A Great Season Upended
Down Comm Ave, the basketball bounces away

The Boston University women’s basketball team’s historic 2008–09season came to an end on March 23, as it fell to crosstown foeBoston College, 68-53, in the second round of the Women’sNational Invitational Tournament at Conte Forum. Kristi Dini (SAR’09) led all scorers with 17 points and Amarachi Umez-Eronini (CAS’09) chipped in 10.
Despite the final score, the Terriers’ senior class graduates as the winningest class inprogram history, with 78 career wins and a .624 winning percentage.
In her final collegiate game, Dini was hot from the field asshe connected on five three-pointers, but BC got double-doubles from forwardsStefanie Murphy (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Carolyn Swords (16 points, 10rebounds). The Terriers recorded 16 points off turnovers; however, theEagles made the most of 22 offensive boards, scoring 26 points onsecond-chance points.
After going down by three points to start the game, BUembarked on a 10-3 run that gave the Terriers a 10-5 advantage at 16:33. The Eagles responded with a streak of their own as they took over thelead on an 8-0 run. BU reclaimed the lead on a traditional three-pointplay by Umez-Eronini, and Dini made it a five-point game on a three-pointer at13:03.
Dini continued her strong first-half play as she knockeddown her third three-pointer of the game at 11:37 from the corner. She followedit up with her fourth triple from the same spot nearly three minuteslater to make it a nine-point game for the Terriers, 24-16.
Over the next five minutes, BC chipped away at the lead anddrew to within three points, 29-26, at 4:07 as Swords collectedan offensive rebound and put it back in for two points. Going into thelocker rooms at halftime, BU had a three-point lead, despite adesperation shot from BC’s Murphy with less than a second lefton the clock. At the break, Dini led all scorers with 12 points — allcoming from behind the arc.
The second half started off on a fortuitous note as Umez-Eronini connected on hersecond three-point play just 11 seconds into the stanza. But BC’sMurphy gave her squad the one-point advantage at 17:52, as theEagles embarked on a 13-3 run that would put the lead in their favor, 44-40, with 15:53 left — a lead they would not relinquish the restof the way.
Over the next seven minutes, the Terriers remained with atwo-possession distance of the Eagles, as they went 7-for-8 from thecharity stripe, to draw to within five points. With just under three minutes remaining, BC had a16-point advantage as it went on a 13-2 spurt that upped its lead to65-49. Kat Briggs(ENG’11) broke a five-minutes scoring drought with a three in front of BU’sbench with 1:46 remaining. BU would get no closer, however, as theEagles held on for the 15-point victory.
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