Nov. 30, 2011

Box Score

ALLSTON, Mass. - Despite a combined 37 points from juniors Chantell Alford (19) and Mo Moran (18), the Boston University women's basketball team dropped a 62-57 road decision to Harvard on Wednesday evening at Lavietes Pavilion. The Terriers move to an even 3-3 on the year with the loss.

BU took a 30-29 lead into the half and led by five (36-31) with just under 17 minutes left, but Harvard embarked on a 10-0 run to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Terriers were plagued by a 2-for-21 effort from 3-point range.

Fourteen of Alford's game-high 19 points came in the second half. Sophomore Rashidat Agboola scored 12 points for the Terriers and added eight rebounds. Senior Caroline Stewart hauled in a game-best 10 rebounds while Alford and Moran each notched five rebounds and three steals. The Crimson held senior Alex Young, BU's top scorer coming into the game, scoreless on the night.

Harvard (2-4) had four players in double figures, including a team-high 16 point effort by sophomore Christine Clark. Juniors Emma Golen and Victoria Lippert recorded 11 points each and senior Brogan Berry chipped in 10. Golen matched Stewart in rebounds with 10 to register a double-double.

The Crimson established the largest lead for either team at 49-40 with just over nine minutes in regulation. From that point, the visitors reeled off eight straight points - four each by Alford and Moran - over the next two minutes to get within one at 49-48.

A 7-2 run by Harvard pushed its lead up to six at 56-50, but the Terriers responded with an identical 7-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Alford, to make it a 58-57 affair with just under two minutes left in regulation.

The home squad would not give up the lead, however, as it answered with a layup by Berry before Golen earned a steal on the other end before Berry made two free throws in the closing seconds to create the 62-57 final.

The first half featured back-and-forth play, as neither team held a lead of more than three points in the first eight minutes of action. Harvard built a six-point cushion when a Lippert 3-pointer created a 20-14 advantage with 8:26 left in the opening stanza.

BU whittled away at that deficit thanks to seven straight points by Moran to take a 21-20 lead. Back-to-back baskets by Agboola gave the visitors a 25-22 edge and the Terriers ended up needing a 3-pointer by Alford on the final bucket of the half to head into the locker room up 30-29.

Both teams shot 35 percent for the night, as the Terriers countered their poor effort from beyond the arc with a 50-percent effort (19-of-38) from two-point range. From the free-throw line, the Crimson went 14-of-17 (.824) and BU went 13-of-15 (.867). The Terriers committed 15 turnovers and forced 18 on the other end.

BU will return to action on Saturday (Dec. 3) when it travels south to face Big East foe West Virginia. Game time is set for 4 p.m.