Women's Basketball Takes on Indiana at RCA Dome
December 10, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Boston University, winner of five straight, will look to carry its momentum into Indianapolis, where the Terriers will face the Indiana Hoosiers in the RCA Dome on Saturday. The Hoosiers have won both previous meetings with BU, including a 62-60 squeaker at The Roof last season. Saturday???s game will be the 800th contest in the history of the BU women???s basketball program and it will also be BU???s first ever game in a dome. The contest will be the nightcap of a doubleheader that will begin with a men???s tilt between border rivals Indiana and Kentucky and it will start 45 minutes after the end of the men's game, which starts at 3:45.
HISTORIC START: After becoming the fourth BU team in the past 26 years to start out a season with five wins in six games, this year???s Terriers will be looking to do what the other three squads were not able to do ??? win their seventh game. A victory over Indiana would boost the Terriers??? season mark to 6-1, which would be the program???s best start since the 1978-79 campaign, when BU set the standard with victories in its first eight contests.
BU AIMS FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT: The Terriers are enjoying their longest win streak in nearly two seasons, as the 2003-04 squad won seven straight contests, all coming against America East opponents, between Jan. 24-Feb.14. BU will be attempting to string together six straight wins over non-conference opponents for the first time since joining its first conference (Seaboard Conference) prior to the 1984-85 season.
SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS: Indiana (4-4) completed a successful four-game road swing on Wednesday, posting a 70-64 victory at Eastern Michigan to finish the stretch 3-1. The Hoosiers opened the season with four consecutive home games at Assembly Hall, dropping contests to Bowling Green, Notre Dame and defending national champion Baylor. The Hoosiers??? lone home triumph came in a 74-38 drubbing of Youngstown State.
Senior Cyndi Valentin leads the squad in scoring (17.1 ppg), assists (3.9 apg) and steals (1.75 spg). Fifth-year senior Jenny DeMuth, who tallied a game-high 24 points in the win at Eastern Michigan, is averaging 15.8 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest. Sophomore Nikki Smith is the team???s biggest threat from long distance, shooting 17-of-38 (.447) from 3-point range.
Last season, the Hoosiers posted a 10-18 overall record, including a 3-13 mark in Big Ten play, good for ninth in the conference.
FROM AMERICA EAST TO BIG TEN: The Terriers will notice a familiar face on the opposing bench, as former Maine head coach Sharon Versyp is in her first season at the helm of the IU program. A two-time America East Coach of the Year, Versyp coached the Black Bears for five seasons, guiding them to an overall record of 98-51 (.657), including three regular season AE titles, one conference championship, an NCAA tournament berth and two appearances in the WNIT. Versyp???s final game as Maine???s head coach was at last season???s America East quarterfinal round, where BU stunned the Black Bears, 63-51, to become the first No. 8 seed to upset the top seed in conference tournament history. Versyp is the third consecutive coach from Maine to leave Orono for a job at a Big Ten school, as Joanne Palombo McCallie and Trish Roberts filled vacancies at Michigan State and Michigan in 2000 and 1992, respectively.
LAST SEASON AT THE ROOF: Cyndi Valentin hit a pair of free throws with 2.5 seconds remaining to give Indiana a 62-60 victory over BU at Case Gym on Dec. 12, 2004. Valentin finished with game highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds while Rachael Vanderwal paced the Terriers with 16 points and seven rebounds. The second half saw eight ties and six lead changes between the two squads and BU had a six-point lead with 9:38 to play. Indiana dominated the boards, 39-23, limiting the Terriers to just three offensive rebounds. But BU forced 16 Indiana turnovers and blocked a game-high eight shots in a strong defensive effort.
ROAD STRETCH CONTINUES: The Terriers are entering their second contest of an eight-game road stretch, the longest such streak of road games for BU in 14 seasons. During the 1991-92 campaign, BU played nine straight games on the road and was victorious in four of them.
LAST TIME OUT: Behind a career-high 19 points from sophomore Cheri Raffo, BU ran its win streak to five games with a 73-59 road victory over Brown on Wednesday. Sophomore Kasey Devine tallied 11 points in addition to game highs of 10 rebounds and four steals. The Terriers took a 16-point lead in the middle of the first half, only to see Brown climb back into the game. The Bears took a brief lead with the first six points of the second half, but he Terriers dominated the final 10 minutes of play to earn the victory.
SIMPLY DEVINE: Sophomore forward Kasey Devine has become a strong contributor from the post for the Terriers in her first season as a starter. She is averaging 8.0 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds through six games and has also exhibited a smooth touch from the charity stripe, where she is shooting a team-best 87.5 percent. Devine has recorded two double-doubles over the past four games and she has collected at least eight rebounds in five straight contests.
70-SOMETHING: The Terriers are enjoying one of their best offensive stretches in recent history, having scored 70 or more points in four of their past five contests. BU has scored at least in each of its last three games, all wins. The last time the Terriers achieved such a feat was the 2003-04 season, when they hit the mark in four straight games.
HOME, SWEET HOME: The Terriers swept the non-conference portion of their home schedule for the first time since the 1988-89 campaign. BU went 3-0 against non-conference foes at The Roof, posting wins over Long Island and former America East schools Northeastern and Delaware. In 1988-89, the Terriers won all four of their non-league contests at home, recording victories over Liberty, Siena, Central Connecticut and Brooklyn.
MOVIN??? ON UP: Senior co-captain Rachael Vanderwal moved to ninth on BU???s career assist list with a two-assist performance at Brown, pushing her total to 262. Vanderwal passed Karen Wood ???88 (261) and is now just two assists away from overtaking Terry Shinkwin ???81 (263) for eighth place.
GREENBERG REACHES CENTURY MARK: With BU???s 73-46 victory over Northeastern, head coach Kelly Greenberg picked up the 100th victory of her career. She has averaged over 16 wins per season during her first six years as a head coach and has posted an overall record of 104-71, resulting in a winning percentage of .594.
VS. BIG TEN: BU is 2-9 all-time against schools from the Big Ten. The Terriers have played seven of the 11 schools in the conference and have earned wins over Penn State (2/7/81) and Purdue (12/29/83). Here is a breakdown of the Terriers??? record versus each school it has faced:
Indiana 0-2
Iowa 0-1
Michigan 0-1
Minnesota 0-1
Ohio State 0-1
Penn State 1-3
Purdue 1-0
