Coming off its first win in nearly three months, Boston College women’s basketball went into Sunday’s Senior Day game hoping to give its seven seniors one final win at Conte Forum.
Unfortunately for the Eagles (5–25, 1–16 Atlantic Coast), Wake Forest had other ideas, as the Demon Deacons (14–14, 4–12) made 12 threes on their way to a 79–65 victory.
Mary Carter made five threes on seven attempts, and Grace Oliver scored a game-high 24 points to go with 15 boards. Lily Carmody led the Eagles with 14 points, while Amirah Anderson scored 12 points off four 3-pointers.
BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee got emotional while talking about the team’s seniors.
“Our record didn’t indicate the type of kids we had this year,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “And that’s why the results hurt so much, because they have what it takes … [Those seniors] are going to be successes with what they do, and in the bigger picture of life. That’s really important.”
The game started slowly on both sides, as an Anderson three was the only bucket scored in the first three minutes. Once Wake Forest started sinking shots, though, it had no trouble putting the ball in the basket.
Starting with an Oliver three, the Demon Deacons scored 26 points in the final 6:47 of the opening period. Oliver led the attack with 12 first-quarter points on 5-of-5 shooting, and BC went into the second period down 26–15.
BC’s offense could not find the same consistent success. While six Eagles scored in the opening 10 minutes, no player made more than one basket. BC shot 31.6 percent from the field compared to Wake Forest’s 66.7 percent.
Wake Forest stretched its advantage to start the second quarter and took a 33–17 lead halfway through the game, its largest advantage of the first half.
The Eagles cut the lead to 11 with multiple chances to get the deficit down to single digits. Another three from Oliver looked like it would give Wake Forest the momentum back heading into halftime, but a late response from Athena Tomlinson made the score 40–29 at the half.
Three-point shooting was the early difference for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons made seven threes on 16 attempts during the first half, while BC made five of 18.
“We talked a lot about our closeouts and how they were going to be kind of perfect in this game,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “We were trying to close out well while also trying to protect the paint with our lack of size, and we just closed out a couple times just too short.”
Kayla Rolph opened the second half with a 3-pointer, cutting the Eagles’ deficit to single digits for the first time since the first quarter. Wake Forest quickly stretched the lead back to 13, but a pair of layups from Rolph and Carmody kept the game within nine with 6:28 to go in the third.
That became a pattern for the rest of the third quarter. Whenever BC got the lead to 10 points or less—which it did on multiple occasions—Wake Forest made a quick bucket or two to keep its lead hovering around 12. The Demon Deacons’ final response of the quarter gave them a 60–46 advantage heading into the fourth.
BC came into the final quarter determined not to let its seniors fall without putting up a fight. BC nailed three 3-pointers in 46 seconds and grabbed two steals, cutting the Wake Forest lead to five points with 7:33 to play.
But Wake Forest’s shooters had some tricks of their own up their sleeves.
Carter sandwiched a pair of threes around another make from Anderson to get the lead back up to eight, and a layup from Oliver pushed the Demon Deacon lead back to double digits.
BC trimmed the lead to nine points with 3:18 left, but an and-one floater from Caitlyn Jones gave Wake Forest a 12-point advantage with 2:48 remaining, placing the game out of reach for BC. The final buzzer eventually sounded, solidifying a 79–65 win for the Demon Deacons.
This is the first time BC has lost all of its home conference games since joining the ACC. The Eagles have gone 0–9 at home during conference play and 4–13 at home overall this season.
“Although [our effort] wasn’t enough to get wins, it was enough for me and our staff, and I hope Boston College, to be proud of them,” Bernabei-McNamee said.
