The women’s basketball team came into this week feeling very hot. Winners of two straight, the Bison had improved their record to 12-6 and tied for second place in the Patriot League at 4-3. Since falling to a strong Army team over at West Point, the women’s basketball team had won two out of three games by double digits.

In front of an electric home crowd, the Bison destroyed Boston University. Led by Claire DeBoer ’17, who scored a career-high 27 points on the night, the Bison beat the Terriers by a score of 72-56. DeBoer was nearly unstoppable; she did not miss a shot from the field and made 11 out of her 14 free throw attempts. Boston kept it close throughout the first half but after some savvy second half adjustments, the Orange and Blue began to stampede.

The Bison led by one with about 13 minutes left in the game. Over the next four minutes the Bison took their 42-41 lead and stretched it out to a score of 60-46. Audrey Dotson ’15 and Claire Maree O’Bryan ’16 both hit huge three pointers that took the heart out of the Terriers. Although DeBoer had an incredible game, this win was an overall great team performance. Almost every Bison contributed in the winning effort. Although Boston has not had a great season so far, you can never underestimate conference opponents.

The team hoped to carry the momentum into their next game versus league rival Lehigh. This game marked the 76th meeting between the two schools, which is the most against any team in program history. A victory versus the Mountain Hawks would give the Bison an edge in the four-way tie for second place in the Patriot League.

Our Bison unfortunately fell short against Lehigh by a score of 76-61, snapping their two game winning streak. This game was tied at 32 going into half but an early second half run by Lehigh put the Orange and Blue in a hole. The Mountain Hawks shot lights out in the second half, at one point they were 6-6 from long range. The Bison continued to fight back, but the team’s effort fell short. Although the loss hurt, the Orange and Blue plan to remain positive.

“We fought hard against Lehigh but we just gave up too many rebounds. This team hates losing so I know we will come out to practice on Thursday and Friday ready to redeem ourselves,” Dotson said.

They move on to face Colgate on Jan. 31. This game marks the second round of Patriot League play for the Bison. “[We] will use what we have learned from our games so far to try and get a home seed for the Patriot League Tournament,” Dotson said.