In basketball, a kill shot is a stretch of a game where one team outscores the other 10–0 or worse.
On Friday, three kill shots were too much for Boston College women’s basketball to withstand as the Eagles lost the hardwood edition of a Beanpot battle.
BC (4–10, 0–1 Atlantic Coast) fell to Northeastern (4–6, 0–0 CAA) 73–67 to end its non-conference slate. Amirah Anderson led the Eagles with 15 points and six rebounds, while Teionni McDaniel put together an all around performance of nine points, six rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block.
Northeastern’s runs are what ultimately did BC in. The Huskies had stretches in the first, third, and fourth quarters where they were able to outscore BC by more than 10, and despite the best efforts of the Eagles, that proved to be too much.
“We can’t pick and choose spurts of the game to play hard,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “We have to find a way to really give everything we got for the entire 40 minutes.”
The story of the game for BC was injuries. Lily Carmody, the Eagles’ leading scorer, missed the game due to a knee injury, and starter Ava McGee did not return after the first quarter. In addition, Athena Tomlinson needed stitches and was sidelined to open the second half, meaning that BC was down three usual starters during the game.
“That was a little bit of a kick in the butt for us,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “It’s a group of a group of players that haven’t all gelled yet together, and then every game we have somebody else injured…that gelling needs to get better.”
The game opened with a pair of runs. After an early Northeastern basket, Kayla Rolph was able to score four quick points to lead an 8–0 run for BC. Northeastern responded, though, and used a 10–0 run to take a 12–8 lead.
The two teams played evenly for the rest of the quarter. BC got the lead down to one multiple times, but the Huskies were able to find the basket and maintain their four point lead at 22–18 as the quarter came to an end.
The first quarter saw two very different offenses when it came to efficiency. Northeastern shot over 55 percent from the field, while the Eagles made just four field goals to put up a 30 percent mark from the floor.
The back-and-forth battle continued into the second quarter. BC’s shooting did not improve—the Eagles went 31 percent from the field—but its defense did. The Eagles held the Huskies to just 27 percent shooting from the floor, including zero percent from beyond the arc. BC also forced five turnovers, which it was able to turn into four points.
BC was able to take the lead back thanks to a 7–0 run near the end of the quarter. An Athena Tomlinson three and a pair of layups let the Eagles turn a 30–26 deficit into a 33–30 advantage. Northeastern was able to get one basket back, but BC was able to maintain a one point lead to end the half.
Similar to the first, the third quarter was a story of runs. After trading 3-pointers for the first three minutes of the period, Northeastern went on a 13–0 run to take a 50–39 lead with just under five minutes to play in the quarter. During that run, the Huskies made all five of their field goals.
Luckily for the Eagles, a Northeastern timeout allowed them to settle down and find their offense again. Tomlinson’s second three of the game kickstarted a 9–0 run for BC over the last four and half minutes of the quarter. During that run, Kiera Edmonds had four of her seven points, a new career high for her.
“[Kiera] did a really nice job of coming in and being her own version of a spark,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Hopefully that gives her some confidence to know that she’s gonna be needed for the second half of the season.”
The lack of fouls allowed both teams to get into a groove. After a combined 21 foul calls during the first half, there were only two during the third quarter, letting each team establish its flow and get open looks. The quarter ended with the Huskies up 50–48, but the late run from the Eagles gave them all the momentum heading into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, it would not be enough to overcome the Huskies. Northeastern was scorching hot to open up the fourth quarter, making four of its six field goals and four free throws to form a 13–1 run over the first four minutes of the period.
But BC would not go down without a fight.
The lead hovered around 10 points for most of the fourth quarter, but a Teionni McDaniel steal and layup helped the lead get to single digits with just under a minute left. Two missed Huskies’ free throws and a Rolph three put the lead at five with under 20 seconds left, but ultimately there was just not enough time left for the Eagles. A pair of three from McDaniel bounced harmlessly off the rim and the game ended with a 73–67 Northeastern victory.
“There wasn’t a person in the locker room right now that wasn’t disappointed in the way we just played,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “But everybody is willing to work and get better.”