BC women keep their poise
All season long, Boston College women's basketball coach Cathy Inglese has urged her team to be patient. But how could the Eagles not get rattled yesterday when a 19-point lead dwindled to 7 (67-60) with 2:02 left?
This was Rutgers, after all, which finished second in the Big East last season and was on a four-game winning streak.
But a 15-foot jumper by junior guard Jessalyn Deveny with 37 seconds left, followed by clutch free throws from Deveny and teammate Brooke Queenan, sealed the Eagles' 78-72 win over the Scarlet Knights before 3,815 at Conte Forum.
Boston College (16-5, 6-4 Big East) could have struggled against Rutgers (13-8, 5-4), which plays tight defense. But BC, which opened with a jumper by Queenan, then a 3-pointer by the sophomore forward, never trailed in the first half, shooting 13 for 21 and scoring 10 points off turnovers.
Even Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said it seemed like there was a role reversal going on.
"Boston College looked like they put our clothes on," she said. "They do play extremely well, but I think we did ourselves a disservice by not coming out more aggressively."
BC led by 17 at the half (42-25), and Deveny, who tied her season high with 26 points, said the Eagles weren't about to relax.
"With Rutgers, you can't take anything for granted, you can't go into the second half thinking that you've got the game set," she said. "They came back, and Cappie [Pondexter] almost single-handedly got them back in the game."
Rutgers didn't go on any long runs in the second half, but it had several 6-0 spurts and came within 8 (62-54), with 6:58 to play. Then came a free throw shooting show by BC and the Pondexter show for Rutgers.
The Eagles went to the line 15 times the rest of the way, and made 13 of their attempts, as Rutgers tried in vain to slow down BC. The Eagles made 32 of 40 from the line overall, not surprising for the team that leads the conference in free throw percentage (75 percent).
Pondexter, meanwhile, scored 17 of her team's last 18 points, including a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to bring Rutgers within 4 (76-72). But then she fouled Deveny, who sank the final two free throws.
So Pondexter said she couldn't be too excited about her career-high 35 points. "Whether I score 50 or whether I score 40, it doesn't matter if we don't have a W," she said. "I think we totally outplayed them in the second half, but the way we played in the first half was too much to overcome."
Deveny was nonchalant about her 11-for-12 performance from the line. "I just have to step up and be confident in my shot," she said. "Sometimes they fall, sometimes they don't."
Senior guard Amber Jacobs finished with 14 points, hitting all seven free throws, so the patience paid off for BC.
"They took us off our tempo, and there were a few times we made some careless mistakes," Inglese said. "But, overall, I'm not displeased. It was a battle the whole second half, but we kept our poise."
