Boston College Women’s Basketball Season Comes to an End with Hard Fought Loss to Miami

The 2022-23 Boston College women’s basketball season has come to and end as the Eagles were knocked out of the ACC Tournament in the second round tonight. BC fought hard, but a short roster (further cut down by in-game injuries) and strong Miami rebounding and defense allowed the Hurricanes to advance with a 84-69 victory.

Things started out upsettingly for the Eagles, as Ally VanTimmeren went down with a gnarly knee injury under a minute into the game. Despite this, BC came out strong and fast, and ended the first quarter up 16-14. The game stayed close throughout the second and third quarters, with Miami generally leading by 1-4 points.

The wheels really started to fall off for BC in the fourth, and the Eagles were outscored 24-13 in the final 10 minutes of play. This wasn’t helped by the fact that Andrea Daley, BC’s leading scorer tonight, left the game with an injury with just over 4 minutes remaining. A big reason behind BC’s fourth quarter meltdown was likely fatigue, as JoJo Lacey, Maria Gakdeng, Taina Mair, and Dontavia Waggoner all played 33+ minutes tonight. Mair, a freshman, played an impressive 39 minutes.

Despite the final score and the injuries, there are a lot of positives to take away from tonight’s game. BC will (barring transfers) return all players next season, and freshman standouts Taina Mair and T’Yana Todd should continue to improve in their sophomore seasons. BC also had a strong shooting game tonight, shooting 50% from the floor and going 4-for-8 from behind the arc. Lacey, Mair, and Todd all have solid 3 point shots, and if they get confident enough to start taking more chances, that could really boost BC’s scoring next year. Dontavia Waggoner also looked entirely back to her old self tonight, and it will be exciting to (hopefully) see a full, healthy senior season for her.