Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Joe Sullivan
Back In The Lab, BC Preps To Conjure In-State Spell For UMass
December 08, 2021 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
The Minutewomen are 9-1 as the Eagles roll into the Mullins Center
Sunday's game at VCU felt like an opportunity lost for the Boston College women's basketball team after the Eagles lost, 69-65. They mounted a furious fourth quarter comeback, but 30 turnovers over the course of the game submarined the 30 points - just under half of their game total - scored in the last period alone.
The loss torpedoed a four-game winning streak, and the return trip home felt a lot like the bus ride back from Boston University after BC dropped the chance to continue plowing through non-conference games. It stung, as all losses do, but the unforgiving schedule didn't allow them latency before a forced confrontation with another opponent three days later at UMass.
"We didn't play very well offensively against VCU," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "It was a tough game because we were [in Virginia] in front of a lot of our players' families. I don't know if that had us pressing a little bit on the road, [but] we're looking forward to getting back at it and getting back in the gym. The best thing after a loss is to get back on the grind and get better to learn from it."
BC wasn't on top of its game, but the fourth quarter at least encouraged the Eagles after a 7-0 run helped whittle a 17-point deficit down to seven. They began asserting themselves on the interior more, and Taylor Soule and Jaelyn Batts drew nine different fouls to get to the line for 10 foul shots. They sank nine of those free throws, with Soule going a perfect 6-for-6, and watched as Ram guard Taya Robinson found herself in significant foul trouble. Madison Hattix-Covington also landed herself two fouls, and Grace Hutson, another guard, fouled twice in three minutes on the floor.
The offense summarily opened up, and Soule finished the quarter with 14 points after going 4-for-7 from the field. Marnelle Garraud splashed a major three-pointer late, and Makayla Dickens, who earlier hit her 1,000th career point, scored six points by getting to the line on the only foul she drew. There were still turnover issues, but the ball movement improved to the tune of five of BC's 11 overall assists.
"I liked the fight in our team in the fourth quarter," Bernabei-McNamee said, "but I think our whole team would agree that if we played the first quarters with that intensity and that overall grit, we wouldn't have been in that situation. We just have to handle our adversity better. I'd much rather learn from an ugly win, personally, because losses kill you a bit."
BC is now tasked with walking the same fine line as it did after its loss to Boston University after the Eagles lost what they believed was a winnable game. They only had three days to turn their attention over to Providence, and the quick timeline forced them to quickly evaluate a loss for both the positives and negatives before transitioning into their scouting prep for the Friars.
It was made easier by a process that started before they ever tipped off against the Terriers. Every game has an advance assignment within the coaching staff, and the assistants to Bernabei-McNamee offer detailed analysis of opponents within a given timeframe. When games are mashed together like the BU and PC games, that advance scouting is complete before the initial game ever starts.
That process was refined over time, but BC operated under that premise to move from the Penn State game to VCU. While the team didn't win on Sunday, the preparation to play UMass actually started before that game and continued when Bernabei-McNamee hit the floor for practice with a plan for her team. It's a blessing and a curse for any basketball team, but it reminds them how to enjoy wins without getting overconfident while simultaneously analyzing losses without growing too despondent.
"UMass is a really good basketball team," Bernabei-McNamee said. "They are probably the best team we will have played to this point. They're athletic, they're going to push tempo, and they score off turnovers. They have a lot of veterans on their team that play really well together. Their guards consistently score. So we have to make sure that we're on point defensively and that we can play our style of basketball."
The Minutewomen are, indeed, a solid basketball team, and their record is littered with competitive wins. Like BC, they own a win over Providence after beating the Friars by 18 on November 23, and they narrowly lost to a nationally-ranked Iowa State team, 76-71, on the road. That's been their only defeat, and a modest two-game winning streak is sending UMass into its return bout against BC on Wednesday night in Amherst.
The Eagles won last year's meeting, 90-82, at Conte Forum, but this week marks BC's first trip to the Mullins Center since a 13-point win in 2010. It was the last of a six-game series stretching over seven years that the power conference side controlled with five wins. The series itself dates back to the earliest days of the Big East, but the 69-66 win in Amherst was only the fourth all-time win for the Minutewomen, who play in a basketball-centric league in the Atlantic-10.
Even without home court advantage, UMass offers BC a difficult head-to-head matchup. Sam Breen scored 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting against UMass-Lowell in her last game, and she enters Wednesday averaging a double-double with over 18 points and just under 12 rebounds per game. She's flanked by both Sydney Taylor and Destiney Philoxy, who both average double figure scoring for the best offense in the A-10.
"We teach players to guard our yard by having their hands up," Bernabei-McNamee explained. "It's not about just focusing on stopping the individual player but also about stopping the next pass. If our hands are up, we're trying to deter [an opponent] from picking us apart with a pass. But then as far as ball pressure, it depends on the individual and who we're guarding.
"UMass has shifty, quick guards," she said, "so guarding our yard might be to give them a little bit more of a step while having our hands high. Marnelle's yard might be a little bit smaller than Makayla because it depends on individual quickness, but someone like Ally VanTimmeren can use her length and her wingspan to take a couple feet off her pressure. We work on that a lot to not fall for jab fakes or shot fakes. The whole game against VCU, we fell for some of their shot fakes, and we kept getting a little too close, which allowed [the Rams] to drive on us if they had a shooter. It's really important to remember the scout, and for us coaches, to make sure we're hammering it home a little bit better."
