TEMPE, ARIZ. - The Boston University women's basketball team will continue its season on Saturday when the Terriers travel to Tempe, Ariz for the Arizona State Classic Tournament. The Terriers will take on No. 24/RV Arizona State University on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET before facing either No. 23/19 Florida or Long Beach State on Sunday.
BU (1-5) and Arizona State (3-2) have met just once prior to this weekend, with the Terriers suffering a 75-53 setback to the Sun Devils on Dec. 1, 2006, in a similar tournament to this year's ASU Classic.
The Terriers are looking for their second win of the season after dropping a tough-fought contest to UNH on Monday. The Terriers jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and held a 16-9 lead after the first quarter, but UNH scored 17 points in the second stanza to take a 26-22 lead into halftime. BU trailed by as much as 11 in the second half but rallied back to tie the score, 44-44, with 4:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats made the final run in the back-and-forth affair however and pulled away over the final minutes of the game to secure a 59-51 victory.
Junior Sophie Beaudry matched her career-high with 12 points and was one of five Terriers to haul in five rebounds vs. UNH while senior Sarah Hope led BU with six assists and also poured in 11 points. On the season, Hope leads the Terriers in both scoring with 12.0 points per game and assists with 3.5 per game. Junior guard Kara Sheftic is second among the Terriers in scoring, averaging 9 points a game and adding 2.7 rebounds.
Arizona State is 3-2 this year and a perfect 2-0 at home thanks to wins over Illinois State and San Jose State. The Sun Devils previously traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to take on St. Johns in the South Point Thanksgiving Tournament on Nov. 26, with ASU earning a 54-41 victory. Senior forward Sophie Brunner leads ASU in scoring averaging 10 points per game; she is the only Sun Devil averaging double figures in points. Brunner also leads ASU in rebounds with 5.2 per game. Freshman guard Reili Richardson leads the team in assists with 3.8 per game while also averaging 7.6 points per game, third on the team.
Depending on the results of Saturday's game, the Terriers will play either No. 19/23 Florida or Long Beach State on Sunday at 11:30 am.
The No. 19/23 Florida Gators come into the ASU Classic with a 5-1 overall record after having defeated Wofford, 74-51, on Wednesday night. Their only loss came at Northwestern in a 73-68 contest on Friday, Nov. 25. The Gators are led by sophomore G/F Eleanna Christinaki who is averaging 20.7 points per game. Senior forward Ronni Williams is averaging 16.2 points per game and leading the team in rebounding with 8.8 per game.
Long Beach State enters the ASU Classic with a 3-3 overall record after having lost to USC, 82-74-51, on Sunday. The Beach were led by junior guard Gigi Hascheff, who poured in a career-high 21 points in the loss. Senior Anna Kim has swiped a team-leading 18 steals on the year to average 3.0 steals per game. Her steals per contest average leads the Big West and is also good for 39th in the nation.
A Live Stream of all the weekend's action will be available at Pac-12.com.
Following this weekend's tournament in Tempe, BU will return home on Wednesday, Dec. 7, when the Terriers welcome Dartmouth to The Roof at 5:30 p.m.
