Photo by: John Quackenbos
Eagles "Finding Our Groove" After Dominating Win Over UNC
February 17, 2020 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
Sunday's win shredded remaining doubt on BC's ability to jump into ACC's top tier.
Every breakout team possesses that one signature, dominant performance when everything converges against a tough opponent. The game appears as a toss-up prior to its start, but nervous anxiety vanishes as time seemingly slows down. Every offensive possession contrasts with a defensive stand as positives consistently outweigh negatives. Runs are well-timed and perfectly-executed, leading to an exultant final score.
On paper, Sunday's game between Boston College and North Carolina had no clear advantage. The Tar Heels entered Conte Forum as an NCAA Tournament bubble team, but a 20-point loss to a resurgent Syracuse team damaged their resume enough to place them outside the predicted national field.Â
They remained the manifestation of BC's chase through the ACC standings. The Eagles weren't a widely-kept ACC secret anymore, but they still were not a tournament contender. They sat in the next tier, overshadowed by the Orange's win in Boston, subsequent upset of Louisville and the clobbering win in Chapel Hill. The win over Notre Dame helped reclaim some ground, but the women's college basketball scene still longed for that moment to occur in the spotlight as opposed to the shadows.
It made what happened taste so much sweeter. BC opened the game with a 12-5 run before overcoming a late UNC run in the first quarter. The Eagles shot their way into a three-point lead into halftime before exploding for 30 points in the third period. They dominated down the stretch, matching a program record for offense with timely defense in a 93-75 win that rocked the ACC to its core and loudly announced that center stage would, indeed, need to focus on the conference's most northeastern school.
"I'm really proud of this team," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "That's what I told them in the locker room. It was a team win. We keep a chart of plays (analyzing where) we could have hustled better, and that chart was the lowest that it's ever been. Last game (against Notre Dame), it was the lowest it's ever been up until that point. So for us, this was a time where we wanted to play together and work hard (and we did)."
The game felt like it belonged to BC from the opening tip, and it remained that way even when the score didn't reflect the momentum. UNC's lead at the end of the first quarter was its first of the game, and it required two free throws with under a minute to play during a three-minute stretch of basketball without a Tar Heel field goal. BC wasn't hitting shots, mostly because turnovers reared their ugly head, but the defense remained on point to keep the game close through a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Eagles.
"We were talking on everything," Taylor Soule said. "We were on switches and rebounds. We had multiple people going to the ball with a lot of hustle. It was an improvement from the last game (against Notre Dame). We're an unselfish team, and (a player) doesn't have to get the rebound to tip it out. So a player like Makayla Dickens stands (five feet, six inches) but is able to get inside to tip the ball out for (team rebounds)."
It buoyed BC's team game, and eight players hit at least one field goal in the second quarter as part of a 10-for-18 period. It rocked UNC, which switched in and out of man-to-man and zone-based defense but simply couldn't stop the ball movement. The Eagles tallied five assists in that period alone and limited the offense to just two turnovers, in turn forcing the Tar Heels to badly chase the play.
BC knew it, and Soule cashed in with a monster third quarter. She shot 6-for-6 and hit both of her free-throws for a 14-point period, grabbing six boards and adding an assist. Six players each tallied one, and UNC's continued propensity for scurrying after the ball enabled fluid, crisp ball movement. UNC scored 21 points, but 10 came from free throws.Â
"I just kept thinking that the game wasn't over," Soule said. "We haven't always been a third quarter team. You know your opponent is going to come out firing after the break, so you have to have your team come out firing. So if I can do my part, then hopefully everyone can fall in."
It completely deflated UNC and ended the team's hopes before the fourth quarter. Soule posted her eighth double-double of the season with a career-high 29 points with 12 rebounds. Her presence opened up the backcourt for the guards, and Marnelle Garraud added 17 points and seven assists. Makayla Dickens scored 12 points on her own, but she finished the game with a plus-25 rating.
The 93 points tied a program record against an ACC opponent, tying a mark set in 2011 in a loss to Florida State. As a testament to the team-oriented play, the Eagles finished with 17 assists on 35 made field goals and outscored the Tar Heels, 46-22, in the paint. After turning the ball over six times in a five-minute span of the first quarter, BC committed 11 turnovers in the rest of the game.
