Boston, MA--Junior forward Becky Bonner (Concord, NH) scored a game-high 17 points as the Boston University women's basketball team picked up its first America East win of the season, defeating UMBC, 72-53, at Case Gymnasium on Thursday, Jan. 15.
With the victory, the Terriers improve to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in America East play. UMBC remains winless at 0-12 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
Bonner paced a balanced scoring attack that featured four players in double-digits and nine players contributing to the scoring column. B.U. shot just 15.4 percent from three-point range (2-of-13), but countered by hitting 62.8 percent of its shots inside the arc (27-of-43).
The Terriers scored the first nine points of the game and took a 28-12 lead at 4:12 in the first half. Senior guard Katie Terhune (Port Murray, NJ) scored nine of her 11 points in the first half as B.U. held a 32-19 advantage at the break.
Sharri Rohde hit a jumper in the lane as UMBC cut the deficit to single-digits, 36-27, at 15:35 in the second half.
Freshmen guards Nadia Bibbs (Oak Forest, IL) and Meredith Onson (Oshkosh, WI) carried the Terriers during an 18-6 run over the next seven minutes of play. With the Terriers in a full court press, Onson stole the ball from Maria Brown in the UMBC backcourt and finished with a lay-up despite a hard foul. Bibbs capped off the rally with a traditional three-point play and a jumper from the baseline to extend the lead to 54-33 at 7:04. Bibbs finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Onson had six points, two rebounds, and an assist in her first career start.
UMBC committed 25 turnovers while B.U. was credited with a season-high 20 steals. Terhune had a game- and career-high five steals.
Anastasia Goncharova led UMBC in scoring with 16 points. Brown had 11 points and four assists while Courtney Doughman chipped in 10 points. Rohde had nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
