How Good Teams Win With Chemistry

Good basketball finds ways to win when game situations unexpectedly veer away from pregame predictions. They share the wealth and don't rely solely on a single individual's talent, and every player brings a different toolbox to the team's collective success. Their victories are a byproduct of their internal work and delivered because of a selfless attitude. They have superstar, centerpiece players, but other options retain their own presence through chemistry built both on and off the court.

On Thursday night, Boston College's 86-69 win over Penn State offered Exhibit A on that topic after 70 percent of its offense came from the unexpected trio of Cameron Swartz, Jaelyn Batts and Marnelle Garraud.

"We kind of have it ingrained in our culture that it's amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "I have a group of young women who really bring that passion to the court, and they just want to win for the program and for each other. They don't really get wrapped up in getting theirs, and I literally thank the basketball gods every night that they just really want to play together."

All three brought different presences to the BC lineup after All-ACC forward Taylor Soule found tough sledding against the Lady Lions. They individually shot the lights out of Conte Forum but built on fundamentals unique to their own game, and they blended their skill sets against efforts at both ends of the floor. Each played the full length against Penn State for the better part of 30 minutes, and each went ballistic in both causing mistakes and capitalizing for the Eagle lineup.

Swartz, who hit for 33 points against Pittsburgh in last year's ACC Tournament, fell one point short of a second 30-point night by lobbing bombs from anywhere on the court. She went 11-for-24 shooting and was 9-for-17 from inside the arc while hitting five of her six free throws. She added four assists and two rebounds with two steals while defending Penn State's best shooters in a phone booth at the opposite end of the court.

She ran the floor better than any other point this season, and the attention she drew opened opportunities for Garraud, the back-court gunner already recognized as one of the most agile players in the ACC. Her 16 points stemmed from a season-best 5-for-8 night shooting and included a whopping 4-of-7 three pointers. Like Swartz, she commanded presence on the defensive end with two steals while occupying the point guard role in a bigger BC lineup.

The true breakout, though, belonged to Batts, who recorded a double-double after averaging three points per game over the first month of the season. The junior forward avoided the foul trouble that plagued her earlier games and balanced six defensive rebounds with six boards on the offensive glass, and everything she shot seemingly went in as she recorded a career-high 16-and-12 night.

"If someone has a hot hand, [the coaches] will put them in a play where they know they'll be open," Swartz said, "but our team is great because we know that playing with five seniors and Jaelyn as a junior is to know what they like if they have the hot hand. We understand how to let someone take [control], and you know your time will come if you can help on defense or get a rebound."

"Everybody works well together," Batts agreed. "I know that if I get the ball in the high post, I know somebody is cutting or if someone is coming down [the lane], that the defense is going to [crash]. If I just pass it up to another shooter, I know it'll work out.

"[Getting a career night] is cool," she added, "but as long as we win, I do not care what the numbers look like. I just want to win."

Their collective performance anchored the Eagles to their sixth win of the season, and BC now heads on the road for its first true away game with the confidence of a team that very well should be undefeated if not for one hiccup against Boston University. Penn State previously lost to Clemson by only three points but held a five-point win over St. John's and a 120-point outburst against Delaware State. There was a loss against Iowa State in there, but the Lady Lions shot 15-for-33 across the second and fourth quarters against a nationally-ranked opponent while struggling through the first and third frames.

Yet they never led against BC and trailed by as many as 23 early in the fourth quarter. The Eagles won nearly every situational statistic, and they cruised to the free throw line for 16 attempts while limiting Penn State to only four shots at the stripe on nine fouls called. They outrebounded the Lady Lions by 10 grabs, and they scored just under 30 points in the third quarter alone when they shot over 62 percent on three pointers.

"On the court, I think [Thursday night] really showed that when we move the ball and do all [that we need to], it looks amazing," Swartz said. "When I came out a few times, I was able to watch it from a bench perspective, and we would get it high and low, and then we'd go back out and get it to the high again, but the low [shooter] would be open. The ball was going everywhere, and that's something that we need to take advantage of, especially when we're a team that gets into good shape. We can run anyone in the ground, and we did that with a defense where if they made a mistake, we took advantage. I think this game showed that we have that, and hopefully it continues."

"I really think that we've stepped up and are playing together as a team [for the whole 40 minutes]," Batts said. "There are a lot of times when we'll come out flat or something, but I feel like having that chemistry, we all know we have it, and we nailed it home that we've been playing together for a [while]. We know each other, and we know where we all like to be, where we all have our hotspots. That all came together in a good place."

BC now heads on the road to play its first travel trip outside of New England when it heads to Virginia to play VCU in a homecoming for both Batts and a handful of players from the DMV region. It's the first time the Eagles are getting on a flight this year, but it's also a chance for prodigal daughters to return to their home region to play on a familiar court. It's also an opportunity for the team - and those players in particular - to stamp their mark on a fertile recruiting area known for tough, rugged basketball alumni.

"That's really the only reason we scheduled VCU for a home-and-home," Bernabei-McNamee said. "We wanted to get these players back to play in front of their families because it's hard for their families to always see them, especially during weekday games. I'm excited to bring these ladies back to the DMV, and I'm excited that we're able to get down there, eat dinner as a team, and hopefully enjoy a great homecoming."

"I don't know [how it will feel]," Batts said while smiling and laughing. "I've been [to VCU] so many times to watch games. All of the state championship games for Virginia are at VCU. So we would go watch those games because - well, sadly, we didn't win any. But I was the ball girl there and I watched the state championship, and it was just exciting. I've been there so many times, and now I actually get to play there."

BC and VCU tip off on Sunday at 1 p.m. from the Stuart Siegel Center in Richmond, Va. The game can be seen on ESPN+, which is available only through subscriber access through the online platform, independent of ESPN cable access.

Related News

Players Mentioned

Marnelle Garraud

Taylor Soule

Cameron Swartz

Related Videos