Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Boston University
DeBoer Scores Career-High 27 Points to Lead Bucknell Past Boston, 72-56
1/24/2015 6:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Sophomore Claire DeBoer scored a career-high 27 points on a perfect 8-for-8 mark from the field to lead the Bucknell women's basketball team to a 72-56 win over visiting Boston University on Saturday at Sojka Pavilion.
The Bison improved to 13-6 overall and moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Patriot League at 5-3, winning back-to-back games for the second time during the conference slate. They sit two games back of first-place American, which suffered its first conference loss, a 68-60 defeat to Army, on Saturday. The Terriers fell to 4-15 overall and 1-7 in the league.
DeBoer scored nine points in the first half despite playing just 11 minutes after picking up two fouls. She was nearly unstoppable in the second half, tacking on 18 points on a flawless 6-for-6 shooting. She did a large chunk of her damage at the line, scoring 11 points on 14 attempts for the game. As a team, Bucknell was 15-for-19 from the stripe.
Bucknell didn't pull away until midway through the second half. Leading 42-41 with 13:31 left in the game, the Bison went on an 8-0 run over the next 2:22 to up its lead to 50-41. DeBoer scored five points during the stretch, while sophomore Megan McGurk hit one of her three 3-pointers.
Boston countered by scoring the next four points, but Bucknell squashed any chance of a comeback by scoring 10 of the next 11 points to take its largest lead of the game to that point, 60-46. Senior Audrey Dotson and junior Claire Maree O'Bryan both hit from long range, DeBoer put in two free throws, and freshman Catherine Romaine drained a short jumper.
While DeBoer led the charge in the second half, it was Dotson who kept Bucknell afloat while DeBoer was on the bench in the opening half. The Bison took a 34-30 lead into the break, thanks in large part to a tremendous stretch of play by Dotson. During a two-minute span from 3:01 to 1:01 left in the half, the team captain scored nine straight points, taking the Bison from down one, 24-23, to up by four, 32-28.
Dotson finished with 18 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the field. She and DeBoer combined to shoot 15-of-17 from the field, 13-of-16 from the line, and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. McGurk was solid again, scoring nine points to give her 19 over the past two games. O'Bryan and junior Sheaira Jones scored six points apiece. Freshman Carly Richardson came off the bench and led the team in rebounding with six in 13 minutes on the floor.
“Offensively, we did some great things and got some easy baskets. We shot the ball well, which is something we had struggled with,” said Bucknell head coach Aaron Roussell. “On the flip side, we had to do that because we weren't very good defensively today. That's a credit to them because I thought they played very well, but we just didn't get it done on the defensive end. But I was proud of the way we played offensively.”
Troi Melton was the top scorer for the Terriers with 16 points, 13 of which came in the first half. Meghan Green was right behind her with 14 points.
The Bison will try to carry the momentum of back-to-back wins into their next game when they make the short trip to play Lehigh on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