There was also the crowd. BC drew its largest home crowd of the season since the Virginia game honoring Cathy Inglese on Sunday, and the head coach addressed the fans with a message of gratitude after the victory.
"We're finding our groove," McNamee said. "I love the way that we played together. As out of sync as we looked on offense (against Notre Dame), that's how in sync we looked on offense (against UNC). I thought our defense was in lockdown mode, and we focused on our personnel. Our assist-to-turnover ratio is really important, and we moved the ball. I'm proud for us to have 17 assists to 12 turnovers. It takes a team effort. I heard them communicating the whole game. And I'm really proud of Taylor Soule; she had 20 points but felt like she missed easy shots against Notre Dame."
Beyond all of that, the win shredded some of the remaining veneer between the ACC's upper tier and its remaining bubble contenders. Another Syracuse win continued the Orange's charge, but BC now stands within one game's striking distance of a seat alongside lofty company. The team's 8-6 record is tied with Syracuse for sixth place, but a three-way tie for third place sits one game ahead.Â
UNC's recent slide pushed the Tar Heels from inside the NCAA Tournament to outside the bubble according to the most recent ESPN projections, but the loss to BC tumbled them even further down the ACC standings. Duke replaced them as the last team in, but the Blue Devils own six wins in their last seven games, including their most recent victory over FSU.
BC, which appeared to be bound for the WNIT a couple of weeks ago, now sits right underneath that despite having lost to the Blue Devils and the Orange. With four games remaining until the ACC Tournament, there's now a postseason watch unlike anything in recent ACC history, and each game's magnitude simply enhances each game. The margin for error remains razor thin, with the difference between potential tournament berths and the offseason resting on each game.
"I just go one game at a time," McNamee reiterated. "The next game is the most important one of the season. It doesn't matter what happened before or what's coming after it. If we work as hard as we can and control the controllables, good things will happen. If they don't, then we won't have regrets. So we try to enjoy a win, then come back and get our bodies back together before rehabbing. And then we'll have (a couple of) days to get ready, and we'll do it to the best of our ability."
Boston College next plays on Thursday when it hosts Pittsburgh at Conte Forum. The game tips off at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra, which can be streamed through the ESPN online streaming platform.
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On paper, Sunday's game between Boston College and North Carolina had no clear advantage. The Tar Heels entered Conte Forum as an NCAA Tournament bubble team, but a 20-point loss to a resurgent Syracuse team damaged their resume enough to place them outside the predicted national field.Â
They remained the manifestation of BC's chase through the ACC standings. The Eagles weren't a widely-kept ACC secret anymore, but they still were not a tournament contender. They sat in the next tier, overshadowed by the Orange's win in Boston, subsequent upset of Louisville and the clobbering win in Chapel Hill. The win over Notre Dame helped reclaim some ground, but the women's college basketball scene still longed for that moment to occur in the spotlight as opposed to the shadows.
It made what happened taste so much sweeter. BC opened the game with a 12-5 run before overcoming a late UNC run in the first quarter. The Eagles shot their way into a three-point lead into halftime before exploding for 30 points in the third period. They dominated down the stretch, matching a program record for offense with timely defense in a 93-75 win that rocked the ACC to its core and loudly announced that center stage would, indeed, need to focus on the conference's most northeastern school.
"I'm really proud of this team," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "That's what I told them in the locker room. It was a team win. We keep a chart of plays (analyzing where) we could have hustled better, and that chart was the lowest that it's ever been. Last game (against Notre Dame), it was the lowest it's ever been up until that point. So for us, this was a time where we wanted to play together and work hard (and we did)."
The game felt like it belonged to BC from the opening tip, and it remained that way even when the score didn't reflect the momentum. UNC's lead at the end of the first quarter was its first of the game, and it required two free throws with under a minute to play during a three-minute stretch of basketball without a Tar Heel field goal. BC wasn't hitting shots, mostly because turnovers reared their ugly head, but the defense remained on point to keep the game close through a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Eagles.
