Photo by: Cassie Baker
Reignited Eagles Readying For Granite Tough Opponent
November 20, 2024 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
BC rebounded from its first loss with a decisive game that left them wanting more.
Head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee didn't see last week's loss to Harvard as the 500-pound, crimson-colored gorilla hanging over her locker room. Frustration lined Boston College's third straight loss to their neighborhood rivals from the Ivy League, but the road contest at Lavietes Pavilion offered some silver linings to a team expecting itself to compete for the national tournament. The Eagles certainly didn't want to lose, but none of the flaws from the loss exposed some fundamental issue within her team.
Correcting issues ahead of Sunday's win over Providence stood paramount, but the angered Eagles looked at the Friars as a competitive get-right situation. They still wanted more, and the burning and inextinguishable flame lit by the loss to the Crimson is now carrying them into their second such game against New Hampshire before meat-and-potatoes matchups crest on the season's horizon.
"I have a lot of confidence in this team," said Bernabei-McNamee after the Harvard loss. "I think this was a game that we're really going to grow from. That's one thing I understand about this team: they're going to stick together. We needed a game where we were challenged, and while we should have come out on top, credit to Harvard for coming out with a great game plan, some good adjustments at halftime, and getting the best of us when Harmony Turner played a great game."
The Harvard loss featured an unanswerable question in Turner, who scored 40 points and played an unconscious game whenever the ball landed in her hands, but Providence offered a more well-rounded team matchup for BC to defend. Four players still wound up with double-figure scoring, but Grace Efosa's team-high 15 points failed to crack 50 percent shooting. Brynn Farrell, meanwhile, required seven of her eight free throws to reach 10 points, and Olivia Olsen's double-double posted nine offensive rebounds from a frenetic front court performance.
BC certainly didn't play its best game, but a more efficient game kept the Eagles ahead of the Friars for all but 90 seconds of the four quarters. Teya Sidberry used a 6-of-9 performance from the floor to post her first 20-point performance of the season while Dontavia Waggoner scored 16 points of her own, but the counteracted play from Andrea Daley brought her within range of a double-double after she gobbled eight rebounds.
"That's hopefully the difference with us having a more mature team this year," said Bernabei-McNamee. "Instead of [a loss] making them question themselves, it lights that fire and lets them say that they're better than that. It isn't going to shake our confidence to get this thing on the right foot and start playing Boston College basketball."
Balancing out the Harvard loss helped BC gain a measure of revenge against the ill fates of that Cambridge-based basketball destiny, but the Eagles now enter a matchup against New Hampshire by needing to fire their pistons into another gear. As much as the PC win was the type of get-right victory that showed how BC could turn around its fortunes after a loss, it failed to include the type of 40-point swagger of those first three games, and while it's impossible to replicate 40-point wins on a nightly basis, these Eagles understand how they're better and can do more than simply win a game on any given night.
That's where they hope UNH is the right foil. The Wildcats are 4-1 and defeated Boston University after Eva DeChent scored 34 points on 9-of-18 shooting, but the true matchup of Wednesday night links the two defensive teams against one another after UNH held opponents to just over 30 percent shooting in its first five games. The 45.8 per-game average defensively is seventh-best in the country, and Clara Gomez, while not a natural scorer, is capable of posting nine rebounds per game against DeChent's two-way, four-board performances.
More than ever, it feels like this UNH team is positioned to play spoiler in a one-sided regional rivalry that's tilted BC's direction since 1995. They don't play annually, but the Granite Staters haven't won since that year's three-point upset in Durham. They haven't played at Lundholm Gymnasium since its floor was replenished and renovated in the early 2000s, but UNH also hasn't finished within 10 points of a matchup against the Eagles outside of an overtime bid in 2017.
They more memorably played one another during the COVID-impacted season of 2020-2021 before matching once again with a New Year's Day game one year later, but this is the first time they've met in a standard, early-season non-conference game since that near-upset.
