Women’s Basketball Advances to Patriot League Semifinals for First Time
Maren Durant (Sargent’23) erupted for a double-double in the PL quarterfinals Monday night.
Update: Patriot League Cancels Women’s Basketball Tournament
Terriers had been scheduled to host Lehigh in semifinals Thursday at home
Updated—March 12, 1:45 pm: The Patriot League has canceled the women’s basketball tournament because of the coronavirus epidemic. The Terriers had been scheduled to host Lehigh in the semifinals Thursday, March 12, at 6 pm.
For the first time in the seven years since the BU women’s basketball Terriers joined the Patriot League, they have made it to the conference semifinals. Following a 46-44 victory over American University Monday night, BU will host Lehigh on Thursday, March 12, at 6 pm at Case Gym.
The second-seeded Terriers (18-12, 12-6 Patriot League) split this year’s two regular season games with the sixth-seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks (19-11, 10-8 PL). On March 9, Lehigh upset third-seeded Colgate on the road in the quarterfinals.
“It’s now the postseason, so everything’s a little different,” says Maren Durant (Sargent’23). “This is still Terrier basketball. Our mindset is still to have a killer mentality. It’s just that we now have extra responsibilities.”
The Terriers have relied heavily on their young players during this year’s regular season, with three freshmen starting in the lineup: Patriot League Rookie of the Year and All-Patriot League Third Teamer Maggie Pina (CAS’23), All-Defensive Team honoree Durant, and Sydney Johnson (CAS’23). All were named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team.
“I think we’re still learning,” BU coach Marisa Moseley (CAS’04) says of the freshmen. “We’re still growing. It’s their first time in the postseason and they want it really bad, but they’re also nervous.”
It’s important for the team to balance their aggression on the court, Moseley says. “When we come back in we have to play with a little bit more control, but those are young players.”
All-Patriot League Second Teamer Katie Nelson (CGS’19, Questrom’21) is the team’s point guard and leading scorer. Moseley credits Nelson’s on-court leadership with anchoring the young players.
The 6-foot-3 Durant had a team-high 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in the quarterfinal victory over American, followed by Nelson, with 11 points, and Pina, with 10.
For Moseley, who was appointed head coach in April 2018, it was her first playoff win as a head coach. During her nine years as a University of Connecticut assistant coach, the Huskies won five national championships. She hopes that Monday’s win is the first of many more playoff victories for the Terriers.
“I felt a little relief,” Moseley says. “I wasn’t necessarily thinking about my first win in the playoffs, I was just thinking about winning the game. Sometimes you’ve got to grind it out like that. We made some big plays when we had to.”
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.