Boston College Athletics
Women's Basketball Downs No. 22 TCU, 77-68
November 27, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2008
Cancun, Mexico -
The Boston College women's basketball team started the game with a 20-0 run and held on to defeat No. 22 TCU, 77-68, on Thursday afternoon at the Caribbean Challenge. It was the Eagles first victory over a Top 25 opponent since the 2005-06 season when they defeated Stanford (77-69) on Dec. 28 in the regular season. The Eagles also defeated Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament the same season. Boston College will play James Madison on Friday, Nov. 28 at 4:30 p.m.(ET).
Boston College (4-1) was led by sophomore Stefanie Murphy with a double-double (21 points, 11 rebounds), while Mickel Picco added 23 points and sophomore center Carolyn Swords finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
BC held the lead from start to finish. The Eagles jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first seven minutes of play behind six points from Mickel Picco and six from Stefanie Murphy and only one turnover, while forcing five by TCU. The Lady Frogs finally broke the cold spell at 13:14 when Helen Sverrisdottir hit a short jumper in the key.
The Lady Frogs (5-1) slowly cut into the lead to 24-12 with 8:34 when TK LeFleur hit a three-pointer. The Eagles held the lead as Jaclyn Thoman hit a lay-up inside to give BC a 31-22 lead with just under two minutes to play. A fast break lay-up and long pass by Thoman to Lauren Whitehurst gave BC a 10-point halftime lead, 33-22.
The second half, TCU opened with a 6-0 run and BC center Carolyn Swords picked up her third foul. Sophomore Lauren Whitehurst subbed in and immediately broke the TCU run with a lay-up and BC went up, 35-28.
The Eagles extended the lead to 10 points at 13:17 when Picco hit a deep three-pointer from the wing, BC 44-34. The Eagles continued to keep double-digit lead through the half, until the five minute mark. The Lady Frogs hit three straight shots to cut BC's lead to three points at 3:53 to play.
Out of a BC timeout, Picco hit Stefanie Murphy down low and BC was up five. The lead extended when Picco tipped in a Murphy miss with 2:38 to play. Murphy then hit Carolyn Swords on a high-low and BC went up nine points with 2:04 to play.
Boston College sealed the victory by hitting 15-for-17 from the free throw line with under one minute to play. Picco went 6-for-6, while Murphy hit 7-for-8.
Game Notes:
Sophomore Jaclyn Thoman and junior Ayla Brown earned their first starts of the season ... Mickel Picco kept her three-point field goal streak alive (13 consecutive games) by hitting her first three at 13:17 in the second half. She went 0-for-4 in the first half and 2-for-5 in the second half ... Stefanie Murphy notched her 10th career double double (21 points, 11 rebounds) ... TCU is the third team in five games in which BC held to under 40 percent shooting ... Of the 28 field goals made, BC had 22 assists.