"We've got grit," said Sidberry. "We need to make those hustle plays and attack the boards before pushing it on offense. We need to have that discipline, and we know what we can do."
BC and New Hampshire tip-off on Wednesday at 6 pm from Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game can be seen on the ACC Network Extra, which is available through the ESPN family of streaming and mobile device apps.
Correcting issues ahead of Sunday's win over Providence stood paramount, but the angered Eagles looked at the Friars as a competitive get-right situation. They still wanted more, and the burning and inextinguishable flame lit by the loss to the Crimson is now carrying them into their second such game against New Hampshire before meat-and-potatoes matchups crest on the season's horizon.
"I have a lot of confidence in this team," said Bernabei-McNamee after the Harvard loss. "I think this was a game that we're really going to grow from. That's one thing I understand about this team: they're going to stick together. We needed a game where we were challenged, and while we should have come out on top, credit to Harvard for coming out with a great game plan, some good adjustments at halftime, and getting the best of us when Harmony Turner played a great game."
The Harvard loss featured an unanswerable question in Turner, who scored 40 points and played an unconscious game whenever the ball landed in her hands, but Providence offered a more well-rounded team matchup for BC to defend. Four players still wound up with double-figure scoring, but Grace Efosa's team-high 15 points failed to crack 50 percent shooting. Brynn Farrell, meanwhile, required seven of her eight free throws to reach 10 points, and Olivia Olsen's double-double posted nine offensive rebounds from a frenetic front court performance.
BC certainly didn't play its best game, but a more efficient game kept the Eagles ahead of the Friars for all but 90 seconds of the four quarters. Teya Sidberry used a 6-of-9 performance from the floor to post her first 20-point performance of the season while Dontavia Waggoner scored 16 points of her own, but the counteracted play from Andrea Daley brought her within range of a double-double after she gobbled eight rebounds.
"That's hopefully the difference with us having a more mature team this year," said Bernabei-McNamee. "Instead of [a loss] making them question themselves, it lights that fire and lets them say that they're better than that. It isn't going to shake our confidence to get this thing on the right foot and start playing Boston College basketball."
Balancing out the Harvard loss helped BC gain a measure of revenge against the ill fates of that Cambridge-based basketball destiny, but the Eagles now enter a matchup against New Hampshire by needing to fire their pistons into another gear. As much as the PC win was the type of get-right victory that showed how BC could turn around its fortunes after a loss, it failed to include the type of 40-point swagger of those first three games, and while it's impossible to replicate 40-point wins on a nightly basis, these Eagles understand how they're better and can do more than simply win a game on any given night.
That's where they hope UNH is the right foil. The Wildcats are 4-1 and defeated Boston University after Eva DeChent scored 34 points on 9-of-18 shooting, but the true matchup of Wednesday night links the two defensive teams against one another after UNH held opponents to just over 30 percent shooting in its first five games. The 45.8 per-game average defensively is seventh-best in the country, and Clara Gomez, while not a natural scorer, is capable of posting nine rebounds per game against DeChent's two-way, four-board performances.
More than ever, it feels like this UNH team is positioned to play spoiler in a one-sided regional rivalry that's tilted BC's direction since 1995. They don't play annually, but the Granite Staters haven't won since that year's three-point upset in Durham. They haven't played at Lundholm Gymnasium since its floor was replenished and renovated in the early 2000s, but UNH also hasn't finished within 10 points of a matchup against the Eagles outside of an overtime bid in 2017.
They more memorably played one another during the COVID-impacted season of 2020-2021 before matching once again with a New Year's Day game one year later, but this is the first time they've met in a standard, early-season non-conference game since that near-upset.
"We've got grit," said Sidberry. "We need to make those hustle plays and attack the boards before pushing it on offense. We need to have that discipline, and we know what we can do."
BC and New Hampshire tip-off on Wednesday at 6 pm from Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game can be seen on the ACC Network Extra, which is available through the ESPN family of streaming and mobile device apps.
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