Women's Basketball Set to Take on Providence Friday
December 30, 2010 | Women's Basketball
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BOSTON - On Friday (Dec. 31), the Boston University women's basketball team (3-8) will return to action as it heads down to Providence (6-6) for a New Year's Eve contest. The Terriers and Friars will face off in a rematch of last year's WNIT first round game that PC claimed by a six-point margin.
THE TERRIERS: During the Terriers non-conference schedule, they have faced three teams which are currently ranked in the nation's top 25 - No. 18 St. John's (Dec. 4), No. 23 Texas (Nov. 21), and No. 24 Boston College (Nov. 12), facing each of them within the course of the season's first month. With two games remaining in the 2010 calendar year, the Terriers will take on teams from the Atlantic 10 (Richmond, Dec. 28) and the Big East (Providence, Dec. 31).
Statistically, the Terriers rank first in the America East in five categories with Alex Young headlining two of them. The junior sharp shooter is first in scoring (14.6 ppg) and 3-point field goals made (2.5), while sophomores Chantell Alford and Mo Moran are first in 3-point field goal percentage (.425) and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), respectively, and junior Caroline Stewart is at the top for defensive rebounds (6.5 pg).
As a team, BU is shooting .363 from the field, .318 from behind the arc, and .626 at the charity stripe. It ranks first in the AE in two categories: blocked shots (3.8) and assist/turnover Ratio (0.8). Senior Kerry Cashman has led the way for the Terriers in blocks with 16 this season and with one more swatted shot she will break into BU's all-time top 10 list for that category.
BU VS. PROVIDENCE: The Friars own the 15-6 advantage in the all-time series history, which dates back to 1978, and was recently revisited after a 13-year break. Last year, the Terriers and Friars faced off in the WNIT first round, which PC claimed by a 64-58 margin. Providence has claimed the last 11 straight match-ups, which spans from 1985-1997.
BU VS. THE BIG EAST: BU is 20-56 (.274) against Big East schools and has played all but four schools in the conference - Cincinnati, Louisville, West Virginia and Villanova. Its most contested series is with Providence (6-15).
Over the past 14 years, the Terriers have gone 1-10 against the Big East with a victory over St. John's in 2006. BU's wins have come over Connecticut, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, St. John's, Syracuse and USF. Under head coach Kelly Greenberg, BU is 1-7.
BU vs. the Big East
Cincinnati (0-0)
Connecticut (4-7)
DePaul (0-1)
Georgetown (1-0)
Louisville (0-0)
Marquette (0-1)
Notre Dame (1-0)
Pittsburgh (0-1)
Providence (6-15)
Rutgers (0-4)
St. John's (2-13)
Seton Hall (0-2)
South Florida (2-3)
Syracuse (4-9)
Villanova (0-0)
West Virginia (0-0)
LAST TIME OUT VS. PROVIDENCE (March 18, 2010): In a tightly contested match-up that saw 12 lead changes, the basketball team dropped a 64-58 decision to Providence in the first round of the WNIT at Case Gym on Thursday, Dec. 18. Chantell Alford, who broke the freshman scoring record, finished the game with 15 points, while Aly Hinton (`10) collected a season-high 13 boards as she hauled down her 700th career rebound.
Alford scored 477 points in 30 games that season to break the previous freshman scoring record held by BU's all-time leading scorer Katie Terhune, who set the bar in the 2000-01 season with 438. In the WNIT contest, Hinton also surpassed a career milestone as she brought down her 700th career rebound to become one of just three other Terriers in program history to score 1,000 points and collect 700 boards. She joins the ranks with BU's greats Debbie Miller (`81), Jill Sosnak (`95) and Adrienne Norris (`05).
Joining Alford in double-digit scoring on Thursday was sophomore Caroline Stewart with 10 points. She finished the game with six rebounds.
BU made the most of 15 Providence miscues, scoring 16 points of turnovers, while limiting the Friars to four points in that situation. The Terriers' bench also outscored PC, 6-0; however, the Friars transitioned quickly to produce eight points while holding BU without a point on the fast break. There were 12 lead changes and eight times the score was tied as the game was never beyond two possessions until midway through the second half.
LAST TIME OUT (MARIST - Dec. 11, 2010): Despite a season-high 21 points from sophomore Chantell Alford, the women's basketball team fell to Marist, 71-55, on Saturday, Dec. 11.
Alford scored 14 of her points in the second stanza and shot 3-for-4 from behind the arc and 6-for-9 from the free throw line, while junior Alex Young contributed 11 points and classmate Caroline Stewart hauled in 13 rebounds.
It was a game of runs with each side going on long scoring stretches, however, the definitive one came early in the second half when the Red Foxes outscored BU 11-0 to push Marist's lead into double figures and it never looked back as it went on to claim the 16-point victory.
BU finished the game shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from the 3-point arc. Marist outrebounded BU, 41-28, and had 27 defensive boards. The Red Foxes' deep bench also gave them 23 points.
NEXT UP: The Terriers will open their conference slate with Maine on Sunday (Jan. 2) at 1 p.m.
CASHMAN NEARING ANOTHER MILESTONE: After recently joining the 300-rebound mark, senior Kerry Cashman is also nearing another milestone as she needs just one more block to break into BU's top 10 all-time leaders for blocked shots.
BLOCK PARTY: As they have for the majority of the season, the Terriers continue to lead the America East Conference in blocked shots with 3.8 bpg. Senior Kerry Cashman is the team's leading blocker and ranks second in the league with 1.5 per game.
STEWART, CASHMAN REACH 300 BOARDS: Junior Caroline Stewart and senior Kerry Cashman have both recently reached the 300-rebound mark. Stewart accomplished the feat vs. No. 17 Texas on Nov. 17, while Cashman did it vs. Northeastern (Dec. 6).
HOMECOMING: This season a number of Terriers have had the opportunity to play in front of hometown crowds as the BU schedule has taken the squad as far as Texas.
Senior Kat Briggs (Georgetown, Texas) got to play in front of a large contingent of family and friends when the team traveled to Texas to take on the Longhorns on Nov. 21, and sophomore Mo Moran had family and former high school teammates in the stands for BU's contest at Marist (Dec. 11) in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Sophomore Kristen Sims was set to play close to home on Dec. 28., at Richmond, but due to a blizzard in the Northeast the Terriers and Spiders were unable to face off.
