Boston College Rides Pineau's 20 Points To 75-64 Victory Over Miami
It was a slow start for Boston College today at Senior Day in Conte Forum, but the Eagles rallied to defeat the Miami Hurricanes 75-64. Led by senior Georgia Pineau's 20 points, BC put together a strong second half in which they shot 46%, and out rebounded Miami 24-12 to seal the win. Today's victory was the Eagles fifth straight and seventh win in the past eight games.
Miami started the game off strong scoring eight of the first ten points on two three pointers by Kelsey Marshall. But the Eagles responded with a run of their own led by a pair of layups by Taylor Soule, and tied the game at the end of the quarter on a layup by Pineau.
Boston College continued their run in the second quarter, with five more points by Pineau along with a pair of free throws by Makayla Dickens. Leading 17-12 Boston College saw their lead slip away as Miami continued to get to the foul line, scoring six points in the period from the charity stripe. Senior Emma Guy hit a pair of layups in the closing minutes before Miami's Endia Banks hit a three pointer to tie the game.
The two teams continued to battle after the half, still not hitting all their shots, but out rebounding Miami 24-12 in the second half. "Maybe our shots weren't dropping but we crashed hard" said head coach Joanna McNamee. The Eagles also continued to play good defense, forcing 22 turnovers in the game and holding Miami to 36% in the second half.
Even after BC built a seven point lead, Miami stuck around on a six point run to end the third quarter. But the final quarter was all Eagles who outscored Miami 26-17. McNamee thought a lot of the Eagles success was the play of the guards "Proud of our backcourt, handling pressure and limiting turnovers." she explained, "Miami is a team that feeds off of turnovers and getting quick easy offense."
With the win Boston College improved to 17-10 (10-6 ACC) and currently in 4th place in the ACC Conference tied with Virginia Tech and Florida State. Earlier this week they were just outside the bracketology picks, as a "next four out", but with two wins that could change this week. For the players this is a great feeling, but they need to stay focus because as Pineau said "we've got to keep climbing the ladder".
Before the game the Eagles honored their seniors; Pineau, Guy and Taylor Ortlepp. They made the moment even more special playing the Australian National Anthem for Pineau. "It was a must win, if anything for our seniors we wanted to send them out in style" said McNamee.
The second year head coach talked with pride about her seniors, acknowledging that they could have transferred or left the program, but stuck around and are seeing the rewards. "It is so great to be on a team with so much potential" said Pineau, "and over the next year it is only going to get better". While losing a coach like Erik Johnson could have caused a fracture in the locker room, Pineau said the transition wasn't a problem "our team is so close it made everything easy"
The Eagles face off with #5 Louisville on Thursday at the Yum! Center.
