Feb. 2, 2008

Box Score

BOSTON - Senior Cheri Raffo poured in a career-high 27 points, as the Boston University women's basketball team (12-8, 5-2 AE) claimed an 83-73 triumph over Vermont (14-6, 5-2 AE) on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym. With the win, the Terriers snapped the Catamounts' four-game win streak and move into second place in the America East standings.

Raffo nailed five treys in the first half en route to her career high and is now just five points away from reaching the 1,000-point milestone. Sophomore Aly Hinton and senior Kasey Devine also reached double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Junior Christine Kinneary dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with nine points, while Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis tied a single-game school record with 40 points on 11-for-12 shooting and 13-for-16 free-throw shooting.

The Terriers shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) and the bench out-scored Vermont's by a 23-8 margin. The Terriers were 31-for-35 from the free throw and posted 28 points in the paint. With the win, BU leaps over UVM in the America East standings to take second place behind Hartford.

Vermont took its only lead of the game two minutes into the match, 3-0, before the Terriers leapt ahead just a minute later and never trailed the rest of the way. Raffo put BU on the scoreboard and Devine put it ahead for good with a jumper at 17:25. UVM's Andrea Cihal cut the deficit to two with a jumper, however, the Terriers' stingy defense kept the Catamounts scoreless for the next six minutes and stretched the lead to 17-5 on a 17-2 run. During that span, BU collected 11 rebounds - eight defensive.

BU continued to extend its advantage, backed by Raffo's hot hand from behind the arc. As a team BU was 12-for-13 from the line and the Terriers took its largest lead, 34-13, at 3:49 - a 21-point lead. Going into the locker rooms at halftime, BU held a 43-30 advantage.

In the second half, BU maintained its double-figure lead and found itself up by 16, 65-49, with 9:55 to go, however, a resilient UVM side chipped away at the deficit and came to within eight points just three minutes later. BU would not let the Catamounts get any closer as clutch free throw shooting made the deficit insurmountable for UVM. In the final six minutes, BU was 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.

The Terriers will travel to Albany on Wednesday, Feb. 6 at noon. The contest will be aired on TW3 - a Time Warner affiliate in Albany.