The 10-0, #2 in the nation Louisville Womens Basketball squad invites "birds of a different feather" into the KFC YUM! Center tonight when Boston College takes the court for an 8 p.m. game against Walz's Warriors.
Boston College is 5-5 on the season and 1-5 in ACC play. The Eagles rolled through their non-conference slate with wins over New Hampshire, UMass, Providence and U Mass-Lowell . Their lone ACC win so far was against Notre Dame, where they rallied from an end of third quarter double-digit deficit to out-point the Irish 22-11 in the fourth to get a 64-61 win.
The conference schedule in the ACC has been quite the challenging one for BC. They've played NC State twice and lost twice, although they did give the Wolfpack a bit of a scare in the first meeting, leading by double digits after three quarters before losing to them 28-9 in the fourth quarter for a 75-68 for the final score. Other losses for the Eagles in ACC play have come against Georgia Tech, Syracuse and their most recent defeat -- 68-48 to Wake Forest.
When you consider BC WBB, the name Taylor Soule comes to mind immediately. The 5'11" guard gathered some impressive awards last year -- All-ACC Tournament second-team honors ... ACC’s Most Improved Player … All-ACC Blue Ribbon second-team …. All-ACC Honorable Mention … Two-time ACC Player of the Week. She's shown those selections were no fluke with 16.0 points a game this season and 6.7 rebounds. Taylor can be foul prone at times, and when she goes to the bench with early foul trouble -- like she did in the Wake Forest game -- the Eagles can see their offensive attack get grounded.
Besides Soule, the Eagles get production from Cameron Swartz (12.5 ppg), three-point threat Makayla Dickens (11.8 ppg) and Marnelle Garraud, who has 27 assists and 25 steals for the season. An interesting addition is 6'3" freshman Ally VanTimmeren. She joined the team at Christmas, when it was determined that her high school wasn't going to play any games this season. With her high school basketball season being pushed back, VanTimmeren decided to forego her senior year of high school and enroll early at Boston College. She's played in three games for BC, about 20 minutes a night -- and averages about five points and fie rebounds a night. She just turned 18, making her the youngest player in the conference.
Surprisingly, Boston College leads the ACC in forced turnovers per game at 20.3 and the Eagles have 99 steals on the season. Offensively, things have been nearly nonexistent. They are shooting 38.2% from the field and averaging 69.2 points per game. Opponents are out-rebounding BC 38.3 to 37.2 a contest.
Louisville is going to have to exhibit good ball control and avoid the turnover and steals trap the Eagles guards like to force. It also could be a lower-scoring affair, BC holds opponents to an average of 65.9 a game.
The Cards guards could have a huge Thursday night against the Eagles.
Hailey Van Lith was named ACC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 11.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals, while shooting 10-10 from the free throw line in wins over UT Martin, Virginia Tech and Clemson. She is averaging 6.6 rebounds on the season, which ranks second on the team and sixth among ACC freshmen.
Dana Evans was not named ACC Player of the Week, but was deserving of the honor after averaging 20.3 points, while shooting 59.5 percent from the floor and 8-16 from deep, in those wins. She leads the ACC with 19.7 points per game and ranks fifth with 4.2 assists per game.
Elizabeth Balogun had her best game of the season in the win over Clemson, scoring a season-high 14 points and filling the stat sheet with six rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks. She is averaging 2.2 blocks per game, which ranks fourth in the ACC.
And that's not even mentioning the rest of the guard posse -- Kianna, Norika, Ahlana and Kasa.
How Liz Dixon and Olivia Cochran will perform against the Eagles is anyone's guess, I suppose -- but I think the two will have a strong night on the boards against the smallish Eagles and the points and grabs could pile up for the two. Jeff Walz recently stated he thought Liz was his most improved player from last season to this season and we can only hope the improvements continue on a upward trend. Let's hope the refs don't try to make it all about them tonight -- but the Eagels are prone to foul a lot on defense -- so prepare yourself for the possibility of a lot of free throws.
Channel searchers won't have to worry about scrambling to find the feed tonight, this one is on the ACC NETWORK. And, as always, Cards Radio 790 AM WKRD will have the call -- with Nick Evans and A.J. describing the action.
