While the Boston College women's basketball team still hasn't picked up a signature win against a power-conference team this year, they are at least showing improvement by holding court in some of their non-conference tilts against local foes. Last night at Conte Forum, they toppled Holy Cross 77-60, picking up their fourth straight victory.
In Erik Johnson's second year at the helm of the program, BC now has wins over Hofstra, FIU, UNC-Wilmington, Hartford, BU, UNH, and Holy Cross. Again, not exactly a murderers' row - but we are used to seeing BC basketball teams lose to foes of that caliber, so I'll take it. The degree of difficulty ratchets up in the Eagles next game when they travel to Providence next Sunday afternoon to take on the Friars - a game that will be aired on FS1.
Game summary from BCEagles.com:
Senior Katie Zenevitch scored a season-high 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Boston College past non-conference foe Holy Cross, 77-60, this afternoon at Conte Forum. Boston College improved 7-5 while Holy Cross is now 7-2.
Zenevitch shot 9-for-13 from the floor, 2-for-2 from the three-point line and grabbed 12 rebounds. It was her third double-double of the season. Senior guard Kristen Doherty, who shot 5-for-9 in the second half, finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Nicole Boudreau had 11 points and a season-high six assists.
The Eagles came out slow for the third straight home game. BC was shooting just 28 percent from the floor, down 17-10 at 10:17 in the half. BC slowly chipped away at the Holy Cross lead as Kristen Doherty hit two foul shots at 5:44 to play to cut the Crusaders lead to six points. Kat Cooper stole a pass and went coast-to-coast and BC was down, 27-25. Nicole Boudreau converted on an old fashioned three-point play to give the Eagles a 28-27 lead at the half.
BC shot just 34.6 percent from the floor and made just one three-pointer.
Boston College opened up the second half with a 9-2 run sparked by four straight points from Zenevitch. Holy Cross came back with a small run of its own and BC was up just two points, 43-41, with 11:57 to play in the game.
The Eagles went on a 13-0 run to pull away, 57-41 with 9:13 to play. In the run, Zenevitch had seven points and was highlight by a fast-break layup by Lauren Engeln (11 points), off steal at half-court from Doherty.
A Doherty layup, followed by a three-pointer extended the BC lead to 65-48 with just under five minutes to play.
BC shot 53.3 percent in the second half and 45.9 percent for the game. The Eagles won the battle of the boards, 44-40, and had 19 assists.
The Eagles next game will be on Sunday, Dec. 29 at Providence (3 p.m.). The game will be carried by FoxSports1. It will be the first meeting between the two former Big East foes since Jan 24, 2005. The Friars lead the overall series against Boston College, 30-19.