Coming into Wednesday’s game, Boston College women’s basketball had won four of its first five games by an average of almost 32 points. The Eagles kept up that dominance in a blowout win over New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
BC (5–1) rallied behind 16 points on an 8-of-11 shooting performance from Dontavia Waggoner and held New Hampshire (4–2) to a 10 percent performance from behind the arc to come away with an 80–45 win at home.
“Our rotations made it hard for them to move the ball,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “That forced their turnovers – this team is really understanding what’s going on.”
The Eagles recorded 12 steals and 22 points off turnovers, including eight fast-break points.
“We’ve been stressing on playing better team defense in general,” Waggoner said. “Good defense and easy offense, being able to get out and run once you get the steals, and things like that. The easy opportunities.”
After barely scraping by Providence with a 67–60 win on Sunday while shooting 23–61 from the floor, the Eagles upped their shooting performance on Wednesday, shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three.
Andrea Daley took the first shot of the game—a miss from behind the arc. But after that miss, the Eagles went 3-of-5 from three through the first quarter, and took a 17–10 lead by the end of the period.
Despite cooling down from three in the second quarter, going 1–5, BC shut down any chance of the Wildcats pulling ahead by holding them to eight points in the period. The Eagles doubled their lead from seven to 14 points, working with points in the paint from Waggoner, and five points from senior Savannah Samuel that included a 3-point make.
Halfway through the third period, Wildcats guard Maggie Cavanaugh left the court after an injury, leaving New Hampshire without one of its leading scorers.
The Eagles’ offense showed no sign of slowing down, once again continuing to further their lead until the Wildcats had virtually no chance at coming back.
With less than a minute and a half left in the third, Waggoner scooped up the ball on a breakaway to push the Eagles further ahead. The Eagles scored 46 of their points in the paint.
BC built a 29-point lead by the end of the third quarter, topped off by two free throws from Jakayla Thomspon after she got fouled at the basket.
“It starts from everybody stepping up and being able to play in this game,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “I loved it, everyone really stepped up and looked good—everybody played together.”
The Eagles showed few signs of weakness, and ended the game leading in rebounds, three-pointers, and steals.
Starting off the fourth quarter up by almost 30 points, BC found itself looking to run down the clock without New Hampshire working its way back from the vast point deficit.
With the win, the Eagles remained undefeated on their home court.
“It kind of sets the stage for the rest of the season,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “I think a game like today gives everybody that’s younger on our team a lot of opportunity to get out there and get the game experience.”
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