2011-12 Women's Basketball Season Preview
November 10, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2011
The Boston University women's basketball team enters the 2011-12 season with high expectations, as the Terriers will once again contend for the America East championship. BU was selected to finish second in the America East after the Terriers advanced to the conference championship contest last season.
This year's squad will be loaded with talent and primed to win its first conference title since 2003.
"I'm really excited," head coach Kelly Greenberg said. "I know every team in the country is saying that right now, but we return a lot of players, we have great energy, and we have upperclassmen who work extremely hard and who 100% care for this program."
The Terriers finished the 2010-11 season with a 17-14 record, including a 12-4 mark in conference competition. They return all but one starter from last year's squad that hosted the 2011 America East title game. Eighty-five percent of BU's league-leading offense (62.8 points per game) is back, including America East Player of the Year Chantell Alford. The junior guard averaged a league-best 15.0 ppg last season and also shot 40 percent from three-point range. In addition to being named Player of the Year last year, Alford was also named to the AE All-Defensive Team and AE All-Tournament Team.
"She means a lot to the team," Greenberg said about Alford. "She's our go to player; she can score. She's more mature and she's taking more responsibility for our wins and losses and I'm really excited for her this year."
Classmate Mo Moran, who will once again run the point, joins Alford in the backcourt. Moran averaged 4.0 assists per game last season, which was second in the conference. Senior Alex Young, one of three captains with seniors Caroline Stewart and Kasie Carbacio, also returns as a guard. She averaged 12.9 ppg and shot 37.0 percent from beyond the arc, good for third in the America East.
While the guard play will once again be strong, Greenberg also has viable options down low, in particular with senior Caroline Stewart. The Topsfield, Mass., native averaged a career-best 7.7 ppg and 7.7 rebounds per game last season. Also on the post will be sophomore Rashidat Agboola, who came off the bench last year to earn All-America East Rookie Team honors but will be a starter to begin this season.
"Both Caroline and Rashidat, they're our two starting post players for us this year, and we're going to get the ball to them more often this year," Greenberg said. "Last year, I think we were so guard-oriented, but I really believe our guards want to go to them more. They trust them."
The other two upperclassmen this season will be Carbacio and junior Kristen Sims. Both players will be valuable contributors off the bench. In addition, sophomores Melissa Gallo and Whitney Turner will return for their second year. Three freshmen join the Terriers this season, with Mollie McKendrick, Troi Melton and Nicole Tamanosky set to make their debuts in a BU uniform. Danielle Callahan, a forward who redshirted last season after transferring from LaSalle, was primed to make her debut but suffered a season-ending injury during the Spain exhibition.
The Terriers will once again have a difficult non-conference schedule before an always-challenging slate of America East games. Ten of the Terriers' first 14 games are on the road, including stops at West Virginia, Boston College, Massachusetts, Richmond, Harvard and Yale. BU will also take part in the Fordham Holiday Classic on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30, before concluding 2011 with a New Year's Eve game at St. John's.
"Finishing December with three games back-to-back-to-back, we've never done that before," Greenberg said. "It seems absolutely crazy, but that's how scheduling goes sometimes. I think what it's going to do is really put us in positions to win some tough games on the road and that's not an easy thing to do. So what we hope happens early is that we get on all cylinders, we're all ready for those early games and maybe we can steal a few of these on the road and get some steam going into the America East schedule."
America East play begins on Jan. 4 with a trip to Vermont. The Terriers will play the return game at Agganis Arena on Feb. 1 against the Catamounts. The final two games will also be ones to mark on the calendar, as the Terriers will host 2010-11 regular season champion UMBC before closing the regular season with a trip to defending conference champion Hartford on Feb. 25.
"I think all of our games, whether home or away, are going to be battles," Greenberg said. "I'm excited for the season to begin."
BU will open the year on Friday when the Terriers host Providence at The Roof. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
