Instant takeaways from BU women's basketball's 80-68 victory over first-place Lehigh
The Terriers snapped Lehigh's 12-game winning streak and earned a 3-game streak of their own.
BOSTON — The Boston University women’s basketball team entered Wednesday night’s contest with a chance for its first three-game win streak of the season.
All that stood in its way? First-place Lehigh, winners of 12 straight contests (the last eight by double digits) and the most dominant team in regular season Patriot League play since the Terriers of two seasons ago.
None of Lehigh’s prior success mattered to BU. The Terriers defeated the Mountain Hawks, 80-68, at Case Gym on the strength of a brilliant first half.
Here are three takeaways from BU’s statement victory…
BU played its best half of the season.
Lehigh (23-5, 14-2 PL) has been dominant this season. The Mountain Hawks are outscoring Patriot League opponents by an average of 15.0 points per game. They are receiving the most votes of any team outside of the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top-25. Essentially, Lehigh is the 26th-best mid-major team in the nation.
And yet, the Terriers (11-16, 5-11 PL) were by far the better team in the first half on Wednesday. BU opened up a lead as large as 23 points on two separate occasions (38-15 and 41-18) and took a 45-26 advantage into halftime. BU’s 45 first-half points are the second-most it has scored in a first-half this season. Lehigh had only allowed 56.2 points per game in Patriot League play entering the contest.
The Terriers were swinging the ball effortlessly, drilling 3s and scoring inside. Lehigh’s man-to-man defense was no match for a BU team that simply looked faster and more energized.
Lehigh forced turnovers and fought back.
Lehigh is at the top of the Patriot League for a reason. Even after trailing by 19 at the break and shooting 10 for 28 from the field and 2 for 13 from 3 in the opening half, the Mountain Hawks found their way back into the contest.
Lehigh operated a 2-3 zone that extended well beyond the 3-point arc to put heavy pressure on BU’s ball handlers late in the first half. It helped to disrupt BU’s flow state, so the Mountain Hawks continued running its zone in the second half. The zone forced seven Terrier turnovers in the third quarter, which Lehigh scored seven points off of.
On the offensive end, the Mountain Hawks shot 8 for 17 and 6 for 7 from the free throw line in the third quarter. Lehigh got the ball inside for a flurry of layups and abandoned the 3, where they failed to connect from all night (3 for 22).
BU, however, never let Lehigh cut the deficit to two possessions, in large part due to the contributions of BU’s biggest star.
Alex Giannaros is a certified star.
The senior guard who moved into ninth place on BU’s all-time scoring leaderboard on Wednesday night is clearly a star. There’s no profound insight there. But Giannaros netted a season-high 29 points on 10 for 17 shooting and 7 of 12 from deep.
Giannaros drilled five 3s within the first 12 minutes of play. Her fifth, a transition 3 from the right wing, resulted in one of the loudest crowd pops heard at Case Gym this season and forced Lehigh head coach Addie Micir to call a timeout as her Mountain Hawks trailed by 19.
In the second half, as Lehigh chipped away at BU’s advantage, Giannaros delivered the clutch buckets the Terriers needed. She scored five straight points after the Mountain Hawks had dwindled the deficit to nine.
Giannaros rolled in a free throw line jumper with just over two minutes remaining that put the Terriers up by 11. On the next possession, she swished a corner 3 right in front of the BU bench, essentially putting the game out of reach.