BOSTON – Junior Alex Giannaros dropped 22 points on eight baskets, freshman Aoibhe Gormley scored a career-high 21 points, and the Boston University women's basketball team defeated Lehigh 89-78 on Wednesday evening at Case Gym.
 
BU (17-10, 9-7 PL) set a new season-high in scoring, shooting 55 percent from the field. Though the Mountain Hawks (15-12, 7-9 PL) were within two possessions for most of the fourth quarter, the Terriers led the game from 3:51 mark of the second quarter onward.
 
With the victory, BU is now just one game back of first-place Holy Cross ahead of its upcoming matchup with the Crusaders. The Terriers are tied with Loyola Maryland, Army West Point, and Colgate for second place in the Patriot League standings.
 
Giannaros canned four of her five three-pointers to lead BU in scoring. Fourteen of Gormley's points came in the third quarter as she finished with eight field goals as well. Senior Caitlin Weimar posted 16 points, while classmate Kelsi Mingo and freshman Audrey Ericksen recorded 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Ella Stemmer paced four Mountain Hawks in double figures with 22 points. Remi Sisselman made seven shots for 16 points, while Colleen McQuillen added 11 points. Whitney Lind collected 12 points off the bench.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Lehigh buried four three-pointers, including two from Stemmer, in the game's first six minutes, but the Terriers scored on five of their first seven shots. Gormley's three knotted the game at 14-14 with 3:31 to play in the first quarter.
• The Mountain Hawks scored the next four points, but Ericksen's second-chance layup and three points from Weimar pushed the lead back to BU before Stemmer's buzzer-beating layup made it 20-19 Mountain Hawks after 10 minutes.
• Grace Lovette opened the second with a Lehigh layup, but the Terriers ripped off a 10-0 run. Giannaros scored seven points in a row on a three and two layups off turnovers, then Mingo delivered a corner three for a 29-22 edge at the 7:28 mark.
• BU went cold from the field, however, as a 10-2 Lehigh spurt pushed the visitors ahead by one on Sisselman's three with 4:16 on the clock.
• Ericksen found Mingo for a three to regain the lead, then Giannaros knocked down her own to give BU a 37-32 advantage.
• Freshman Inés Monteagudo Pardo handed the Terriers a 41-39 halftime lead on her baseline, turnaround layup with 26 seconds remaining in the second.
• Ahead 43-41, Ericksen knocked down a straightaway three 1:32 into the third quarter. After Maddie Albrecht's layup, Giannaros drilled a three herself to push the BU lead to 49-43.
• Gormley and Weimar sank layups for a six-point Terrier edge, only for Sisselman to hit another three-pointer at the midway point of the third, cutting BU's lead to 53-50.
• Following a Monteagudo basket and Lind's corner three, Gormley rattled off four driving layups in just under two minutes, the latter turning into a nostalgic three-point play. She then buried a left-wing three for 12-straight Terrier points and a 67-58 lead.
• Weimar sandwiched an Albrecht score with two layups to ignite the fourth quarter, making it 71-64 Terriers 1:15 into the stanza.
• Gormley was denied on a layup attempt, but Weimar found the offensive rebound to sink a layup. However, Kaylee Van Eps nailed a three on the next play to cut the gap to 75-72, BU, with 6:44 to play in regulation.
• Both teams were scoreless for over 95 seconds, but Weimar broke the tension with a second-chance and-one layup on the left block that gently rolled off the rim and in. Ericksen then deposited Gormley's pass into the basket for a corner three that restored the lead to 81-72 with 4:07 on the clock.
• Keeping Lehigh at bay with free throws, Mingo drained a dagger three from the left corner with 26 seconds to play for a 12-point, 88-76 lead.

STATS

• In addition to shooting 55 percent in the game, BU made 11 of 24 three-point attempts, good for nearly 46 percent, and 12-of-14 from the foul line.
• Lehigh sank over 52 percent of its shots, and was 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) from deep.
• The Terriers generated 44 points in the pain, a season-high.
• Rebounding favored BU, 33-24. Weimar and Mingo combined for 17 of those caroms, with the latter snagging a career-best eight.
• Ericksen paced the Terriers with a career-high six assists.
• BU's eight turnovers were a season-low. Only five turnovers occurred in the final three quarters.

NOTES

• In the month of February, Giannaros shot 62.5 percent (25-for-40) from three-point range. Her 22-point performance was her 22nd-career game with 15 or more points.
• Her career three-point percentage now stands at .448.
• Gormley is the first Terrier rookie to score more than 20 points in a game since Giannaros did so on Feb. 5, 2022, which also took place against Lehigh.
• The Quincy, Mass. native has scored 36 points in her last two games. She reached that mark in her eight previous games combined.
• Since Feb. 10, Weimar is shooting over 66 percent from the field. With 1,172 career points at BU, she is 15th on the program's all-time scoring list.
• BU had five student-athletes score in double figures for the first time since Feb. 25, 2023, which occurred at Lehigh.
• The Terriers are once again tied with the Mountain Hawks in the all-time series at 12-12.

UP NEXT

• BU honors its senior class, Sophie Beneventine, Mingo, and Weimar, for Senior Day on Saturday (Mar. 2) against Holy Cross. Opening tip from Case Gym is slated for 3 p.m.