For the second consecutive ACC road game, the Miami Hurricanes found themselves trailing by double-digits in the first half.
And once again, Miami head coach Katie Meier coached her team right back into the game, with the Hurricanes (10-7, 3-4 ACC) holding a lead in the fourth quarter. Their comeback effort fell short, however, with the Boston College Eagles (14-5, 5-3 ACC) taking the win at home 79-66.
UM was led in scoring by transfer Lola Pendande, who had 13 points in the losing effort. The entire Canes starting five scored in double-digits, something not done all season.
“I thought we had taken control of the game,” Meier said. “Going into the fourth, I had some really tired kids in [there].”
Meier took part of the blame for the loss, keeping her starters out on the floor during the middle part as she tried to get her team back into the game. Destiny Harden played a team-high 34 minutes in just her seventh game of the season. She had not played more than 24 minutes in a single game coming into the contest.
The Hurricanes are in the midst of one of their toughest stretches of the season, with five games being played within an 11-day stretch, three of them on the road. Miami will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in its next contest on Thursday, before returning home to take on the third-ranked Louisville Cardinals.
“We can’t be devastated by this loss at all … this week was not a failure by any stretch of the imagination,” Meier said.
The Hurricanes started the tough stretch with a home win over 18th-ranked ACC foe Georgia Tech before losing to 21st-ranked Duke. They took down Florida State this past Thursday before Saturday’s loss.
The contest at Wake Forest will be a rematch of the Jan. 6 matchup between the Demon Deacons and the Hurricanes in which the Hurricanes dropped the game at home by a score of 47-46.
“We’ve just got to focus up and go to Wake Forest, and really grab a game that we felt we left on the table at home after we had that 25-day layoff,” Meier said.
The game will be an important contest for the Hurricanes as they try to get back on track when their road trip finishes.