As a result of a poor 3-point shooting day, Boston College women’s basketball dropped its bid in the ACC tournament to Georgia Tech 71-67, ending the season with a tough loss. The Eagles (9-20, 2-14 Atlantic Coast) converted on only three of their 18 attempts from behind the arc, while their southern foes drained four 3-pointers on three fewer attempts. The result, although not unexpected, was not necessarily indicative of the Eagles’ play. They held with the Yellow Jackets (16-13, 5-11) for essentially the entire game, lapsing only at the end of the second quarter to give GT a lead it would not lose for the rest of the game.
The first quarter began with GT taking a lead, going up five points on a 3-point jumper from freshman guard Francesca Pan. The Eagles initially missed several shots, but they managed to trade points with the Yellow Jackets, eventually taking a 6-5 lead on two free throws from freshman guard Taylor Ortlepp.
The two squads continued to trade points throughout the remainder of the first quarter, which ended tied at 14. BC continued to be good at the free throw line, hitting 82 percent, a sharp contrast to its shooting from deep.
BC took back the lead at the beginning of the second quarter as Georgia Pineau landed two free throws. It was not until there was 5:39 left in the second quarter that Kailey Edwards hit BC’s first 3-pointer, which gave BC a four-point lead. That lead would not last, however, as good shooting and a timely layup would score the Yellow Jackets a six-point lead going into the third quarter.
The Eagles came out of the locker room with a chip on their shoulder, netting three straight baskets. After an and-one from Pineau, the Eagles retook the lead, which they would maintain until about the six-minute mark. BC and Georgia Tech continued trading baskets, eventually leading to a tie at 38 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Timely 3-pointers brought the Yellow Jackets to 49 points on the night, while BC remained behind by six. At this point, the Yellow Jackets and the Eagles had scored the same amount of points in two quarters, and the late surge in the second quarter was the sole difference maker.
The game remained locked through the fourth quarter, but Georgia Tech eventually began to pull away in the latter half of the fourth quarter. A layup with three minutes remaining from sophomore guard Kaylan Pugh brought the Georgia Tech lead to eight, the largest of the night. Yet the Eagles began to claw back, bringing it within four points off a Kelly Hughes bomb from behind the arc with seven seconds remaining. The Eagles nabbed a turnover in the offensive zone, but Ortlepp couldn’t convert on the 3-point opportunity and the following attempt was blocked by Pugh as time expired.
In what would become the last game of their season, the Eagles failed to do enough to tame the Yellow Jackets. Shooting 17 percent from behind the arc and losing the subsequent rebound battle cost the Eagles a shot at a second round game in this tournament, but there were some positives. The Eagles held a halfway decent ACC team to a four-point victory, and the free-point shooting was excellent—it just was not enough to salvage this season in its final game.
Featured Image by Lizzy Barrett / Heights Editor
