Taina Mair Scores 23 Points to Lead Boston College Women’s Basketball Over Eastern Kentucky

The Boston College women’s basketball team came back from a first period deficit today to defeat Eastern Kentucky by a score of 76-65. BC was led by freshman Taina Mair with 23 points, and Ally VanTimmeren had one of her best games of the season with 8 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds. The Eagles shone on the boards in general tonight, grabbing 53 rebounds to Eastern Kentucky’s 30.

Unsurprisingly for a morning game, both teams took a bit of time to shake off the dust. Neither team managed a non-free throw basket until just over 2 minutes into the game, when Maria Gakdeng scored for BC. The Eagles struggled to score after that, however, and Eastern Kentucky took a 9-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. Taína Mair hit her first 3 of the game with just under 5 minutes to go, which sparked the BC offense a bit, especially once JoJo Lacey added a 3 of her own. Unfortunately, Eastern Kentucky also kept hitting 3s (going 4-for-7 in the first), and the Colonels led 22-18 going into the second period.

Mair got things started in the second quarter with a nothing but net jumper, and Kayla Lezama followed that up with a pair of free throws to tie the game at 22. Dontavia Waggoner then scored 2 free throws of her own to give the Eags their first lead of the day. The Eagles got hot from there, as Mair in particular started draining buckets, and BC went into halftime leading 42-30 behind Mair’s 17 points.

Mair scored her 20th point of the game midway through the third quarter with a 3 that put BC up 51-39. It was all BC from there, and the Eagles built their lead up to 20 points with just over a minute to go in the third. Eastern Kentucky cut that lead back down late in the period, but BC was still ahead 61-47 heading into the final period of regulation.

Three point shooting kept Eastern Kentucky from getting totally blown out in the fourth, but the Eagles never allowed a full comeback attempt and BC took this one by a score of 76-65.