Boston College
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Women's Basketball Weathers Miami's Storm
January 18, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2009
The Boston College women's basketball team (14-4, 3-1 ACC) continued its home win streak dating back to December 9, 2008, defeating the Miami Hurricanes (10-8, 0-4 ACC), 62-54, at Conte Forum on Sunday afternoon.
Boston College was led by junior Mickel Picco, who went 4-5 shooting in the second half to total a team-high 14 points. Super sophomores Carolyn Swords and Stefanie Murphy also tallied double digits in the Eagles' victory. Murphy scored eight of her 12 points in the second half and brought down a team-high nine rebounds. She was also a perfect 6-6 in free throw attempts. Swords added 10 points on 5-8 shooting and contributed six rebounds.
Swords scored the Eagles' first six points and ended the first half shooting 4-for-7, tallying eight points and bringing down six rebounds. The teams went back and forth in scoring for the first five minutes before BC broke out for 10 unanswered points, widening its lead to 16-6 at the 12:30 mark. In the first, sophomore Jaclyn Thoman went 3-for-3 in three-point attempts to register a team-leading nine points. She also led the team with six assists.
Miami pulled within four points at 6:22 on back-to-back buckets by freshman Riquna Williams. With 4:16 left, Miami had put together a 12-0 run to trail by only one point (23-22). In the run, BC committed five consecutive turnovers. Back-to-back three-pointers by Thoman and senior Brittany Johnson brought the Eagles' lead back up to four with 1:35 left in the half. Miami added a fast break layup with 1:23 to go as the team's headed into the locker room with a 29-27 first half score.
BC shot 37 percent in the first half and committed a total of 10 turnovers. Miami's Williams led all Hurricane scorers with nine points and a 4-9 field goal mark. Miami shot a total 40 percent from the field and committed eight turnovers. Miami scored 11 points off of the Eagles' turnovers while BC had eight.
Picco started off the second half with two successive three point shots to give BC a five point lead (35-30) at 17:45. After Swords picked up her third foul at 15:30, fellow Murphy went 3-for-5 for six points and registered five rebounds to help BC maintain a 39-34 lead. The Eagles took a seven point lead at 9:25 after junior Ayla Brown (eight points) hit a layup. BC continued on a 6-0 run to bring the lead to 52-42 with 4:39 to go in the game. Miami cut the lead down to four at 1:33. Senior Victoria Jones and Picco sank four consecutive free throws as the Eagles would hold on for their third ACC victory with the final 62-54 score.
The Eagles outrebounded Miami 40-28 and had five steals. The Hurricanes had four players in double digits and had 42 points in the paint.
Game Notes:
The Eagles were 15-for-16 from the free throw line, the second highest free throw performance this season...Picco has now hit two or more three's in a game 15 times...Picco has also scored in double figures in 17-of-18 games, while Swords has reached double digits in 16-of-18 games...Thoman's 3-for-3 three point effort was her best this season, tying her career-high...Boston College will continue its three-game home stand this Wednesday, January 21. The team will take on the NJIT Highlanders beginning at 7 p.m. at Conte Forum.
Story by Meredith Cook.
