Women’s Basketball Earns Share of PL Title in Win

Wednesday, March 2

Boston, Mass.

7 PM

Army West Point

26-2, 17-1PL

Boston University

3-26, 3-15PL

Army West Point

Boston University

Women’s Basketball Earns Share of PL Title in Win

March 02, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOSTON – The Army West Point women's basketball clinched a share of the Patriot League regular-season title after defeating Boston University, 79-44, on Wednesday evening at Case Gym. Army also collected its 26th victory of the year to set a new team record for most wins in a season.

The Black Knights win their 16th straight to finish the regular season 16-0 and improve to 26-2 overall and 17-1 in the league. Army will likely enter the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 1 seed, as the Black Knights currently hold a higher RPI rating than Bucknell, who also finished 17-1 in the conference. The new College Basketball News RPI ratings, released tomorrow, will determine the final seeding.

Senior Kelsey Minato became the Patriot League's career scoring leader, man or woman, after finishing with a game-high 32 points. Minato knocked in a three-pointer with 8:58 remaining in the third quarter to reach 2,465 career points and pass 2003 Bucknell graduate Molly Creamer's previous league mark of 2,464. Minato finished the evening with 2,477 career points.

Senior Aimee Oertner tallied nine points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Janae McNeal finished with nine points and five boards. Sophomore Margaret Anne Hubbell registered career highs of eight points and four rebounds.

Troi Melton and Corrine Williams paced Boston University with 13 points and 11 points, respectively, as the Terriers close out the regular season 3-26 and 3-15.

Army controlled a 10-4 advantage early in the first quarter, including five straight points from senior Brianna Johnson, but Boston University drew a pair of fouls on the Black Knights and pulled back to within two, 10-8, with 4:12 remaining in the opening period.

The Black Knights outscored the Terriers, 12-3, during the final 3:53 of the opening quarter to take a 22-11 into the second frame. The visitors began the run with five free-throws, including three from Minato.

Army led 29-15 with 8:04 remaining before closing the half on a 16-6 run. The Black Knights made three three-pointers during the run, with two coming from Parker.

Army forced 10 Boston University turnovers in the second quarter alone and held the Terriers without a point for the final 3:35 of the half. The Black Knights scored five points over that span.

Minato scored Army's first eight points to begin the third quarter and sank a three-pointer 1:02 into the frame to reach 2,465 points for her career and become the Patriot League's all-time scoring leader. Minato's triple brought the score to 53-23.

The Black Knights allowed the Terriers to trim the margin back to 28 points by the end of the quarter, as the hosts went 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) from the floor in the period after shooting 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) in the first half.

Army scored eight of the first 11 points to start the fourth quarter, including a pair of threes from Minato, to move out to a 68-35 advantage with 6:43 remaining in the frame.

The visitors didn't allow their lead to dip below 30 points for the remainder of the contest.

Army begins postseason play on Monday, March 7, when the Black Knights host a Patriot League quarterfinal game at Christl Arena at 7:30 p.m. Army's opponent will be determined following Friday's first round.

GAME NOTES: Army earned at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title for the third time, previously doing so in 2012-13 and 2005-06 … Army established a team record with its 26th win of the season, passing the previous mark of 25 set in 1983-84 and matched in 2013-14 … Kelsey Minato became the Patriot League's career scoring leader, raising her point total to 2,477 and passing 2003 Bucknell graduate Molly Creamer's previous league record of 2,462 … Margaret Anne Hubbell posted career highs of eight points and four rebounds … Army wins its seventh straight against Boston University to improve to 7-3 in the all-time series.