Late in the second quarter of Boston College women’s basketball’s matchup against Virginia Tech, senior guard Cameron Swartz fouled Virginia Tech’s Emily Lytle after a rebound about 15 feet from the Hokies’ basket. Swartz immediately looked up in frustration, attempting but failing to argue the call with the referee. With the Hokies in the bonus, Lytle knocked down two free throws.
Swartz’s foul was representative of BC’s performance Sunday, as foul trouble and 36.1 percent shooting led Virginia Tech (16–6, 8–3 Atlantic Coast) to defeat the Eagles (15–8, 6–6) in Blacksburg 85–62.
Foul trouble plagued the Eagles all game, as BC committed 29 fouls throughout the contest. Virginia Tech made 31 of its 33 free-throw attempts on 93.9 percent shooting from the line. BC’s starters accounted for 17 of BC’s 29 fouls—four each for Swartz, Ally VanTimmeren, and Maria Gakdeng, and five for Taylor Soule, who fouled out midway through the fourth quarter.
BC finished 13-of-19 from the free-throw line, and its bench players—who saw more playing time due to starters in foul trouble—finished with 20 points.
“[We] couldn’t really play the lineups that we wanted to play because we were in foul trouble,” head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said after the game.
With Gakdeng seeing limited minutes due to fouls, Virginia Tech worked down low, and center Elizabeth Kitley scored 27 points.
“I thought Kitley had an amazing game,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “She played really well both on the free-throw line … and she hit her little eight-footers. … Virginia Tech played a heck of a game.”
The Hokies outperformed BC in most categories on the stat sheet, and the Eagles trailed all night in the loss. Along with recording half of the fouls that BC did, Virginia Tech shot 10 percent better from the field and scored 28 points in the paint compared to BC’s 24.
Three Eagles finished in double figures, with Swartz, Makayla Dickens, and Soule finishing with 18, 14, and 13 points, respectively. Dickens scored three of her four field goals from 3-point range, finishing 3-of-7 from behind the arc.
BC continued to turn the ball over, as it has all season, recording 16 turnovers on the night.
“Offensively, we lacked a lot of discipline today,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “It’s embarrassing [to have] three assists [and] 16 turnovers in the game. I think a lot of it was our lack of patience on offense. … I think at the end of the day, we’ve got to get our offense clicking better on all cylinders.”
Featured Image by Leo Wang / Heights Staff
