Terriers Gear Up for Harvard on Tuesday
December 8, 2008 | Women's Basketball
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BOSTON - The Boston University women’s basketball team (4-4) will look for its second consecutive victory over the Ivy League when it hosts Harvard (4-3) on Tuesday at Case Gym with tip-off set for 7 p.m. The Terriers are fresh off an 81-54 triumph over Brown, while the Crimson recently dropped a 70-58 decision at Providence.
Boston University is one win away from reaching its 450th victory as a program. In 34 seasons, the Terriers are 449-444 (.502).
Following a five-game road stretch where the Terriers went 1-4, the squad returned to the confines of Case Gym last week to defeat the Bears by 27 points, led by an 18-point performance from senior co-captain Christine Kinneary. In addition, Kinneary brought down five boards and dished out eight assists with just one turnover. Classmates Kristi Dini and Jesyka Burks-Wiley also reached double figures with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Sophomore Kerry Cashman brought down a career-high 10 rebounds.
BU’s senior class continues to shine in 2008-09, taking the top four spots on the team in scoring with Burks-Wiley (15.3 ppg), Dini (11.6) and Kinneary (11.1) all averaging double figures. Umez-Eronini has posted 9.0 ppg, while also leading the squad in steals (16). Kinneary, who leads the conference in assists (43), is 55 handouts away from becoming the program’s all-time assist leader.
Despite two players with double-doubles, the Crimson fell to the Big East’s Providence, 70-58, on Saturday at the Friars’ Alumni Hall. Sophomore Emma Markley posted 17 points and 10 rebounds and senior Katie Rollins added 16 points and 14 rebounds. Costly turnovers down the stretch sealed the victory for the Friars as they pulled away for the 12-point victory.
Markley leads all Crimson with 16.6 ppg and 7.9 rpg, while Rollins and freshman Brogan Berry are also averaging double-digit scoring with 10.4 and 10.1 ppg, respectively. Senior Emily Tay is currently 25th in the nation in assists per game (5.6) and tops in the Ivy League.
The rivalry between BU and Harvard has remained close with BU leading by a slim 12-11 margin in the 30-year-old series. The two teams played from 1976-77 to 1980-81 consecutively and twice from 1986-88 before the rivalry began to be contested annually since the 1992-93 season. The Terriers are 5-5 at home, 5-5 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites against Harvard. The Terriers' biggest win came in 1979-80 at Lavietes Pavilion when BU defeated Harvard by 39 points (88-49). Harvard's biggest victory was also by more than 30, as the Crimson held the Terriers to just 49 points in an 83-49 decision at Case Gym in 1993-94.
Harvard's longest win streak in the series is three games, from 1987-88 to 1993-94, while BU's is five games (1977-78 to 1986-87). The Terriers have won three of the last four meetings; however, the Crimson took the most recent contest a 72-62 victory at Lavietes Pavilion last year.
The Terriers own a 44-24 (.647) advantage over Ivy League opponents all-time.
Brown (8-7)
Columbia (1-0)
Cornell (0-0)
Dartmouth (13-6)
Harvard (12-11)
Penn (0-0)
Princeton (0-0)
Yale (9-1)
BU will travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Saturday (Dec. 13) for a 2 p.m. tip-off with Marist, the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champion.
To purchase season tickets for women's basketball, please visit AgganisArena.com, call 617-353-GOBU (4628), or visit the Agganis Arena Ticket Office, located in Boston at 925 Commonwealth Avenue and open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Individual game tickets can be purchased here, or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000.
