Boston College
3-1,0-0ACC
Providence
1-3,0-0Big East
Eagles Use Second-Half Surge for Bounce-Back Victory
November 20, 2021 | Women's Basketball
PROVIDENCE, RI - The Boston College women's basketball team used a second-half surge in a bounce-back 85-73 win over Providence on Saturday afternoon inside Alumni Hall.
The Eagles improve to 3-1 and pick up its first road win in the process. The loss for the Friars drops their record to 1-3.
It was a well-balanced scoring effort as a season-high five Eagles scored in double figures.
Marnelle Garraud turned in an excellent performance, as she scored all of her team and season-high 17 points in the second half. She dished out a team-best six assists to one miscue, and hit four of her five shots from beyond the arc on top of shooting 5-of-7 in the second half.
Maria Gakdeng dropped a career-high 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting with five boards. Cameron Swartz turned in a season-best 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting and five off the glass, while Taylor Soule rounded out the leading scorers with 11 points. Jaelyn Batts recorded her first start of the season, chipping in with six points and tied a team best with five rebounds.
The BC offense exploded for 58 points in the second half on 63.3 percent shooting from the floor and canned eight of its season-high nine trifectas in the third and fourth periods. Three of the players who scored in double figures poured in at least 10 of their points in the second half.
Trailing 37-29 early in the third quarter, the Eagles put together a 28-12 stretch over the final 8:54 of the quarter. BC started the run by scoring 11 of the next 15 points to slice the lead to one before Makayla Dickens drained one of her three treys to give BC the lead for good.
The trio of Garraud, Dickens, and Ally VanTimmeren hit 3-pointers in the final three minutes that led to a nine-point lead going into the fourth.BC scored 30 points (27 in the first half), while half of its field goals were from 3-point range. Dickens played a pivotal role in the outburst, with 10 of her season-high 14 points coming in the frame.
The Friars kept the deficit to single digits in the early goings of the fourth period and even cut the lead to one possession, 57-55. BC responded by scoring five quick points by Gakdeng and Garraud. The lead for BC slowly grew to 12 on multiple occasions, keeping the game out of reach for PC to seal the victory.
Kylee Sheppard led the Friars with 18 points, and Janai Crooms turned in a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The duo scored just a combined 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field in the second half after scoring 22 (9-of-18) in the first.
Boston College returns to action on Wednesday at 2 p.m. against Northeastern inside Conte Forum.
Tip-Ins
- It's the first time since last season's 90-82 win over UMass that at least five players scored in double figures.
- The Eagles are 22-2 under Bernabei-McNamee when scoring at least 80 points.
- BC assisted on 62 percent of its field goals (18-29) and are 21-10 under Bernabei-McNamee when the team assists on at least 60 percent of its field goals.
- Dickens led the team in plus/minus at plus-14.
- The 18-made free throws are a season high.
