Instant takeaways from the BU women's basketball team's 67-57 victory over Maine
Freshman forward Allison Schwertner (21 points) and senior guard Alex Giannaros (20) led the Terriers, who fell behind early before turning it on and never looking back.
BOSTON — Three takeaways from the Boston University women’s basketball team’s 67-57 victory over Maine on Thursday night at Case Gym…
Allison Schwertner played out of her mind.
Schwertner, BU’s starting freshman forward, finished with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 8 rebounds. In a rampant second quarter for the Terriers, she scored 11 of BU’s 18 points — including an outrageous pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 27, after the Black Bears had led by as many as 12.
It was the first triple Schwertner has attempted this season.
On BU’s next trip, she found herself wide open for a layup at the halftime buzzer to give the Terriers (2-2) their first lead, off an assist from senior guard Alex Giannaros.
Giannaros (20 points, six assists) and Schwertner worked the screen-and-roll constantly — something BU’s struggled to do this season — and Maine (2-3) had no answers. Schwertner also collected two offensive rebounds that led to four points during BU’s 14-2 second-quarter run — critical effort plays that BU is counting on this season.
BU displayed the fight that coach Melissa Graves is relying on.
Graves was as livid as she gets during the game’s first media timeout, bellowing at her players in the huddle midway through the first quarter. Maine was getting whatever it wanted offensively and BU had committed four turnovers at the other end.
But in the second quarter, BU simply flipped a switch, forcing five Maine turnovers and holding the Black Bears scoreless for a stretch of over six minutes. The Terriers competed on the offensive end, too, courtesy of the aforementioned offensive rebounds from Schwertner and a few more from sophomore guard Bella McLaughlin and sophomore forward Aine Grane.
The energy carried over into the second half. When McLaughlin missed a layup after an impressive take early in the third, sophomore guard Aoibhe Gormley ripped the ball out of an opponent’s grasp under the basket, eventually finding McLaughlin again, who made an and-one layup.
Even junior forward Anete Adler, in her second game returning from a torn ACL, got blown by repeatedly but recovered to block three shots.
BU — young as ever — isn’t going to be perfect. It knows that. The effort plays are thus critical as the Terriers figure it out.
BU won on Thursday night because of them.
BU’s halfcourt offense was the best it’s been all year.
The screen-and-roll with Giannaros and the Terriers’ bigs finally got going, which helped.
But all of BU’s guards — from Giannaros down to freshman Hildur Gunnsteinsdóttir — were aggressive on the dribble drive. That penetration was critical, and something the Terriers had struggled with until Thursday.
BU was thus able to play inside out, constricting Maine’s defense before kicking out to open 3-point shooters. The Terriers shot 21 of 46 from the field and 6 of 14 from 3.