Boston College women’s basketball earned a comeback victory against Holy Cross tonight, overcoming a rough start with a strong fourth quarter for a 66-61 victory. The Eagles were, unsurprisingly, led by Andrea Daley (23 points and 8 rebounds) and Dontavia Waggoner (18 points, 6 rebound, 5 steals).
The Eagles had a rough first half, and definitely looked like a team that is young and had some big transfer losses this offseason. At intermission, the Crusaders led 31-26.
Three pointers were a big part of the story for both teams in the first. BC continued to leave Holy Cross players wide open to take 3s (which was also an issue for this team last season), while going just 1-for-14 from behind the arc themselves. It was good to see BC continuing to try for 3 pointers, but the Eagles are going to need to start sinking those shots or they are going to get absolutely destroyed by better teams.
The Eagles also struggled with rebounding in the first, grabbing just 20 boards to Holy Cross’s 31. With the number of shots BC missed, the Eags need to make those rebounds to grab second chances shots.
On the plus side, from the start of the game the Eagles played the fast, aggressive defense fans have come to expect from them. Dontavia Waggoner in particular did a great job of both playing aggressive defense and forcing Holy Cross to commit fouls.
Andrea Daley led BC’s offense in the first with 11 points (including the Eagles’ lone 3), and transfer Teya Sidberry was always noticeable when she was on the court and ended the half with 4 points and 4 rebounds.
The Eagles had a stronger second half, although they still struggled to catch up to Holy Cross’s rebounding. Freshmen Nene Ndiaye and Lili Krasovec added a boost of energy when they entered the lineup, with both of them impressing on defense. Krasovec made a huge block, and Ndiaye’s height and reach make her a weapon beneath the net.
The Eagles took their first lead of the half just over 3 minutes into the fourth thanks to a basket from Daley. From there, the team traded baskets back and forth to swap small leads. With 25.4 to go BC led by 1 and Holy Cross began to foul. Kaylah Ivey went 1-for-2 from behind the line and then Daley hit a pair to put BC up 65-61 with 22.1 seconds to go, and then Waggoner hit one last free throw for a final score of 66-61.