Jan. 23, 2008

Box Score

ORONO, Maine - The Boston University women's basketball team featured three players in double figures, however Maine was 33-for-39 from the line as the Terriers fell to the Black Bears, 82-77, on Wednesday evening at Alfond Arena. BU falls to 9-8 overall and 2-2 in America East action, while Maine improves to 5-13 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

Junior Jesyka Burks-Wiley had a team-high 19 points, followed by sophomore Aly Hinton with 15 and junior Kristi Dini with 12. Hinton had the hot hand from behind the arc hitting 4-of-6 attempts, while Dini was 4-for-11 from 3-point range. Senior Kasey Devine collected 10 rebounds, swatted two shots and earned two steals, while junior Christine Kinneary dished out 11 assists to go along with four points, one steal and three rebounds.

The Terriers put down 11 3-pointers and shot 39.7 percent (29-for-73) for the game, compared to Maine's 23 field goals and three 3-pointers. However, the Black Bears free throw shooting made the difference as they made it to the line 40 times and converted on 33.

In a foul-laden first half, the Terriers and Black Bears battled toe-to-toe, exchanging leads 10 times. Maine went on a 7-0 spurt to take a 15-12 lead at 13:36. However, BU would not allow the Black Bears to go up by anymore when senior Corinne Jean converted on a jumper after earning the steal and Hinton nailed a three on the next possession to move the score to 17-15 at 13:02.

The Black Bears took a five-point lead, when Brittany Boser nailed a jumper at the free-throw line at 8:30, however, on senior Cheri Raffo's trey and sophomore Kristen Folk second-chance jumper, BU quickly knotted the score at 25 at 7:27. The Black Bears closed out the half hitting 7-of-8 free throws, however, Dini nailed a 3-pointer with one second on the clock to cut the deficit to 41-38 at the break.

BU got things started in the second half with two consecutive baskets from Burks-Wiley to reclaim the lead at 18:48, 42-41. After back-and-forth action, Maine opened up a five-point lead and maintained it for five minutes, however, the Terriers' perimeter shooting brought them back into one possession as Hinton nailed her third trey of the game from the top of the arc. Burks-Wiley gave BU the two-point lead the next time it came down the court to move the score to 53-51 at 11:27.

Hinton continued to hit crucial treys in the latter half of the second stanza as her 3-pointer at 8:01 put BU by a slim 61-60 margin. Over the next five minutes, the Terriers and Black Bears continued to exchange leads, however, Maine's free-throw shooting put them up by two, 69-67, with 3:56 remaining in the game.

With under a minute to play in regulation Maine led 76-71, however, Devine nailed a jumper, to draw the Terriers to within three with 42.5 seconds left.

With four seconds left, BU was down by five, 80-75, however, Raffo earned a steal on the baseline and put up two to put BU to within on trey, however, a foul on the baseline put Maine back at the charity stripe and the Black Bears closed out the game with two made free throws to round out the scoring at 82-77.

BU will take on UNH at noon on Saturday, Jan. 26 in Durham, N.H.