Chestnut Hill, Mass. -
The Boston University women’s basketball team’s (25-8) historic 2008-09 season
came to an end on Monday evening, as it fell to cross-town foe Boston College
(21-11), 68-53, in the second round of the Women’s National Invitational
Tournament at Conte Forum. Senior Kristi Dini led all scorers with 17 points
and classmate Amarachi Umez-Eronini chipped in 10.
In her final collegiate game, Dini had
the hot from the field as she connected on five treys, but, BC got
double-doubles from forwards Stefanie Murphy (11 pts., 11 rebs.) and Carolyn
Swords (16 pts, 10 rebs.). The Terriers recorded 16 points off turnovers;
however, the Eagles made the most of 22 offensive boards as they scored 26
points on second-chance points.
After going down by three points to the
start the game, BU embarked on a 10-3 run that gave it a 10-5 advantage at
16:33; however, the Eagles responded with a streak of their own as they took
over the lead on an 8-0 run. BU reclaimed the lead on a traditional three-point
play by Umez-Eronini, and Dini made it a five-point game on a trey at 13:03.
Dini continued with her strong first-half
play as she knocked down her third trey of the game at 11:37 from the corner
and followed it up with her fourth triple from the same spot nearly three
minutes later to make it a nine-point game for the Terriers, 24-16.
Over the next five minutes, BC chipped
away at the lead and drew to within three points, 29-26, at 4:07 as Carolyn
Swords collected an offensive rebound and put it back in for two points. Going
into the locker rooms at halftime, BU enjoyed a three-point lead, despite a
desperation shot from BC’s Stefanie Murphy with less than a second left on the
clock. At the break, Dini led all scorers with 12 points - all coming from
behind the arc.
The second half started off fortuitous as
Umez-Eronini connected on her second three-point play just 11 seconds into the
stanza; however, BC’s Stefanie Murphy gave her squad the one-point advantage at
17:52, as the squad embarked on a 13-3 run that would put the lead in the
Eagles’ favor, 44-40, with 15:53 left - a lead it would not relinquish the rest
of the way.
Over the next seven minutes, the Terriers
remained with a two-possession distance of the Eagles, as they went 7-for-8
from the charity stripe, to draw to within five points, 52-47, with 9:27
remaining. With just under three minutes remaining, BC enjoyed a 16-point
advantage as it went on a 13-2 spurt that upped its lead to 65-49. Sophomore
Kat Briggs broke a five-minutes scoring drought with a three in front of BU’s
bench with 1:46 remaining. BU would get no closer, however, as the Eagles held
on for the 15-point victory.
Dini, Umez-Eronini, Christine Kinneary
and Jesyka Burks-Wiley leave a winning legacy as they will graduate as the
winningest class in program history with 78 career victories and a .624 winning
percentage. In the America East regular-season this group led the Terriers to a
perfect 16-0 mark as they captured the conference title outright for the first
time in program history.