Boston University’s women’s basketball team will begin its Patriot League Tournament campaign as the No. 8 seed, facing ninth-seeded American University in the first round on Saturday, March 7 at Case Gym. The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
BU finished the regular season with a record of 10-19 overall and 6-12 in conference play. The Terriers secured their tournament spot by winning three of their last five games, allowing them to host a postseason contest for the eighth consecutive year.
American enters the matchup with a 7-22 overall record and a 5-13 mark in league play. The Eagles recently ended a seven-game losing streak with an away win against Lehigh on March 4. Historically, American has struggled when playing BU in Boston, holding a 5-10 record in those matchups.
The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to face Navy, the regular season champion, in the quarterfinals on Monday, March 9 at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Brian Mauruer, John Papale, and Jack Hughes providing commentary. Fans can also access live statistics and an audio-only stream through GoTerriers.com; an international stream is available via the Patriot League.
In their most recent outing, BU lost to Holy Cross by a score of 64-58 at Case Gym. During that game, BU overcame a significant deficit to take a lead early in the fourth quarter before being outscored by Holy Cross down the stretch. Junior Bella McLaughlin led BU with 17 points, five assists, and three rebounds. Ines Monteagudo Pardo added 12 points while senior Anete Adler contributed ten points.
Adler was recognized for her performance this season by earning spots on both the All-Patriot League Second Team and All-Defensive Team. She becomes only the sixth Terrier named to the Second Team and fifth to receive All-Defensive honors.
BU holds an all-time record of 41-35 in conference tournaments since joining the Patriot League for the 2013-14 season. The Terriers are currently 10-11 in postseason tournament play and have won at least one tournament game each of the past six seasons. Under head coach Melissa Graves, BU has posted a strong home record of 5-1 during Patriot League Tournament games.
Individually, Monteagudo ranks among national leaders with a .435 three-point shooting percentage—best in the Patriot League—and Adler averages nearly two blocks per game.
For American University, freshman Charlotte Tuhy received third team All-Patriot League and All-Rookie honors after averaging over eleven points and rebounds per game this year. Molly Driscoll leads American in scoring while Madisyn Moore-Nicholson adds double-digit points per contest.
Saturday’s meeting marks the thirty-third time these teams have played each other; American leads the series with eighteen wins to BU’s fourteen. This will be just their second first-round encounter in tournament history—the previous came in 2016 when American won as a No. 7 seed against No. 10 BU.
During this regular season series between BU and American, each team won its home game: American prevailed on January 3 while BU claimed victory after overtime on February 28. In those meetings, Adler averaged more than twenty-two points along with notable contributions across rebounds, assists, and blocks.
