Women's Basketball Tops Northeastern, 93-79
November 21, 2006 | Women's Basketball
BOSTON – The Boston University women’s basketball team (3-0) extended its season-opening win streak to three games with a 93-79 victory over cross-town rival Northeastern University on Tuesday evening at the Huskies’ Matthews Arena. BU closed out its three-game road stand and returns to Case Gym on Sunday, Nov. 26 for a 1 p.m. contest with Canisius.
Junior tri-captain Cheri Raffo continued to shine on the offensive front tallying a career-high 21 points. Senior tri-captain Katie Meinhardt led all scorers with 26 points and went 11-for-12 from the free throw line, while senior tri-captain Erica Kovach recorded a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds – a career-high. Freshman Aly Hinton also scored in double digits with 13 points.
The Terriers scored 30 points from the charity stripe and shot .556 from the field. Tonight’s game marks the first time since Jan. 21, 2005 where the Terriers shot over .500 from the field.
In the first half, the Terriers jumped out to an 8-0 lead within the first minute of play, with six points coming from Meinhardt. The Terriers went on a 14-5 run by the 16:00 mark.
The Terriers extended the lead to 16-7 by the fifth minute of play, and Meinhardt led the early charge with 10 points. By the seventh minute, BU doubled up the score, 24-12, with Raffo going a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
The Huskies began to chip away at the Terriers lead in the tenth minute when Shaleyse Smallwood hit a lay-up to cut the lead to 26-21. BU quickly reclaimed a sizable lead on an 8-3 run to go up 34-21.
Northeastern hit a series of free throws to close out the half and bring the scored to 41-35.
In the second half, Northeastern came out strong and closed the gap to 43-41, backed by Ashlee Feldman’s 4-for-4 shooting at the free throw line. Erica Kovach responded with a crucial 3-pointer to bring the lead back up to five points.
The Huskies came back to tie the score for the first time in the game, 52-52, when Feldman sunk two free throws. Jody Burrows gave Northeastern its first lead with one free throw at 12:26.
Raffo tied the score back up with a free throw of her own, and Meinhardt reclaimed the lead with a lay-up at 11:46. The scored remained close through the next four minutes as both teams went back and forth with baskets.
BU went on a 6-0 run to run the score back up, 67-61, at 7:22. The Terriers continued to hit baskets and with four minutes remaining had a commanding 83-70 lead.
Meinhardt went to the foul line with 16 seconds left and hit both free throws, while Kovach hit the final two free throws to put the final score at 93-79.
