Lawrence graduate Nia Irving has enjoyed a successful junior season at Boston University, despite breaking her wrist.
There’s no good time for a basketball player to break the wrist on her shooting hand, but Lawrence High School graduate Nia Irving broke hers at a point in the season where it cost her minimum number of games.
“I was out for two and a half weeks, and we only had three games in that stretch,” Irving, a junior on the Boston University women’s basketball team, said.
Irving missed three non-conference games in the weeks before Christmas, but was back in the Terriers lineup in time for Patriot League games. Wednesday’s loss to Colgate was BU’s first loss in conference play, dropping the Terriers to 4-1 in Patriot League action, 8-7 overall.
Irving started all 12 games in which she’s played. The 6-foot-1 forward leads the Terriers in scoring and rebounds, with 13.6 points and 8.3 boards per game. Irving is one of three Terriers averaging double figures in scoring, and all five BU starters average at least 8.2 points per game.
Irving scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, both season highs, in Wednesday’s loss to Colgate. After being held to nine points in the season opener at Northeastern, she’s scored at least 10 points in 11 consecutive games. Irving’s scoring average is on pace with last season’s, but now she feels less pressure to have the offense flow through her.
“I like that I don’t have to be as much of a scorer. It’s nice knowing all my teammates can score,” Irving said.
This is a season of transition for the Terriers. Following a 10-19 finish last season, head coach Katy Steding and her staff, including Lawrence alum and former University of Maine player and coach Cindy Blodgett, were let go by BU. The Terriers are now coached by Marisa Moseley, a 2004 graduate of BU and two-year captain as a Terrier player. Mosely had been on Geno Auriemma’s staff at the University of Connecticut since 2009, helping coach the Huskies to five national titles. The transition to Moseley’s style of coaching has been seamless, Irving said.
“It’s going really well. I think the whole team is meshing with the coaching staff,” Irving said.
The Terriers were picked to finish second to last in the Patriot League’s preseason poll. The strong start in conference games was crucial, Irving said.
“We treat every game like it’s the biggest game of the season,” Irving said. “Like our coach (Moseley) says, every game is make it or break it.”
The Terriers play at Holy Cross Saturday, and host defending Patriot League champ American University next Wednesday.
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As a player at Lawrence High, Hunter Mercier made a name for herself as one of the top 3-point shooters in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. Now a freshman at the University of Maine-Presque Isle, Mercier is showing her shooting prowess translates to the college game.
A guard, Mercier has started 11 games for the Owls and averages 11.1 points per game. In Wednesday’s 79-63 North Atlantic Conference loss at Thomas, Mercier scored a team-high 18 points, making 4 of 8 3-point tries. On the season, she’s made just under 40 percent of her 3-point shots (44 for 111), for the second-best 3-point shooting percentage in the NAC.
Now that she’s had a few months of college basketball experience, the game is coming a little easier for Mercier. When she began preseason workouts, Mercier was just seven months removed from her second ACL surgery.
“I was nowhere near basketball ready,” Mercier said. “(The knee) is pretty good. It’s sore a lot, but that’s to be expected.”
UMPI (5-11, 1-6 NAC) is in its first season of North Atlantic Conference play.
“I think it’s going pretty well. We’re showing we can compete with these teams,” Mercier said.
At UMPI, Mercier is coached by Gavin Kane, who won seven state championships as a high school coach, six with the Dirigo girls and one with the Rangeley boys. The opportunity to be coached by Kane was a factor is choosing UMPI, Mercier said.
“He’s really good at getting the best out of his players,” Mercier said of Kane. “You get excited to play for a coach like him.”
Mercier and the Owls play at Maine Maritime Saturday.
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The winner of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Bowdoin and Colby at Colby’s Wadsworth Gym earns the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin crown for the 2018-19 season. This game also counts as the New England Small College Athletic Conference game between the rivals. Both are 1-2 in conference play and need the win to strengthen hold on a playoff position.
Colby (12-4) won the first meeting with Bowdoin, 83-70, in late November. The Mules split a pair of games with Bates. Bowdoin (9-5) swept a pair of games from Bates, including a 99-70 victory in the NESCAC game on Jan. 4.
Colby is third in the conference in scoring, averaging 87 points per game. Guard Sam Jefferson leads the Mules offense, averaging 17.1 points per game.
Bowdoin averages 81.2 points, with guard/forward David Reynolds pacing the Polar Bears at 18.4 points per game.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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