Believe it or not, there was good news last night involving BC, orange balls, and hoops. In what can be classified as a bit of an upset, Boston College downed #11 seed Virginia Tech in Wednesday night's opening round of the ACC women's basketball tournament, defeating the Hokies in a defensive clash, 49-37.
The Eagles outscored Virginia Tech in all four quarters of the game. With the win, the Eagles move on to the #octofinal round of the ACC tournament, facing off against 6th seeded NC State tonight at 8 PM.
VT's 37 points was the lowest BC held an opponent to since beating the University of Hartford 62-28 back in the heady days of early December. It represented BC's best defensive effort of the season by far in ACC play, and their biggest margin of victory this year against an ACC foe. The Eagles held VT to just 22% shooting from the field.
Ella Awobajo was the star of the show for BC, co leading the team with 12 points while also adding 13 rebounds. Kelly Hughes continued her stellar season with 12 points scored.
BC will need to once again defy expectations if they are to proceed to Friday's ACC tournament quarterfinals. In their previous matchup with NC State, BC lost to the Wolfpack 74-63 back on February 11 in Raleigh.
The Eagles' win improves them to 15-15 for the season, meaning a victory tonight would ensure a .500 season. While the ACC portion of the season has been a huge disappointment, the good news is it's already the program's highest win total since 2011, and the most under coach Erik Johnson. In addition, it's BC's first time in to the second day of the ACC tournament since 2013.
Tonight's game will stream live on ESPN3. BCEagles.com also claims it will be on NESN, but with NESN carrying the Bruins game tonight at 7 and Red Sox spring training live on NESN+, I'm not sure when and how the BC game will be telecast. We'll post an update when we have one. For now, enjoy these highlights of BC's victory from last night.