Bean Town Times

Terriers Come Back In 66-59 Triumph Over Crusaders

Senior Sydney Johnson scored 17 points, classmate Maggie Pina and sophomore Alex Giannaros each tallied 13 points, and the Boston University women's basketball won its 14-consecutive game with a 66-59 victory over Holy Cross on Wednesday evening at Case Gym.

Renewing the Turnpike Trophy rivalry, BU (19-6, 14-0 PL) erased a 15-point, second-quarter deficit, outscoring Holy Cross (18-7, 10-4 PL) 33-18 in the second half. The Terriers shot over 50 percent in the final two quarters, compared to under 25 percent for the Crusaders.

With the win, BU has clinched a top-two seed for the Patriot League Tournament and at least a share of the program's first Patriot League regular season title. The first-place Terriers sport a four-game lead on the second-place Crusaders with four games to play in the regular season.

Johnson finished with seven field goals, six rebounds, and five steals. Pina went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line, while Giannaros nailed 60 percent of her three-pointers. Junior Caitlin Weimar added 11 points and eight rebounds.

Janelle Allen led three Crusaders in double figures with 12 points. Cara McCormack and Kaitlyn Flanagan had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Both sides started strong in the game's first five minutes. Addisyn Cross made five-consecutive points before Johnson's three at the 5:21 mark gave BU an 11-9 lead.
• Pina's free throws put the home team ahead 13-9, but a 12-2 Crusader burst that began with triples from Cross and McCormack spotted Holy Cross a 21-15 edge.
• Ahead by six after one quarter, the Crusaders began the second on a 14-5 run, as Simone Foreman's buckets inside the arc made it 37-22 with 5:57 until halftime.
• In the final 1:12 of the frame, Giannaros and Pina buried threes, the latter cashing in on Giannaros' pass with six seconds to make it 41-33 Holy Cross at the break.
• The third quarter opened with a Giannaros three, then a Weimar block on the defensive end that translated into a Johnson layup to pull BU within 41-38.
• Senior Maren Durant briefly handed the Terriers a 44-43 lead on free throws, only for Allen to make a layup and Bronagh Power-Cassidy a three for a 48-44 advantage in the visitors' favor with 3:11 to play in the third.
• The BU defense forced a 10-second backcourt violation on Holy Cross that led to a driving layup for Durant, then Johnson fended off multiple Crusaders for her own layup to knot the game at 50-50 heading into the fourth.
• Giannaros knocked down a triple in the opening minute to put BU on top by three, then she and Pina made layups to extend the run to 11-straight Terrier points.
• Pina's foul shots made it 13 in a row until Flanagan's layup with 2:57 remaining gave Holy Cross its first basket since the clock read 2:34 in the third.
• Flanagan converted a three, and Allen hit a pair of free throws to close the gap to 60-57. However, Johnson countered with an acrobatic layup that found the kiss off glass to reclaim a five-point Terrier edge with 1:13 left.
• Nursing a 62-59 lead with under 40 seconds, Johnson drew attention on a drive in the paint to find a wide-open Weimar on the left block for a layup to make it 64-59 with 13.3 seconds to go.

STATS

• For the game, BU shot 48.9 percent, including 50 percent (5-for-10) from deep.
• Holy Cross nailed eight of its 14 three-pointers and made nearly 45 percent of its shots.
• The Terriers set a season-high with 15 steals, the first time reaching that plateau since Feb. 7, 2021 at Lafayette. Junior Sophie Beneventine added three swipes.
• Holy Cross limited BU to season-lows with eight assists and 27 rebounds. The Terriers still held the edge in rebounds by one, however.
• All but four of BU's points came from the starting five.
• The Terriers forced 21 Crusader turnovers and turned them into 23 points.
• BU also held a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint.

GAME NOTES

• BU's 14-game winning streak is now the second-longest in program history, only to the 19-game run in the 2008-09 season.
• The Terriers have won 14 league games for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
• BU is riding an eight-game winning streak at home, and has 11 wins at The Roof this year.
• With 1,150 career points, Johnson moves into 14th place on BU's all-time scoring list. She surpasses Cheri Raffo '08.
• In her last four games, Pina is averaging 14.3 points per game. Her eight made foul shots are a new career-best.
• Giannaros has averaged 12 points per contest while shooting 58.1 percent from the field in her last four appearances. She boosts her three-point percentage to .557 on the year.
• Weimar is up to 61.4 percent shooting in Patriot League play, averaging 14.2 points per game in that stretch.
• BU's seven-point win is the lowest margin of victory this season.
• The Terriers pull to within 20-14 of Holy Cross in the all-time series.

UP NEXT

• The Terriers aim to capture the Patriot League regular season title outright on Saturday (Feb. 18), visiting Bucknell. Opening tip is scheduled for 12 p.m.

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