It went against logic, but even with No. 23 Boston College’s leading scorer, senior forward Brooke Queenan, fouling out and being held to two points, the Eagles outperformed No. 24 N.C. State in the post.
In her place, forward Aja Parham dropped 24 points while grabbing 11 rebounds and 6’4 reserve center Lisa Macchia added 18 as the pair shot a combined 63 percent from the field.
“Their post players [are] pretty big and strong and physical. They post up pretty hard and they really get in deep,” senior Tiffany Stansbury said.
Stansbury and sophomore forward Khadijah Whittington played well combining for 27 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks. But the tandem’s output could not match nor keep up with the Eagles’ success inside.
“Tiff was doing a good job when she was facing the basket and taking the shots,” coach Kay Yow said. “The tough shots were when she was doing turn-around jump shots and she had been pushed out a ways. When she was faced up she hit a number of really good shots.”
Without Queenan’s productivity, the Eagles still managed to score more than twice the Pack’s points in paint, dominating 32-14. For Parham, her point total was three times her season average and Macchia scored 12 more than her respective average.
“We were looking to attack it inside,” Macchia said. “That was part of our game plan… it would open shots outside if they started doubling.”
Faced with a much heavier player, Stansbury and Whittington’s scoring was slowed down as the two struggled to keep from being pushed around inside.
“She’s a big body so I knew it was going to be hard to post up, so that’s why I tried to take it from the outside,” Stansbury said.
An abysmal night shooting for State allowed the Eagles to play off the guards and focus primarily on pressuring Whittington and Stansbury. The Pack shot 25-percent from three and 37-percent from the field.
“BC did a great job. They sagged way back, made sure that they tried to cover from the inside-out and they were quick to get out,” Yow said.
The rebounding department was almost even, with State having seven fewer boards. But it was when the Eagles grabbed boards that was key, claiming 28 defensive rebounds and holding State to five second chance points.
“They’re very aggressive in the lane,” Parham said of the Pack’s defense. “If we stayed active and stayed moving the inside was going to open up and we did a very good job of that in the second half.”
After being a frustration to the Pack all night, Macchia said she was able to take advantage where she saw she could.
“We knew they were so good inside and so athletic… we just had to work to get it inside a little more,” BC coach Cathy Inglese said. “This time we were just saying ‘get the ball inside and if you’re one-on-one take it up and go strong.'”
