Photo by: Meg Kelly
Eagles Vanquish Leopards to Remain Perfect on Opening Night Under Mac
November 04, 2024 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
Add another program to the list of teams that have lost to BC women's basketball.
Boston College was done messing around.
The energy surrounding the Eagles for much of the first two quarters of Monday night's 2024-2025 season-opening matchup against Lafayette left BC with a frustrating mosquito bite. The Leopards were frustratingly annoying in their ability to keep the team off its guard in the first half, and the overpaced and overjittered hosts continually scratched and scratched its itch without thinking about how the irritation fed itself. Prickly miscues on the offensive end counteracted any forced errors and stops on the defensive side of the floor - not exactly the picture-perfect start envisioned by anyone on the maroon and gold sideline.
Head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee wasn't necessarily worried, but she took time at halftime to remind her charges about how to patiently zap the gnat on the other bench. Size, speed, agility - it was all there for the taking, and after watching Lafayette's leading scorer hit double figures in the first half, BC was finished with its undersized and plucky opponent.
For the next 20 minutes, the Eagles tortured Lafayette and explored their combinations with different styles of play. In the process, a 16-0 run elapsed the final five minutes of an explosive third quarter, and after running the Leopards out of Conte Forum with a 51-26 advantage in the second half, Bernabei-McNamee's perfect opening record remained intact with a 30-point, 85-55 victory over the Patriot League pests that began the game by dreaming of an upset.
"The nerves were there a little bit [in the beginning]," admitted Bernabei-McNamee. "We were a little bit out of our comfort zone, and we tried to do too much one-on-one. Everyone forced it a little bit because they were so excited to play well. It wasn't for a lack of effort, but [everyone] was almost overdoing it. Once we calmed down and settled into the fact that we're a good team, we moved the ball. We got to attacking the boards. We got to talking on defense, and the second half was really about who we are and who we want to be."
Lafayette didn't exactly try to hide its game plan from the outset of a game against the larger and more athletic Eagles, but the opening half tension led BC into a number of lost opportunities around each team's respective basket. A half-dozen opportunities under the Leopard basket involved rushed layups and missed rebounds after Lafayette crashed multiple people into the space surrounding center Kennedi Jackson while play down the opposite end of the floor avoided Jackson's overall presence by rotating around the three-point arc.
The strategy harnessed BC's attitude against its own frontcourt presence, and Jackson found herself harassed into early shooting struggles from high percentage areas. She went 1-for-6 in the first quarter as a result of the tilted floor, and Lafayette responded by shooting 2-for-7 from outside after beginning the game with four of its first six attempts coming from three-point range before the Eagles flipped the court by switching to a trap-based press.
"Defense has so much heart and grit," said Bernabei-McNamee, "and especially pressing, I loved the way we came out and pressed. It looked very intense, and that's what you need. The rotations, even if they weren't perfect, had everybody out-hustling any mistakes that we were making, and that set the tone for the players to have some confidence in being a pressing team."
BC finished its first half with four steals and two blocked shots, after which the third quarter - the moment when the team ideally settled into its game plan - began truly disrupting Lafayette's continued ability to hit big shots. Shifts in the rotation pulled players away from the defensive basket and forced the smaller and less-athletic team to run the floor at a time when its energy reserves began depleting, and the Eagles intently matched their entire first two quarters with four takeaways in the third quarters alone.
By extension, the shooting stabilized and moved to a 55 percent success rate while the three-point shot arrived and finally placed distance between the two sides. Lafayette, meanwhile, disappeared into its own struggles, and players like Abby Antognoli and Kay Donahue watched their double-figure scoring from the first half evaporate into single baskets during the third quarter.
"You're looking to get them into the corners right near the half-court line as a tracking area," said guard T'yana Todd. "Then you're just trying to keep them there, and we forced them into a lot of violation calls because we were really good and really intense."
"I'm just making sure nobody's getting behind me," Jackson agreed before laughing, "but I'm also out there to celebrate my teammates up top."
Jackson and Todd finished with 37 combined points, and Jackson, the former Oklahoma State and Charleston Southern transfer, improved to 10-for-16 shooting while recording 20 points and 13 rebounds for a debut double-double. Andrea Daley, meanwhile, recorded a second double-double with 13 points and 11 boards, and Kaylah Ivey debuted her new three-point shooting stroke for 15 points on 4-for-6 three-pointers with an additional 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. She additionally dished nine assists in 27 minutes.
On the whole, BC won its eighth consecutive season-opening game and remained perfect through Bernabei-McNamee's seven seasons at the helm. It won its 57th overall game against the Patriot League and added a 167th college basketball program to the boneyard of opponents who lost to a Boston College women's basketball team.
"Going into this week," said Todd, "we have another game coming up, so this is going to roll into everything that we do."
