Women's Basketball Travels to Arizona for ASU Tournament
November 30, 2006 | Women's Basketball
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Boston University women’s basketball team (3-2) will face its second nationally ranked opponent in as many games when the Terriers travel to Tempe, Ariz., on Friday, Dec. 1 to take on the No. 14/15 Arizona State Sun Devils (5-1) at 6 p.m (MT). The Terriers, along with ASU, Northern Arizona University and Eastern Michigan University will be taking part in the Verizon Wireless ASU Classic. The event is held over two days, and BU will face either NAU or Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
THE TERRIERS: BU is coming off its second loss of the season, after falling to seventh-ranked UConn at the Huskies Gampel Pavilion.
Senior tri-captain Katie Meinhardt leads on the offensive front with 15.8 points per game, with junior tri-captain Cheri Raffo not far behind with a 14.4 average. Senior tri-captain Erica Kovach is averaging 9.0 rebounds per game, good for tops in the conference.
Sophomore point guard Christine Kinneary, has collected 15 assists over five games, and fellow starter Aly Hinton has been impressive in her freshman campaign earning 6.6 rpg.
Coming off the bench and seeing significant time this season, Kristi Dini and Kristen Folk have become important contributors to the Terrier rotation. Dini has hit a team-high 10 3-pointers this season, while Folk is second in the conference in field goal percentage (.600) and fourth in blocked shots (1.40 bpg).
Against UConn, junior Corinne Jean and freshman Jacy Schulz saw their first action of the season. Jean was 2-of-4 from the 3-point arc, while Schulz sunk two free throws for her first career points.
LAST TIME OUT: Boston University fell to the seventh-ranked Connecticut Huskies (3-0), 84-51, on Tuesday evening in Storrs, Conn. The Terriers nearly matched the Huskies second half scoring, as Connecticut held the slight edge in points in the second stanza, 38-36.
Senior tri-captain Katie Meinhardt scored 12 points, for her fifth double figure scoring game of the season. All 11 Terriers saw action and put up at least two points against the Huskies. Freshman Aly Hinton, junior tri-captain Cheri Raffo and junior Kasey Devine each recorded two blocks.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS: The Arizona State Sun Devils are currently ranked No. 14 in the most recent Associated Press poll and No. 15 in the ESPN Coaches’ Poll. ASU has the highest scoring offense in the Pac-10 with 80.3 ppg.
The Sun Devils have outscored their opponents by an average of 20.2 ppg, while shooting .501 from the field. In addition, they have hit 22-of-56 shots from 3-point range.
As a team, the Sun Devils are .740 from the charity stripe, including senior Aubree Johnson’s 13-of-13 shooting at the free throw line.
Pacing this high scoring offense is two-time First Team All-Pac 10 honoree Emily Westerberg (15.5 ppg). The senior is three points shy of reaching the 1,000-point plateau and is eighth in the conference in scoring and third in field goal percentage (.643).
ASU opened the season with a 67-63 victory over Western Kentucky, followed by their only blemish on the season – an 83-74 loss to No. 4 Tennessee. The Sun Devils regained their footing with two consecutive 90+ -point performances against Nicholls State (91-46) and Florida Atlantic (96-60). Recently, ASU took on New Mexico and Nebraska and claimed 67-49 and 87-60 victories, respectively.
SCOUTING THE LUMBERJACKS: The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks carry a 4-3 record into this weekend’s tournament. NAU opened the season with a 60-43 win over Colorado-Pueblo, but fell in its second game to UT-Arlington.
Over the next seven games, NAU traded wins and losses, and most recently claimed a 63-44 victory over Southern Utah.
Three Lumberjacks are averaging double digits with Alyssa Wahl in the front with 14.3 ppg. Kim Winkfield and Megan Porter trail not far behind with 11.1 and 10.0 ppg.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES: In the Mid-American Conference’s West Division, the EMU Eagles were picked to win the western division’s championship for the third consecutive year.
In 2005-06, EMU was selected to appear in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), following a 22-7 season. They finished with a 15-1 conference mark that year.
Sarah VanMetre returns for her final season in an Eagles’ uniform. She currently leads the team in points per game with 17.0. Patrice McKinney and Alyssa Pittman are also in double-digit averages with 15.7 and 10.3, respectively.
EMU enters the tournament following its first loss of the season. They fell to Oakland, 68-62, on Nov. 22. The Eagles opened with wins over New Orleans, 93-69, and Morehead State, 90-66.
BU VS. THE ASU TOURNAMENT FIELD: The Terriers have never faced ASU, Northern Arizona or Eastern Michigan prior to this weekend’s tournament.
