Breakout Performance From Kaylah Ivey Leads Boston College Women’s Basketball to Victory Over UMass Lowell

Despite a wobbly start, the Boston College women’s basketball team demolished UMass Lowell in the Eagles’ final non-conference game of the regular season today, defeating the Riverhawks by a score of 88-38. Yes, that is a 50 point victory.

BC started the game on a 4-0 run, but UML quickly came back to take an 8-4 lead. The Eagles just couldn’t seem to get their shots in net, and were struggling to get second chances on shots for much of the first quarter. A 3 pointer from Dickens late in the quarter turned things around for BC though, and the Eagle ended up taking a 16-13 lead into the second quarter.

The Riverhawks started the scoring in the second quarter, but once the Eagles got started, they didn’t look back. The Eagles went into halftime with a 42-24 lead, and that leads just kept growing as the game went on. And BC did all of this despite Taylor Soule having a relatively quiet game (for her) at 9 points and 3 rebounds.

After shooting 31.6% in the first quarter, the Eagles went on to shoot over 50% for the rest of the game, which is certainly evident in the final score. The Eagle continued to be strong from behind the free throw line, going 18-22 today, but also showed improvement on 3 pointers, shooting at 42.9% from behind the arc. The Eagles also out-rebounded UML 44-30.

Defensively, BC had a strong game. The Eagles forced a whopping 30 turnovers (resulting in 37 BC points), made 3 block, and managed 14 steals. BC did make 17 turnovers of their own, which is still more than Coach McNamee would like to see, but after the first 10 minutes this was otherwise a very strong showing for BC.

The driving force behind the Eagles’ victory was freshman Kaylah Ivey, who completely dominated with 23 points (including 4 three pointers), 4 assists, and 3 steals. Ivey showed her skills on both offense and defense and hopefully this performance gives her the confidence she needs to keep playing at this skill level. Sophomore Jaelyn Batts also had a breakout game with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 steals.

Cam Swartz continues to show consistency, adding 15 points and 5 rebounds to BC’s total, and Makayla Dickens was the final Eagle to hit double digits with 13 points. Marnelle Garraud had a particularly strong defensive outing for BC, which included 3 steals and 4 defensive rebounds, and Clara Ford led all Eagles with 9 rebounds. Every Eagle picked up at least a point in today’s matchup, including freshman Sydney McQuietor, who scored her first collegiate point off a late free throw.

The Eagles return to action on Wednesday when they begin ACC play at Georgia Tech, so hopefully this win has given the whole squad, but particularly the sophomores and freshmen, some confidence heading into conference play.