The Eagles return to action on Thursday when they host Sacred heart at 6 p.m. The game can be seen on ACC Network Extra, which is available through the online streaming platform of ESPN's Internet and mobile device apps.
The energy surrounding the Eagles for much of the first two quarters of Monday night's 2024-2025 season-opening matchup against Lafayette left BC with a frustrating mosquito bite. The Leopards were frustratingly annoying in their ability to keep the team off its guard in the first half, and the overpaced and overjittered hosts continually scratched and scratched its itch without thinking about how the irritation fed itself. Prickly miscues on the offensive end counteracted any forced errors and stops on the defensive side of the floor - not exactly the picture-perfect start envisioned by anyone on the maroon and gold sideline.
Head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee wasn't necessarily worried, but she took time at halftime to remind her charges about how to patiently zap the gnat on the other bench. Size, speed, agility - it was all there for the taking, and after watching Lafayette's leading scorer hit double figures in the first half, BC was finished with its undersized and plucky opponent.
For the next 20 minutes, the Eagles tortured Lafayette and explored their combinations with different styles of play. In the process, a 16-0 run elapsed the final five minutes of an explosive third quarter, and after running the Leopards out of Conte Forum with a 51-26 advantage in the second half, Bernabei-McNamee's perfect opening record remained intact with a 30-point, 85-55 victory over the Patriot League pests that began the game by dreaming of an upset.
"The nerves were there a little bit [in the beginning]," admitted Bernabei-McNamee. "We were a little bit out of our comfort zone, and we tried to do too much one-on-one. Everyone forced it a little bit because they were so excited to play well. It wasn't for a lack of effort, but [everyone] was almost overdoing it. Once we calmed down and settled into the fact that we're a good team, we moved the ball. We got to attacking the boards. We got to talking on defense, and the second half was really about who we are and who we want to be."
Lafayette didn't exactly try to hide its game plan from the outset of a game against the larger and more athletic Eagles, but the opening half tension led BC into a number of lost opportunities around each team's respective basket. A half-dozen opportunities under the Leopard basket involved rushed layups and missed rebounds after Lafayette crashed multiple people into the space surrounding center Kennedi Jackson while play down the opposite end of the floor avoided Jackson's overall presence by rotating around the three-point arc.
The strategy harnessed BC's attitude against its own frontcourt presence, and Jackson found herself harassed into early shooting struggles from high percentage areas. She went 1-for-6 in the first quarter as a result of the tilted floor, and Lafayette responded by shooting 2-for-7 from outside after beginning the game with four of its first six attempts coming from three-point range before the Eagles flipped the court by switching to a trap-based press.
"Defense has so much heart and grit," said Bernabei-McNamee, "and especially pressing, I loved the way we came out and pressed. It looked very intense, and that's what you need. The rotations, even if they weren't perfect, had everybody out-hustling any mistakes that we were making, and that set the tone for the players to have some confidence in being a pressing team."
BC finished its first half with four steals and two blocked shots, after which the third quarter - the moment when the team ideally settled into its game plan - began truly disrupting Lafayette's continued ability to hit big shots. Shifts in the rotation pulled players away from the defensive basket and forced the smaller and less-athletic team to run the floor at a time when its energy reserves began depleting, and the Eagles intently matched their entire first two quarters with four takeaways in the third quarters alone.
By extension, the shooting stabilized and moved to a 55 percent success rate while the three-point shot arrived and finally placed distance between the two sides. Lafayette, meanwhile, disappeared into its own struggles, and players like Abby Antognoli and Kay Donahue watched their double-figure scoring from the first half evaporate into single baskets during the third quarter.
"You're looking to get them into the corners right near the half-court line as a tracking area," said guard T'yana Todd. "Then you're just trying to keep them there, and we forced them into a lot of violation calls because we were really good and really intense."
"I'm just making sure nobody's getting behind me," Jackson agreed before laughing, "but I'm also out there to celebrate my teammates up top."
Jackson and Todd finished with 37 combined points, and Jackson, the former Oklahoma State and Charleston Southern transfer, improved to 10-for-16 shooting while recording 20 points and 13 rebounds for a debut double-double. Andrea Daley, meanwhile, recorded a second double-double with 13 points and 11 boards, and Kaylah Ivey debuted her new three-point shooting stroke for 15 points on 4-for-6 three-pointers with an additional 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. She additionally dished nine assists in 27 minutes.
On the whole, BC won its eighth consecutive season-opening game and remained perfect through Bernabei-McNamee's seven seasons at the helm. It won its 57th overall game against the Patriot League and added a 167th college basketball program to the boneyard of opponents who lost to a Boston College women's basketball team.
"Going into this week," said Todd, "we have another game coming up, so this is going to roll into everything that we do."
The Eagles return to action on Thursday when they host Sacred heart at 6 p.m. The game can be seen on ACC Network Extra, which is available through the online streaming platform of ESPN's Internet and mobile device apps.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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