Dominant Overtime Performance Earns Boston College Women’s Basketball a Win Over UMass

It looked like BC was going to dominate this one early in the game, but the Eagles almost blew a 20 point lead against UMass today, only defeating the Minutewomen thanks to a dominant overtime performance. The Eagles came away with a 90-82 win at the end of the day, improving to 2-0.

The Eagles started the game with a 3 pointer from Cameron Swartz, and went on to outscore UMass 30-15 in the first quarter alone. UMass began to catch up late in the second quarter, but BC still managed to take a 48-35 lead into halftime.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, UMass came out ready to go in the second half, while BC came out looking tired and kept turning over the ball, allowing UMass to make a serious comeback attempt with BC went over 8 minutes without scoring a point of their own. The Eagles scored just 9 points to UMass’s 20 in the third, and entered the final quarter ahead by just 2 points.

Regulation ended with the teams knotted at 77, but the Eagles dominated overtime, limiting UMass to just 5 points and forcing a number of fouls to build up their own lead from behind the free throw line.

Today’s game exposed 2 majors areas that the Eagles need to work on - increasing their stamina to make up for their shallow bench, and continuing to improve their 3 pointer accuracy. However, BC also showed a number of really strong points including resiliency, ability to draw fouls, rebounding, and free throw shooting. The Eagles went 24-28 from behind the free throw line, while allowing UMass to get just 7 free throw attempts. And the Eagles out-rebounded UMass by an impressive 52-28 margin.

On an individual level, Taylor Soule picked up her second straight double-double with 29 points and 13 rebounds, Clara Ford got her first career double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds, and Makayla Dickens picked up her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Marnelle Garraud (15 points) and Cameron Swartz (10 points) also scored in the double digits for BC.

Freshman Kaylah Ivey was quieter as the game progressed, but picked up a quick 5 points early in the game that gave fans a look at what can be expected of her once she settles into NCAA play. Similarly, Akunna Konkwo made some great defensive plays early in the game that give good insight into the impact she’ll have as she continue to get back into form.