--sonja--
Boston College is 5-5 on the season and 1-5 in ACC play. The Eagles rolled through their non-conference slate with wins over New Hampshire, UMass, Providence and U Mass-Lowell . Their lone ACC win so far was against Notre Dame, where they rallied from an end of third quarter double-digit deficit to out-point the Irish 22-11 in the fourth to get a 64-61 win.
The conference schedule in the ACC has been quite the challenging one for BC. They've played NC State twice and lost twice, although they did give the Wolfpack a bit of a scare in the first meeting, leading by double digits after three quarters before losing to them 28-9 in the fourth quarter for a 75-68 for the final score. Other losses for the Eagles in ACC play have come against Georgia Tech, Syracuse and their most recent defeat -- 68-48 to Wake Forest.
When you consider BC WBB, the name Taylor Soule comes to mind immediately. The 5'11" guard gathered some impressive awards last year -- All-ACC Tournament second-team honors ... ACC’s Most Improved Player … All-ACC Blue Ribbon second-team …. All-ACC Honorable Mention … Two-time ACC Player of the Week. She's shown those selections were no fluke with 16.0 points a game this season and 6.7 rebounds. Taylor can be foul prone at times, and when she goes to the bench with early foul trouble -- like she did in the Wake Forest game -- the Eagles can see their offensive attack get grounded.
Besides Soule, the Eagles get production from Cameron Swartz (12.5 ppg), three-point threat Makayla Dickens (11.8 ppg) and Marnelle Garraud, who has 27 assists and 25 steals for the season. An interesting addition is 6'3" freshman Ally VanTimmeren. She joined the team at Christmas, when it was determined that her high school wasn't going to play any games this season. With her high school basketball season being pushed back, VanTimmeren decided to forego her senior year of high school and enroll early at Boston College. She's played in three games for BC, about 20 minutes a night -- and averages about five points and fie rebounds a night. She just turned 18, making her the youngest player in the conference.
Surprisingly, Boston College leads the ACC in forced turnovers per game at 20.3 and the Eagles have 99 steals on the season. Offensively, things have been nearly nonexistent. They are shooting 38.2% from the field and averaging 69.2 points per game. Opponents are out-rebounding BC 38.3 to 37.2 a contest.
Louisville is going to have to exhibit good ball control and avoid the turnover and steals trap the Eagles guards like to force. It also could be a lower-scoring affair, BC holds opponents to an average of 65.9 a game.
The Cards guards could have a huge Thursday night against the Eagles.
Hailey Van Lith was named ACC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 11.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals, while shooting 10-10 from the free throw line in wins over UT Martin, Virginia Tech and Clemson. She is averaging 6.6 rebounds on the season, which ranks second on the team and sixth among ACC freshmen.
Dana Evans was not named ACC Player of the Week, but was deserving of the honor after averaging 20.3 points, while shooting 59.5 percent from the floor and 8-16 from deep, in those wins. She leads the ACC with 19.7 points per game and ranks fifth with 4.2 assists per game.
Elizabeth Balogun had her best game of the season in the win over Clemson, scoring a season-high 14 points and filling the stat sheet with six rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks. She is averaging 2.2 blocks per game, which ranks fourth in the ACC.
And that's not even mentioning the rest of the guard posse -- Kianna, Norika, Ahlana and Kasa.
How Liz Dixon and Olivia Cochran will perform against the Eagles is anyone's guess, I suppose -- but I think the two will have a strong night on the boards against the smallish Eagles and the points and grabs could pile up for the two. Jeff Walz recently stated he thought Liz was his most improved player from last season to this season and we can only hope the improvements continue on a upward trend. Let's hope the refs don't try to make it all about them tonight -- but the Eagels are prone to foul a lot on defense -- so prepare yourself for the possibility of a lot of free throws.
Channel searchers won't have to worry about scrambling to find the feed tonight, this one is on the ACC NETWORK. And, as always, Cards Radio 790 AM WKRD will have the call -- with Nick Evans and A.J. describing the action.
--sonja--
