Nov. 13, 2013

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– Trailing by 17 points at the half, the Boston University women’s basketball team made it a six-point game with 54 seconds remaining but was unable to complete its comeback, as the Terriers fell to Harvard, 76-67, on Wednesday night at Lavietes Pavilion. The loss drops BU’s record to 0-2.

Junior Mollie McKendrick scored a career-high 14 points and senior Whitney Turner matched her career best with 14 points to lead BU. McKendrick also grabbed eight rebounds while Turner chipped in six boards and a pair of blocks. Freshman Courtney Latham was the third Terrier to reach double-digits with 11 points while sophomore Katie Poppe pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.

Senior Danielle Callahan finished with nine points and five assists while classmate Rashidat Agboola totaled eight points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Christine Clark was one of four players to reach double-digits for Harvard (2-1) with 21 points while Shilpa Tummla was second on the team with 14 points. Melissa Mullins led the Crimson with eight rebounds.

After shooting 18.5 percent in the first half, BU went 16-of-30 in the second half to finish the game with a 36.8 field goal percentage (21-of-57), although the Terriers made just four of 16 attempts from beyond the arc. Harvard shot 44.4 percent for the game (24-of-54) and went 5-of-14 from the 3-point line.

The teams combined for 64 free throw attempts. BU went 21-of-34 from the charity stripe (61.8 percent) while Harvard shot 76.7 percent (23-of-30). BU won the battle on the boards, 39-38, and committed 12 turnovers on the night, compared to 15 for the Crimson.

Harvard opened the game on a 10-0 run and never looked back, as the Crimson maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the first half. After a pair of free throws from Latham to make it 21-9 with 10:36 to play, the Crimson used a 9-3 run to take a 30-12 advantage with 6:07 remaining in the half.

Both teams went without a field goal for almost five minutes, but the Crimson pushed its lead to 20 points, 32-12, following a free throw from Jasmine Evans. Callahan was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer and sank all three shots from the line before Turner chipped in three points to make it a 35-18 game with 1:24 to play before the break. After another jumper from Turner and a free throw by McKendrick, the Crimson closed out the first period with a 3-pointer from Tummala to take a 38-21 lead into halftime.

BU came out and scored the first four points of the second half with a pair of layups and brought its deficit down to 10 points, 44-34, with a 7-0 run capped by a layup from Turner with 15:31 on the clock. The next 15 points then came from the free-throw line, as both teams failed to convert a field goal in a four minute span. Fagblene hit a layup with 10:49 on the clock to push Harvard’s lead to 55-37.

The Crimson earned its largest lead of the game, 61-39, with 9:42 remaining following a 3-pointer from Tummala, but the Terriers began to chip away at the deficit. A 9-0 run by BU made it a 12-point game, 65-53, with 6:21 to play.

Following the under four media timeout called at 3:42, the Terriers brought the margin down to six points with a pair of jumpers from McKendrick and a trey from Poppe. Over the limit in fouls, BU sent Harvard to the line and Clark gave the Crimson an eight-point cushion, 71-63, with 1:14 to play.

A pair of free throws from Turner pulled BU within six again, 71-65, with 54 seconds remaining, but the Crimson went 5-of-6 from the line in the final minute to close out the 76-67 victory.

BU returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 16) when the Terriers host Rhode Island at Case Gym. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Patriot League Network.