The only other Pac-10 school the Terriers have ever faced is Stanford University. The games were played in back-to-back years with the Cardinal coming to Case Gym in the series opener on Dec. 21, 2002 in a 69-55 Stanford win. The following season the Cardinal hosted the Terriers on Nov. 28, 2003. In that game, Stanford won by a 67-51 margin.
NAU is a members of the Big Sky Conference and the Terriers have faced only Montana State from the league. Montana State defeated the Terriers 74-65 on Dec. 6, 2002.
Eastern Michigan is a Mid-American Conference school and the Terriers have faced two MAC schools over the years - Buffalo (1998-99) and Miami-Ohio (2000-01). Both were losses.
NEXT TIME OUT: Following this weekend’s tournament, the Terriers return home for only their second home game of the season, when they host Brown University at 5:30. The game will be played at BU’s Agganis Arena, as the first game in a doubleheader with the BU men’s team. BU and Brown are tied, 6-6, in the all-time series record.
SHE SHOOTS… SHE SCORES!: Since her freshman year, senior Katie Meinhardt has been an offensive force to be reckoned with. In 86 appearances, the senior has tallied double-digits in 38 games, including five consecutive to start this season. She has scored 20 or more points in nine games, and the Terriers have gone 8-1 in those games. One of those contests included a school-record 43 points against Stony Brook in the 2005 America East Championship first-round game.
Meinhardt is averaging 15.8 ppg – the highest of her career – and is the only Terrier to record double figures in every game this season.
AMERICA EAST NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: The America East teams have combined for a 25-22 (.532) record to start the 2006-07 season. As a whole, conference teams are 2-0 versus the ACC - last week’s sweep of No. 22 Boston College and Clemson, 5-0 against the Ivy League and have tallied four wins over the Atlantic 10, including BU’s season-opening win over URI.
Tonight’s game against the Pac-10 will be the only contest against the conference for the America East.
RISING IN THE RANKS: Three players to watch this season will be senior tri-captain Katie Meinhardt, junior tri-captain Cheri Raffo and junior Kasey Devine as they rise in the school annals.
Meinhardt currently ranks 22nd on BU’s all-time scoring list with 902 career points. Meinhardt surpassed Lynn Bay (1986-90), with her 12-point performance against Connecticut. If Meinhardt keeps up her torrid scoring pace, she could break the 1,000-point barrier by season’s end. Her .358 career 3-point percentage is fifth, while her career scoring average (10.5) places her 10th.
Meinhardt and Devine have excelled behind the charity stripe, garnering .768 and .767 career free throw percentages for fourth and fifth place, respectively. Devine is also ninth in career blocked shots (77).
Raffo has not missed a start in three seasons and has logged 2,073 minutes in 66 consecutive appearances. If she matches her 33.9 minutes per game from 2005-06 by the end of the season the junior will land in 10th place.
Meinhardt holds the school record for points in a game with 43. She reached that feat on March 9, 2005, against Stony Brook in the America East Tournament.
THE SCHEDULE: Taking on their most challenging schedule to date the women’s basketball program will face up to seven opponents that competed in the postseason, including Connecticut and Arizona State, which finished the 2005-06 season in the top 20 of the USA Today/ESPN Coaches and Associated Press polls and currently rank at No. 7 and 14, respectively, in this week’s AP poll.
BU will match up with up to six teams that made appearances in last year’s NCAA Tournament, and with a win over Dayton in the opening round of the Dartmouth Invitational on Dec. 1, the Terriers could face No. 5 Duke, which fell to Maryland in the national championship.
TERRIERS IN THE CONFERENCE: A number of Terriers currently rank in this week’s America East statistics. Following the quick jump-start to the season, four individuals have set themselves apart and climbed to the top of the statistics.
Senior Katie Meinhardt and junior Cheri Raffo are third and fifth, respectively, with averages of 15.8 and 14.4 points per game, while senior Erica Kovach is tops in the conference in rebounding (9.0). Freshmen Aly Hinton and Kristen Folk are fourth and sixth in rebounding with 6.6 and 6.4 rpg, respectively. Folk is also second in the conference with a .600 field goal percentage.
Meinhardt is fourth in assists (3.60 apg) and owns a .900 free throw percentage on 18-for-20 shooting from behind in the line, good for fourth in the conference. Kovach is fifth in steals per game (2.00).
The duo of Folk and Hinton rank fourth and fifth in blocked shots, as Folk has recorded 1.40 bpg, while Hinton is close behind with 1.20.
As a team, the Terriers have the highest scoring offense (71.6 ppg). BU is third in free throw percentage (.733). The Terriers’ 37.4 rebounds per game places them second only to Hartford (40.8 rpg).
