With 6:42 remaining in the second quarter, Teya Sidberry stepped into an uncontested look from behind the three-point line.
Sidberry’s shot clanged on the front rim. Dontavia Waggoner picked the ball off the hardwood after the rebound was deflected then went right up with a shot.
Waggoner banked in the shot through contact, earning a whistle just as the shot sunk. Instead of being up only six, BC grabbed hold of a new possession and Waggoner’s three hard-earned points.
“[Waggoner] let the offense come to her today, there wasn’t any pressing—it just came her way and she stayed relaxed and knocked down shots,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “Her offensive putbacks were pretty amazing.”
Waggoner paired pristine 12-of-16 shooting with four offensive rebounds and gave the Eagles (14–15, 5–11 Atlantic Coast) a career-high 28 points. Southern Methodist (10–18, 2–14 Atlantic Coast) could not match BC’s dominant rebounding, and BC walked away with an 87–78 win on Sunday afternoon.
Keeping possessions alive became imperative for BC as the game progressed. The Eagles spent all game missing threes, shooting 2 of 17 as a group. Waggoner was tasked with collecting many long rebounds for the Eagles.
“I’m a natural crasher, so I think that crashing the boards every time was liable for me to get at least two or three to fall into my hands,” Waggoner said.
T’yana Todd needed to make a three desperately. Todd, at one point the nation’s leader in three point field goal percentage, entered the game 0 of her last 7 attempts.
Early on, though, Todd’s struggles continued. She missed all of first five shot attempts. She finally sank a three in the fourth quarter to help the Eagles bring their lead back to double digits.
At the end of the third quarter, the Eagles wholly broke down.
SMU’s full court press forced scores of BC turnovers. The Mustangs trapped Kaylah Ivey upon catching an inbound pass, forcing the Eagles to call a timeout. Even coming out of the huddle, though, Andrea Daley caught the inbound and lobbed a pass that was intercepted by SMU.
Bad passing beget over-aggressive defense, leading SMU to enter the bonus early in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile,the Mustangs’ full-court pressure held steady. BC turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter alone.
“It’s hard to simulate that in practice, that environment of that press, especially this time of year,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “It’s just something that’s different when the pressure of the game is on you.”
At one point, BC turned the ball over on three straight possessions, SMU scoring on each.
“I think that our players looked like they were a little too relaxed, Bernabei-McNamee said. “I thought the first couple turnovers was because we were too relaxed, and then the next turnovers were because we got too tight.”
A fast-paced offense helped the Eagles overcome difficulties with SMU’s press, however.
Ivey, who totaled eight assists, took control with tight passing. Hustling out of the defensive shift allowed Ivey to survey and dish out passes while SMU was still sprinting back.
“I hope that we learn from that fourth quarter and don’t ever let that happen again,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Because I’m sure when teams watch that they’re going to say, ‘Hey, let’s press them if we’re ever down.’”
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