"We were talking on everything," Taylor Soule said. "We were on switches and rebounds. We had multiple people going to the ball with a lot of hustle. It was an improvement from the last game (against Notre Dame). We're an unselfish team, and (a player) doesn't have to get the rebound to tip it out. So a player like Makayla Dickens stands (five feet, six inches) but is able to get inside to tip the ball out for (team rebounds)."
It buoyed BC's team game, and eight players hit at least one field goal in the second quarter as part of a 10-for-18 period. It rocked UNC, which switched in and out of man-to-man and zone-based defense but simply couldn't stop the ball movement. The Eagles tallied five assists in that period alone and limited the offense to just two turnovers, in turn forcing the Tar Heels to badly chase the play.
BC knew it, and Soule cashed in with a monster third quarter. She shot 6-for-6 and hit both of her free-throws for a 14-point period, grabbing six boards and adding an assist. Six players each tallied one, and UNC's continued propensity for scurrying after the ball enabled fluid, crisp ball movement. UNC scored 21 points, but 10 came from free throws.Â
"I just kept thinking that the game wasn't over," Soule said. "We haven't always been a third quarter team. You know your opponent is going to come out firing after the break, so you have to have your team come out firing. So if I can do my part, then hopefully everyone can fall in."
It completely deflated UNC and ended the team's hopes before the fourth quarter. Soule posted her eighth double-double of the season with a career-high 29 points with 12 rebounds. Her presence opened up the backcourt for the guards, and Marnelle Garraud added 17 points and seven assists. Makayla Dickens scored 12 points on her own, but she finished the game with a plus-25 rating.
The 93 points tied a program record against an ACC opponent, tying a mark set in 2011 in a loss to Florida State. As a testament to the team-oriented play, the Eagles finished with 17 assists on 35 made field goals and outscored the Tar Heels, 46-22, in the paint. After turning the ball over six times in a five-minute span of the first quarter, BC committed 11 turnovers in the rest of the game.
There was also the crowd. BC drew its largest home crowd of the season since the Virginia game honoring Cathy Inglese on Sunday, and the head coach addressed the fans with a message of gratitude after the victory.
"We're finding our groove," McNamee said. "I love the way that we played together. As out of sync as we looked on offense (against Notre Dame), that's how in sync we looked on offense (against UNC). I thought our defense was in lockdown mode, and we focused on our personnel. Our assist-to-turnover ratio is really important, and we moved the ball. I'm proud for us to have 17 assists to 12 turnovers. It takes a team effort. I heard them communicating the whole game. And I'm really proud of Taylor Soule; she had 20 points but felt like she missed easy shots against Notre Dame."
Beyond all of that, the win shredded some of the remaining veneer between the ACC's upper tier and its remaining bubble contenders. Another Syracuse win continued the Orange's charge, but BC now stands within one game's striking distance of a seat alongside lofty company. The team's 8-6 record is tied with Syracuse for sixth place, but a three-way tie for third place sits one game ahead.Â
UNC's recent slide pushed the Tar Heels from inside the NCAA Tournament to outside the bubble according to the most recent ESPN projections, but the loss to BC tumbled them even further down the ACC standings. Duke replaced them as the last team in, but the Blue Devils own six wins in their last seven games, including their most recent victory over FSU.
BC, which appeared to be bound for the WNIT a couple of weeks ago, now sits right underneath that despite having lost to the Blue Devils and the Orange. With four games remaining until the ACC Tournament, there's now a postseason watch unlike anything in recent ACC history, and each game's magnitude simply enhances each game. The margin for error remains razor thin, with the difference between potential tournament berths and the offseason resting on each game.
"I just go one game at a time," McNamee reiterated. "The next game is the most important one of the season. It doesn't matter what happened before or what's coming after it. If we work as hard as we can and control the controllables, good things will happen. If they don't, then we won't have regrets. So we try to enjoy a win, then come back and get our bodies back together before rehabbing. And then we'll have (a couple of) days to get ready, and we'll do it to the best of our ability."
Boston College next plays on Thursday when it hosts Pittsburgh at Conte Forum. The game tips off at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra, which can be streamed through the ESPN online streaming platform.
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