fourth time BU’s allowed 30 3-point attempts in a game during conference play.
BU had been getting better on defense, punctuated by its suffocation of LMD in Baltimore, but the 3-pointers are still a problem, as is the Terriers’ play on that end as a whole.