Boston College Women’s Basketball Roster Breakdown: The Sophomores

This year’s Boston College women’s basketball team will likely see any successes driven by the sophomore class. Here’s why...

#5 Maria Gakdeng: Maria Gakdeng will almost certainly be BC’s star player this season. She is skilled on both ends of the court, and as a freshman led BC in both rebounds (207 - 76 offensive, 131 defensive) and blocks (73). Her 73 blocks led all freshmen in the country and broke BC’s single season record. She was also third on the team in points with 294, and is the team’s highest returning scorer. Gakdeng earned ACC All-Freshman honors and was the only freshman in the country to average at least 8.5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and to shoot at least 55%. Now that she’s played a year of college ball, Gakdeng should only be stronger and more confident this season.

#12 Ally VanTimmeren: VanTimmeren is BC’s top returning 3 point shooter, and she’s going to need to continue to take those chances from behind the arc and improve her accuracy to replace the scoring BC has lost. She shot .300 from behind the arc last season for fourth best on the team. She made 15 threes last season, while BC’s top 3 point scorers all made at least 50. McGee is also BC’s top returning total scorer and rebounder behind Gakdeng, having scored 158 points and grabbed 99 rebounds last year.

#21 Andrea Daley: Daley didn’t see a ton of playing time last season, averaging just 5.4 minutes per game, but she still managed to average 1.4 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. She made 8 of the 14 field goals she attempted, showing good consistency despite a small sample size. Daley is a player who could really help to turn the tide for BC if she’s able to quickly adjust to more playing time without getting tired and/or sloppy.

#44 Akunna Konkwo: A redshirt sophomore, Konkwo was a highly regarded recruit but due to injuries has yet to be able to prove herself on the court for BC. She played 7 games in 2020-21 and averaged 4 points and 4.6 rebounds across those games, including going 8-for-9 from behind the free throw line. Prior to her injury plagued BC career, Konkwo was her high school’s all time leading scorer with 2,345 career points and rebounder with 1,800 career rebounds. It would be very exciting to get to see Konkwo healthy for a full season to see what she can do, although having missed so many years of playing will certainly make a comeback tougher.