BC and UMass will tip off at 7 p.m. from the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. The in-state rivalry can be seen via the ESPN+ online subscription available via the ESPN streaming platform via the Internet and mobile streaming devices.
The loss torpedoed a four-game winning streak, and the return trip home felt a lot like the bus ride back from Boston University after BC dropped the chance to continue plowing through non-conference games. It stung, as all losses do, but the unforgiving schedule didn't allow them latency before a forced confrontation with another opponent three days later at UMass.
"We didn't play very well offensively against VCU," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "It was a tough game because we were [in Virginia] in front of a lot of our players' families. I don't know if that had us pressing a little bit on the road, [but] we're looking forward to getting back at it and getting back in the gym. The best thing after a loss is to get back on the grind and get better to learn from it."
BC wasn't on top of its game, but the fourth quarter at least encouraged the Eagles after a 7-0 run helped whittle a 17-point deficit down to seven. They began asserting themselves on the interior more, and Taylor Soule and Jaelyn Batts drew nine different fouls to get to the line for 10 foul shots. They sank nine of those free throws, with Soule going a perfect 6-for-6, and watched as Ram guard Taya Robinson found herself in significant foul trouble. Madison Hattix-Covington also landed herself two fouls, and Grace Hutson, another guard, fouled twice in three minutes on the floor.
The offense summarily opened up, and Soule finished the quarter with 14 points after going 4-for-7 from the field. Marnelle Garraud splashed a major three-pointer late, and Makayla Dickens, who earlier hit her 1,000th career point, scored six points by getting to the line on the only foul she drew. There were still turnover issues, but the ball movement improved to the tune of five of BC's 11 overall assists.
"I liked the fight in our team in the fourth quarter," Bernabei-McNamee said, "but I think our whole team would agree that if we played the first quarters with that intensity and that overall grit, we wouldn't have been in that situation. We just have to handle our adversity better. I'd much rather learn from an ugly win, personally, because losses kill you a bit."
BC is now tasked with walking the same fine line as it did after its loss to Boston University after the Eagles lost what they believed was a winnable game. They only had three days to turn their attention over to Providence, and the quick timeline forced them to quickly evaluate a loss for both the positives and negatives before transitioning into their scouting prep for the Friars.
It was made easier by a process that started before they ever tipped off against the Terriers. Every game has an advance assignment within the coaching staff, and the assistants to Bernabei-McNamee offer detailed analysis of opponents within a given timeframe. When games are mashed together like the BU and PC games, that advance scouting is complete before the initial game ever starts.
That process was refined over time, but BC operated under that premise to move from the Penn State game to VCU. While the team didn't win on Sunday, the preparation to play UMass actually started before that game and continued when Bernabei-McNamee hit the floor for practice with a plan for her team. It's a blessing and a curse for any basketball team, but it reminds them how to enjoy wins without getting overconfident while simultaneously analyzing losses without growing too despondent.
"UMass is a really good basketball team," Bernabei-McNamee said. "They are probably the best team we will have played to this point. They're athletic, they're going to push tempo, and they score off turnovers. They have a lot of veterans on their team that play really well together. Their guards consistently score. So we have to make sure that we're on point defensively and that we can play our style of basketball."
The Minutewomen are, indeed, a solid basketball team, and their record is littered with competitive wins. Like BC, they own a win over Providence after beating the Friars by 18 on November 23, and they narrowly lost to a nationally-ranked Iowa State team, 76-71, on the road. That's been their only defeat, and a modest two-game winning streak is sending UMass into its return bout against BC on Wednesday night in Amherst.
The Eagles won last year's meeting, 90-82, at Conte Forum, but this week marks BC's first trip to the Mullins Center since a 13-point win in 2010. It was the last of a six-game series stretching over seven years that the power conference side controlled with five wins. The series itself dates back to the earliest days of the Big East, but the 69-66 win in Amherst was only the fourth all-time win for the Minutewomen, who play in a basketball-centric league in the Atlantic-10.
Even without home court advantage, UMass offers BC a difficult head-to-head matchup. Sam Breen scored 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting against UMass-Lowell in her last game, and she enters Wednesday averaging a double-double with over 18 points and just under 12 rebounds per game. She's flanked by both Sydney Taylor and Destiney Philoxy, who both average double figure scoring for the best offense in the A-10.
"We teach players to guard our yard by having their hands up," Bernabei-McNamee explained. "It's not about just focusing on stopping the individual player but also about stopping the next pass. If our hands are up, we're trying to deter [an opponent] from picking us apart with a pass. But then as far as ball pressure, it depends on the individual and who we're guarding.
"UMass has shifty, quick guards," she said, "so guarding our yard might be to give them a little bit more of a step while having our hands high. Marnelle's yard might be a little bit smaller than Makayla because it depends on individual quickness, but someone like Ally VanTimmeren can use her length and her wingspan to take a couple feet off her pressure. We work on that a lot to not fall for jab fakes or shot fakes. The whole game against VCU, we fell for some of their shot fakes, and we kept getting a little too close, which allowed [the Rams] to drive on us if they had a shooter. It's really important to remember the scout, and for us coaches, to make sure we're hammering it home a little bit better."
BC and UMass will tip off at 7 p.m. from the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. The in-state rivalry can be seen via the ESPN+ online subscription available via the ESPN streaming platform via the Internet and mobile streaming devices.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's BasketballWednesday, October 07
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