With six seconds left in Boston College women’s basketball’s game against Stanford, Dontavia Waggoner hurried to wrestle the ball from Stanford’s Elena Bosgana.
Waggoner ripped the ball from Bosgana’s hands and was whistled for a foul. Up by three, it was up to Bosgana to ice the game from the free-throw line. Bosgana missed both free throws, though, and gave BC a chance with six seconds to go.
Still, the Eagles (13–15, 4–11 Atlantic Coast) coughed up the ball on their next possession and fell to the Cardinal (13–12, 5–9) 80–75 on the road.
The Eagles’ disorganization in the clutch, highlighted by a shot clock violation in the final two minutes, held them back, but what ultimately killed the Eagles was their perimeter defense.
“I know the early couple threes were all about them getting the ball more in that slot area on the pinch post and us being too far in help,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “I just think our closeouts weren’t where they needed to be.”
Four successful tries from behind the arc chipped away at BC’s once 27–20 lead in the second quarter. The last make from behind the arc came from Tess Heal with 2:28 left and put the Cardinal up 38–37.
An uncharacteristic 0-of-6 three-point outing from T’yana Todd did not dissuade the Eagles from taking threes. Kaylah Ivey finished 6 of 7 from three, and Athena Tomlinson, Tatum Greene, and Savannah Samuel added much-needed bench contributions, as they hit a combined five threes.
“Tatum Greene did a really nice job coming off the bench—being shot ready—made some really good plays on the defensive end,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Athena Tomlinson came in and was a little bit of a spark plug in both of our last two games off the bench, which is really nice to have.”
But amid defensive troubles, even good 3-point shooting could not carry the Eagles to a win. BC lapsed back to lackadaisical defense in the second quarter as Bosgana beat Waggoner twice on dribble drives, and Heal cashed in a three. Stanford capitalized on second-chance opportunities to distance themselves from BC, as they headed into the half down 42–37.
“I think that we kept the ball alive with a lot of offensive rebounds,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “The problem is that we just didn’t convert enough of them.”
Stanford took a 10-point lead in the fourth thanks to Heal threes on consecutive possessions. Heal was left wide open in the corner for her first make and then swished a three on a second-chance opportunity. On both threes, BC failed to make a quick closeout.
Stanford made 11 of 21 three-point attempts as a unit on its way to an 80–75 win.
“We kinda chopped our feet and didn’t get that long closeout that we wanted, which gave up threes that we shouldn’t have given up,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Every possession matters, clearly, in this game. It came to fruition at the end.”
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