Strong First Half Leads Boston College Women’s Basketball to Senior Day Victory

The Boston College Eagles earned a senior day victory today, defeating Wake Forest 82-70.

The Eagles started their 5 seniors (Makayla Dickens, Clara Ford, Marnelle Garraud, Taylor Soule, and Cam Swartz) in today’s Senior Day game. Swartz opened BC’s scoring, draining a 3, and then Garraud followed that up with a pair of 3s of her own to put BC up 9-4. The Eagles continued to dominate the first quarter from there, shooting 53% and out-rebounding Wake Forest 12-6. Strong play across the court helped BC take a 22-11 lead into the second quarter.

Swartz opened the second quarter the same way she did the first, hitting a 3 pointer and increasing BC’s lead to 25-11. The Eagles continued to dominate offensively and defensively throughout the quarter, including a pair of 3s from Dickens that increased BC’s lead to over 20 points.

Wake Forest cut down the BC lead in the second half of the second quarter, but BC was ahead by too much for it to make any big impact, and by halftime the Eagles had pushed their lead back to 20 points at 49-29. The Eagles shot 56% in the first half, and Swartz ended the half with a game high 16 points.

Swartz opened the scoring in the third quarter too, although this time it was with a layup. Wake Forest was more productive offensively than BC in the third, and the Demon Deacons were able to cut BC’s lead to single digits as the quarter wound down. BC led just 64-56 heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation despite entering the third up by 20.

Makayla Dickens made a great pass to Maria Gakdeng for the first basket of the fourth quarter, putting BC back up by 10. Both teams started to get a little sloppy in the fourth, but the Eagles still lead 72-58 at the midway point of the quarter. BC continued to shoot consistently, ending the game with a 59.6% field goal percentage and a final score of 82-70. BC was led by 22 points from Swartz and 17 from Soule.