River Hawks Fall to Boston College In Season Opener, 88-38

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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Junior Kharis Idom (Orlando, Fla.) tallied a team-high 11 points and four assists, as the UMass Lowell River Hawks women’s basketball team (0-1) fell, 88-38, at Boston College (4-0) in the season-opener on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum.

“I thought we played a competitive 12 minutes today,” commented head coach Tom Garrick. “Then we got completely outworked by a physical, aggressive, and confident BC team. We’ll take the first quarter and try to build on that. It being our first game of the season is no excuse. We will get better.”

Senior Tiahna Sears (Bunbury, Australia) made her first career start, posting a team-best 10 rebounds while going 4-9 from the field to pick up eight points despite the loss. Sophomore Denise Solis (Windsor, Conn.) added to the defensive effort with five rebounds and two steals.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on a jumper and pair of free throws. However, the River Hawks followed with an 8-0 run thanks to points from Idom and back-to-back layups from Sears and Solis, putting the visitors up, 8-4.

UMass Lowell and BC traded points in the following minutes with a three-pointer coming from Idom to give the River Hawks their largest lead of the contest, 11-6. After Sears laid one in the Eagles saw their offensive break, gaining momentum on a 7-0 run to end the first quarter with the upper hand at 16-13.

Sears and Idom continued their scoring to open the second quarter, but the Eagles retaliated over the next several minutes to extend their lead, 36-19. After missing last season due to injury, senior Linda Svenne (Riga, Latvia) snagged her first points from the charity stripe, followed by a shot from outside the arc by sophomore Kaylen Banwareesingh (Bronx, N.Y.) to cut the Eagles run 36-24.

BC connected on two jumpers to finish out the second quarter and continued their strong defensive play to start the second half. Despite a floater from Idom and a trip to the line by Solis, the Eagles held the River Hawks to only seven third-quarter points, ending at 63-31.

Heading into the final stretch BC’s run was disrupted by a three-pointer from sophomore Jaliena Sanchez (Springfield, Mass.), but the Eagles would then take a 29-7 scoring edge in the final minutes to seal the 88-38 decision.

Banwareesingh and Sanchez added to the River Hawks offensive effort with five and four points, respectively. As a team, the visitors shot 30.0% (15-50) from the floor and 55.6% (5-9) from the line. As a whole, Boston College shot 48.5% (32-66) from the field, 42.9% (18-22) from three-point territory, and 81.8% (18-22) from the foul line.

The River Hawks will continue their road swing at the University of Connecticut on Saturday, December 12. Tipoff for that contest is slated for 2 p.m.