Terriers Battle Back in 70-67 Road Win Over Eagles

Wednesday, January 8

Washington, D.C.

11:30 AM

Boston University

7-7,1-2Patriot

American

0-14,0-3Patriot

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Boston U.	7	21	22	20	70
American	19	17	18	13	67

Photo of women's basketball senior Alex Giannaros holding a basketball at Case Gym.

Photo by: Matt Woolverton

Terriers Battle Back in 70-67 Road Win Over Eagles

January 8, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Audio - Melissa Graves

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior Alex Giannaros scored a team best 21 points and sophomore SiSi Bentley dropped a career high 15 points to power the Boston University women's basketball program to a 70-67 victory over American on Wednesday afternoon at Bender Arena.

BU (7-7, 1-2 PL) trailed by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter, but outscored the Eagles (0-14, 0-3 PL) 42-31 in the second half for its first Patriot League win on the campaign.

Giannaros nailed a trio of three-pointers and added three assists. Bentley scored on seven shots while securing seven rebounds. Sophomore Aoibhe Gormley filled the box score with eight points, six assists and four steals.

American's Cecilia Kay registered a game high 22 points, while Laura Nogues collected 14 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

American made four of its first five shots, with Ellie Pingree supplying two of the four layups, to go up 8-2 and force a Terrier timeout just over three-and-a-half minutes into the contest.
Trailing 19-7 after the first quarter, Gormley found Bentley on the right block for back-to-back layups, then consecutive layups from freshman Allison Schwertner helped extend a 10-2 Terrier run to pull the visitors within 21-15 three minutes into the second.
The Eagles countered with eight straight points, bookended by threes from Bailey Garbee and Kay, to make it 29-15.
BU closed the first half on a 10-3 run with a triple from Giannaros and multiple three-point plays from freshman Inez Gallegos, whittling the gap to 36-28 at the break.
After an initial American three, Giannaros scored five consecutive points on a midrange jumper and a corner triple to bring BU within 39-33 1:09 into the third quarter.
American responded with eight straight points again, but Giannaros scored five points in a row herself to restore the deficit to eight points, 46-38, halfway through the stanza.
With 1:04 remaining in the third, Bentley recorded back-to-back second-chance layups, the latter resulting in a three-point sequence, to pull the Terriers within one possession, but Grace Koepke drove for a layup to put American up 54-50 heading to the final quarter.
Bentley once again scored on two drives to the rim, then Schwertner's turnaround jumper banked in for BU's first lead of the game, 56-55, 1:27 into the period.
BU went up by four, but a pair of Kay layups knotted the score at 59-59 at the quarter's halfway mark.
Gormley responded with her own take to the rim, then Giannaros found sophomore Inés Monteagudo Pardo for a left-corner three for a 64-59 Terrier edge with 3:29 left in regulation.
After five straight American points leveled the contest at 64-64, Giannaros powered through the right lane and knocked down the layup with 2:01 on the timer for a 66-64 lead.
Neither side scored until Giannaros' foul shots with 14.9 seconds to play, with a key Gormley steal on American's prior possession preceding. Nogues nailed an Eagle three to bring American within 68-67 before Gormley hit her own free throws with six seconds to go.

STATS

BU finished the game shooting 40 percent and made 12 free throws.
The Terriers generated 16 assists on their 26 field goals.
American shot 41 percent from the field and nearly 37 percent from distance.
The Eagles sported a 44-37 advantage in rebounds, with Ivy Bales' 11 caroms leading the way.
BU turned 16 American turnovers into 18 points, and notched 24 bench points.
Point paints favored BU, 38-30.
Freshman Channing Warren blocked a career best five shots, the most in a game by a Terrier since Caitlin Weimar's five rejections at Loyola Maryland on Feb. 24, 2024.

NOTES

Giannaros reached the 20-plus point plateau for the sixth time this season and third in her last four appearances.
In her last three games vs. American, Giannaros has scored 65 total points.
Bentley surpassed her previous career high of 11 points at New Hampshire back on Nov. 16.
In three Patriot League contests, Gormley has earned 21 rebounds, 13 assists and seven steals to just three turnovers.
The Terriers' 15-point comeback was its largest deficit erased for a win this year, and most since Mar. 2, 2024 against Holy Cross, which was a 21-point comeback.

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