Boston, Mass. – The Boston University Terriers absorbed a big third-quarter run by the Le Moyne College women's basketball team and hung on for a 64-53 victory in non-conference action at BU's Case Gym – "The Roof" on Wednesday afternoon.
The Dolphins trailed the Terriers by a score of 44-27 at halftime, then Le Moyne outscored BU by a tally of 18-7 in the third period, with the help of a 14-0 run to close the quarter, to trim their deficit to six points going into the final frame.
Boston, which won the program's first Patriot League Regular Season Championship in 2022-23 with a 17-1 conference record, responded with a 9-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, and they held on for an 11-point victory to improve to 4-1 this season.
"A lot of credit to BU, they changed up defenses and we didn't weather that storm," said Le Moyne head coach
Mary Grimes. "But in the second half we changed up defenses too and we were able to cover their bigs a lot better than we did in the first half and I think you could see that by our run [in the third period].
"[We're going to] just rest for the next four days. They're going to go home with their families and enjoy Thanksgiving and just kind of refresh," said Grimes. "We'll get back after it next week, but I told them we're going to be feeling like we're drowning in the beginning but a break is coming, so just fight through it. I'm really proud of their fight, even to the end there [against BU] we were fighting the whole way through, there is never a lack of effort and I'm proud of them for that, so this is a well-deserved break."
Le Moyne freshman guard
Leah Middleton (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) scored a team-high and season-best 14 points on 4-5 shooting from three-point range and 2-2 from the line with two steals in a season-high 28 minutes played off the bench. Middleton knocked down two clutch three pointers during Le Moyne's 14-0 run in the third.
"I knew her family was here so I knew she was going to have one of those days," said Grimes on Middleton's performance. "I know she's capable of much more. I think she's understanding (what she's capable of offensively) and then defensively she knows what we have to do too."
Graduate guard
Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) also scored in double figures for Le Moyne with 11 points, three assists, a block and a steal in a team-high 34 minutes.
Redshirt-junior forward
Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) shot 5-5 from the free-throw line and finished the game with nine points, a team-high six rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes played, while sophomore guard
Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) added seven points, three assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard
Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) pulled down five rebounds for the 'Phins to go along with two assists, two steals and four points.
BU junior guard Alex Giannaros led the Terriers in scoring with 15 points on 4-12 from three-point land, while senior forward Caitlin Weimar registered a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds along with three assists and two blocks.
Senior guard Sophie Beneventine contributed seven points, a team-high six assists and four rebounds to the Boston cause.
BU forwards Weimar, Anete Adler and Anastasiia Semenova scored a combined 18 points during the first half, including 16 points in the paint, but the 'Phins limited them to a combined eight points during the final 20 minutes.
Le Moyne trailed 21-16 after 10 minutes, then the Terriers shot 9-15 from the field, and 3-5 from long range during the second quarter, outscoring the Dolphins 23-11 during the period to open up a 17-point lead at the intermission.
The Dolphins finished the contest with 11 second chance points, compared to eight for BU, while both sides scored 17 points off turnovers.
The Terriers had the advantage in points in the paint, 28-16.
Le Moyne shot 12-15 from the free-throw line, while limiting BU to seven free-throw attempts, and just two in the second half.
With 6:42 remaining in the first quarter, Goode sent a pass to Lusher in the left corner, and Lusher knocked down her first three-point attempt of the afternoon to give the Dolphins a 7-4 lead.
The Terriers then went on a 9-0 run with four different players scoring a field goal, then Middleton converted her first three-point attempt from the left corner to make it 13-10 in favor of the home team.
Goode found junior guard
Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) for a layup on a baseline out of bounds play at the 1:37 mark, then Florvil drove to the basket and scored over two defenders with just under 40 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to cut Le Moyne's deficit to 18-16.
BU freshman guard Audrey Ericksen drilled a three pointer with 20 seconds left in the first to give the Terriers a 21-16 lead after 10 minutes of action.
Giannaros made three pointers on back-to-back possessions early in the second quarter, then Beneventine knocked down a triple with just over two minutes remaining in the half to give the Terriers their largest lead of the game up to the point at 42-25.
Two made free throws by Beneventine with 15 seconds remaining in the second gave BU a 19-point advantage, but on Le Moyne's final possession of the first half, Roberts grabbed an offensive rebound, drew a foul and converted the Dolphins first two free throw attempts of the contest to make it 44-27 at halftime.
The Dolphins missed their first four field goal attempts of the third period, then Goode drove into the lane, euro stepped around her defender converted an off-balance shot through contact, drew a foul and made the additional free throw to cut the Dolphins' deficit to 49-31.
Following a basket from BU sophomore forward Anastasiia Semenova at the 4:54 mark in the third, the Dolphins began their run as Linnin drove to the basket, scored a floater in the lane, drew a foul and completed the three-point play to cut the deficit to 17 points.
The Dolphins recorded their third consecutive three-point play at the 3:31 mark as Lusher sent a pass from the high post over the defense for Roberts, who caught the ball between two defenders, scored the layup through contact and swished the free throw to make it 51-37.
During the ensuing possession, Linnin came up with a steal for the Dolphins, pushed the ball up the floor and sent a pass to Goode who gave her defender a pump fake then sank a pull-up jumper with just over three minutes remaining in the frame.
At the 1:20 mark, Le Moyne junior forward
Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford) stole a BU pass in transition, dribbled across half court and got the ball to Lusher, who fired a pass across the court to the left corner for Middleton who swished a contested three pointer over the 6'4" Weimar to trim Le Moyne's deficit to single digits.
Following a timeout by BU, Le Moyne immediately forced a turnover with its full court pressure.
During the ensuing possession, Williams grabbed an offensive rebound on her own miss, then fifth-year senior guard
Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) drove towards the right block with seven seconds on the shot clock and kicked out a pass to Middleton in the right corner. Middleton once again drained a contested triple to complete the 14-0 run and make it 51-45 in favor of BU after 30 minutes of play.
Boston responded with three unanswered three-point field goals to begin the final quarter, extending its lead back out to 15 points.
Lusher ended the run with a short corner jumper at the 6:40 mark, then Roberts drew a foul and made two more free throws one minute later to cut BU's lead to 11.
Two consecutive field goals by the Terriers once again made it a 15-point game with 2:33 remaining.
The Dolphins scored the final four points of the game with two made free throws by Williams, and two by Middleton.
"I'm excited. This is a team that we competed with," said Grimes. "I think if a couple shots go our way it's a different ballgame, but we were right there. To lose by what we lost by, I mean, we're very close, within three possessions. I'm excited for the future and a well-deserved break coming up."
The Le Moyne women's basketball team will return to action in December with a trip to Virginia. The Dolphins will play at University of Richmond on December 3, then they will take on Virginia Commonwealth University on December 5.
