Fourth Quarter Comeback Leads Boston College Women’s Basketball to Victory Over Holy Cross

Nov 23, 2022 - 7:14 PM

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The Boston College women’s basketball team trailed for much of today’s game against Holy Cross, but a fantastic performance from freshman T’Yana Todd and a fourth quarter comeback led the Eagles to a 52-42 victory against the Crusaders.

Both teams struggled to hit the basket throughout the first half, due to strong defense on both ends but also lots of sloppy shooting. The Eagles had a 14-12 lead after 10 minutes of play, but Holy Cross held them to just 7 points in the second quarter and took a 25-21 lead into halftime.

The Eagles outscored Holy Cross by 2 points in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to regain a lead, and the Crusaders led 36-34 heading into the final period. The Eagles completely dominated the fourth quarter, in part because they found their offensive stride and in part because Holy Cross got into foul trouble, with Janelle Allen fouling out and 3 other players getting to 4 personal fouls. BC held Holy Cross to just 6 points in the final 10 minutes, and managed to build up the only double digit lead of the game to take this one by a score of 52-42.

BC really won this one on free throws and defense. The Eagles shot just 28.1% from the floor but held Holy Cross to shooting only slightly better at 30.2%. And from behind the stripe, BC shot 82.4%, while the Crusaders went just 6-for-10.

The Eagles also forced 20 turnovers, which led to 16 points. They did make 17 turnovers of their own, but only allowed the Crusaders to score 9 points off turnovers. And BC made 12 steals to Holy Cross’s 9 and 6 blocks to the Crusaders’ 3.

T’Yana Todd was the star of today’s game and the reason BC was able to score enough points to pull off the comeback. She recorded a career high 20 points, including scoring 6 free throws to stay perfect from behind the line this season. Todd also picked up 5 rebounds for BC. Fellow freshman Taina Mair was the only other Eagle to hit double digits, scoring 10 points and adding 5 assists and 5 rebounds.

Maria Gakdeng spent much of the game being double or triple teamed, but still managed to pull of 8 points and 9 boards, as well as 2 steals and a block. And while JoJo Lacey and Dontavia Waggoner were quieter than usual on offensive, both juniors had strong defensive games. Waggoner led the team with 3 steals, and also picked up a block, while Lacey made a pair of each.

Next up, BC heads off to the Puerto Rico Clasico, where they Eagles will face Morgan State and Stephen F. Austin in 5 PM games this Friday and Saturday.