Women's Basketball Falls, 71-43, to No. 3 Duke
December 30, 2006 | Women's Basketball
HANOVER, N.H. – The Boston University women’s basketball team fell to No. 3 Duke, 71-43, on Saturday evening, in the championship game of the 30th annual Blue Sky Classic, hosted by Dartmouth College. Senior tri-captain Katie Meinhardt finished with a team-high 12 points, while sophomore Christine Kinneary dished out three assists.
The Terriers offense surged in the second half as BU put up 35 points. For the game BU was 36.8 percent from 3-point range (7-of-19) to Duke’s 18.2 percent from the arc (2-of-11). The Terrier defense held Duke to six points under its scoring average of 77 points per game.The Terriers hit 41.4 percent in the second half (12-for-29), the season high for any opponent in a half against Duke.
Duke opened on an 11-2 run with four points each coming from Duke’s Alison Bales and Carren Gay. Senior tri-captain Erica Kovach put the Terriers on the board with a jumper at 15:37, over an outstretched Blue Devil defense. Duke put up an 11-3 run, ending with Wanisha Smith’s jumper at 4:12.
Meinhardt hit a 3-pointer at 1:33, to move the score to 26-8. Duke’s Lindsey Harding hit a jumper with two seconds remaining to round out the first-half scoring at 30-8.
In the second half, the Terriers opened with a jumper from junior tri-captain Cheri Raffo after collecting an offensive rebound, and Kovach followed up with a 3-pointer. After Duke put up its first two points of the half with two free throws, Raffo sunk another 3-pointer to up the run to 6-2.
The Terrier offense continued to come alive with a jumper at 16:06 from freshman Aly Hinton and Raffo followed up with one of her own as BU went on a 15-7 run to open the second stanza and bring the score to 37-23.
Duke went on a 15-3 run to move the score 53-30 and Duke’s Bales put up eight points in that run. Kinneary sunk back-to-back shots, a jumper and one from 3-point range, to put the score to 59-37. Duke closed out the game on a 12-5 run as the Blue Devil’s Carrem Gay put up 10 points in that run.
For her efforts, Meinhardt was named to the all-tournament team.
The Terriers open conference action on Thursday, Jan. 4, in UMBC at 7 p.m.
