Boston College women’s basketball snapped a major losing streak tonight, pulling off a 78-74 win over UNC on senior night at Conte.
The Eagles hit a trio of 3s early, the first and third from JoJo Lacey and the second from Kaylah Ivey, to help them jump to an early 11-4 lead. The Tarheels got a 3 of their own after the first media timeout, but Lacey quickly downed another one herself to put BC up 16-7. BC ended up taking a 19-12 lead into the second quarter.
UNC downed a 3 to start off the second quarter, cutting BC’s lead to just 4 points. The Tarheels got within 2 points a couple minutes into the quarter, but Teya Sidberry scored her first 3 of the game to boost BC’s lead back up. T’Yana Todd hit a pair of 3s as the half continued to help BC maintain a lead, and the Eagles took a 35-29 lead into halftime.
BC took an early 10 point lead in the third quarter, and forced UNC to take a timeout just a minute and 45 seconds into the period. UNC began to catch up late in the quarter, but a 3 from Lacey helped the Eags to increase their lead to 11, and the Eagles ended the quarter up 55-44.
The Eagles opened the fourth with yet another 3 pointer, this one from Kaylah Ivey, and immediately followed that up with a layup from Dontavia Waggoner. Along with scoring early in the quarter, Waggoner also made her 90th steal of the season to break BC’s single season record.
The game got more and more physical as the final quarter went on, with both teams hitting 5 fouls before the 5 minute mark. UNC started to build momentum after BC hit the foul limit, but Lacey hit yet another 3 with 3:19 to go to give BC a 73-59 lead. However, Lacey was then charged with a technical foul, allowing UNC to get back within 10. Just after that, Lacey was assessed another foul, which put her over the limit and out of the game.
With just under 3 minutes to go, UNC was able to get back within single digits, cutting BC’s lead to 73-65, then 73-67, and then 73-69. The Eagles got a shot clock violation with 1:24 to go, but BC successfully blocked the Tarheels from scoring and were fouled with 54.1 seconds remaining. Andrea Daley missed both free throws, but the Eagles successfully defended against UNC again and won a jump ball possession with 29 seconds left in regulation.
UNC immediately fouled once BC inbounded the ball, sending Ivey to the line for the Eags. Ivey hit both free throws to make it 75-69 BC, but UNC followed up with 2 free throws of their own to cut the lead back down to 4. With 21.6 seconds to go UNC sent T’Yana Todd to the free throw line, and Todd made it 77-71.
UNC got within 3 points with 12.5 seconds to go, but the Eagles held on and managed to win this one by a score of 78-74. BC scored 10 from behind the arc in the victory, with Lacey accounting for half of those 3s. Lacey ended the game leading all players with 23 points, Waggoner scored 13 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, and Ivey led all players with 8 assists.