On Sunday afternoon, Boston College women’s basketball ditched its maroon and gold for shades of pink during their Play4Kay Breast Cancer Awareness game against No. 17 Georgia Tech.
“I think that the pink game touches every one of our players and everyone on our staff,” BC head coach Bernabei-McNamee said. “I’m sure everyone in the crowd, there’s not a person that’s not impacted by some sort of cancer. It does bring that bigger picture.”
The players debuted pink jerseys, rocked pink shoes, and dedicated the game to a loved one who has battled breast cancer.
“It’s not just about sports it’s about persevering and playing for the people that have maybe lost that battle or are fighting that battle or know someone that’s in it, and just kinda giving it our all,” Bernabei-McNamee said.
Despite a promising third quarter from the Eagles (13–13, 4–9 Atlantic Coast), they fell 71–51 to a complete GT (20–4, 8–4 ACC) team, who held BC to its second-lowest scoring game of the season.
“Offense will come but you got to control the controllables,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “So do everything you can on the defensive end to make it work, do everything you can rebounding, sprint the floor.”
After quickly falling down 4–0, Teya Sidberry got the Eagles first points at 7:05—just over three minutes into the game.
A takeaway by Dani Carnegie led to a three-pointer by the Yellow Jacket’s leading scorer, Kara Dunn, and GT stormed out to an early 8–2 lead.
Waggoner responded with a layup, but the Eagles continued to be forced into bad shots, frequently not shooting until the final seconds of possession due to the aggressive and physical GT defense.
Despite T’Yana Todd the Eagles posting a 33 3-point percentage this season, they were 0-of-8 from three in the first quarter.
The Eagles finished the game just 3-of-21 from behind the arc.
The teams continued to battle back and forth and the Eagles failed to capitalize—the first frame ended with the Yellow Jackets in control, leading 19–6.
GT’s Rusne Augustinaite swished a three early in the second to extend the lead as the Eagles continued to struggle offensively.
But the Yellow Jackets responded to every Eagles basket, growing the lead to 32–14 with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Its fiery offense can be attributed to attacking the basket, totalling 14 fast break points to BC’s two. GT ended the half on an 8–3 run and led 36–15.
“They played really good defense. I also thought our shots weren’t falling. It was a combination of both,” Bernabei-McNamee said.
Dunn nailed a 3-pointer in response to BC’s first basket of the third quarter. Another made jumper from Tonie Morgan led GT on an early 9–0 run.
The Eagles picked up the urgency and offensive momentum eventually, though—Todd had 12 points alone in the third quarter.
Tatum Greene hit a layup and took a charge, building momentum for BC. Despite the deficit, they showed heart and hustle, running down the court and putting bodies on the line for rebounds.
“I like that third quarter cause we showed a little bit of grit on the offensive end,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Still didn’t play great defense in the third quarter, but offensively kinda got it rolling.”
Todd hit the first 3-pointer for the Eagles of the game with 3:24 left in the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets still held a 51–27 lead.
However, BC lost momentum in the fourth quarter. It was a slow start to the frame as the teams exchanged missed jumpers and steals—a competitive game if the 20-point gap is disregarded.
The Yellow Jackets’ defense was led by 6-foot-6 center Ariadna Termis, who controlled the Eagle’s rim and helped lead GT to 33 defensive rebounds.
“They played really good defense. I also thought our shots weren’t falling. It was a combination of both,” Bernabei-McNamee.
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