Turnovers and Allowed 3s Cost Boston College Women’s Basketball in Loss to Harvard

The Boston College women’s basketball team hit the road tonight for the first time this season for a quick trip to Harvard. The Eagles struggled to find their footing on the road, and lost this one by a score of 68-59.

For the second game on a row, Maria Gakdeng won the tip-off for the Eagles and scored the first basket of the game. Despite that positive start, BC struggled to hit the net early in the game and Harvard jumped to a 5-2 lead before JoJo Lacey tied things up with a 3.

The Eagles let Harvard build up a 6 point lead after Lacey’s 3, in large part due to a number of turnovers. Lacey hit another 3 to cut Harvard’s lead to 11-8, but Harvard immediately scored one of their own to build the lead back up. The Crimson followed that up with more baskets from behind the arc, as BC allowed far too many 3 point opportunities for the second game in a row. After 10 minutes of play, Harvard led this one 20-10.

It took over 2 minutes for either team to score in the second quarter, but Dontavia Waggoner finally broke through with a jumper. This began a 6-0 run for the Eagles, which was broken by another Harvard 3. At halftime, Harvard led 34-22.

The Eagles scored first again in the second half, but Harvard unsurprisingly hit a 3 to extend their lead to 37-24.

BC got some momentum going in the third after Waggoner made a steal and ran back down the court alone to score and cut Harvard’s lead down to 9. The momentum didn’t last long, and Harvard easily kept racking up with points to end the third quarter leading 51-39.

Waggoner got to 12 points on the game with a basket to start the fourth quarter, cutting Harvard’s lead back down to 10. Despite some good hustle, the Eagles were never ever to get a real comeback going, and Harvard ultimately won this one by 9 points.

The Eagles really lost this one on 3 pointers and turnovers. The Eagles went just 2 for 16 on 3s, but allowed Harvard to take 22 shots from behind the arc, of which the Crimson made 10. BC also made an unacceptable 22 turnovers, leading to 22 points off turnovers for Harvard.

On the plus side, the Eagles dominated the board, out-rebounding Harvard 37-30. And on an individual level, Dontavia Waggoner earned a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Maria Gakdeng and JoJo Lacey had respectable games with 16 and 14 points respectively.