Box Score
CHESTNUT HILL, MA – Boston College was led by forward Stephanie Murphy with 15 points shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field en route to a 78-50 victory over visiting New Jersey Institute of Technology Wednesday night at Silvio O. Conte Forum in women's basketball action.
Boston College, who played NJIT for the first time ever dominated the paint on the offensive end, outscoring the Highlanders 42-12.
Boston College had three double-figure scorers paced by Murphy with 15 points. Murphy scored six points in the first half and nine in the second, as Boston College extended its three-point lead at halftime by outscoring the visitors 49-24 over the final 20 minutes.
Eagles center Carolyn Swords had 14 points and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. Guard Mickel Picco added 13 points while shooting 5-for-9 from the field.
The Highlanders had two players reach double figures on the night. Sophomore Jessica Gerald scored 15 points – nine coming from the free throw line and junior forward Taiwo Oyelola finished with 13 points. Twin sister Kehinde Oyelola came off the bench for NJIT and chipped in nine points and grabbed four rebounds.
Boston College started off the contest scoring the first five points. NJIT's Taiwo Oyelola got the Highlanders on the board scoring a lay-up at the 18:24 mark.
The Eagles hit a jumper inside the paint at 18:08 as the Highlanders went on to score the next five points. Gerald hit two free throws at the 17:33 mark and on the next play down the court, co-captain Jackie McCaffrey sank a three-pointer knotting the game at 7.
A brief 6-0 run by the Eagles put them up 13-7 with 14:18 remaining in the first half but head coach Margaret McKeon took a 30 second timeout to regroup her team and the Highlanders answered by hitting a three-pointer coming out of the timeout from the top of the key by Kehinde Oyelola, making the score 13-10.
NJIT tied the score at for the second time tonight at 17 with10:36 remaining, on a running lay-up by Ivana Seric. Boston College scored six unanswered baskets increasing the Eagle lead to six on a jumper by Lauren Whitehurst just inside the paint, 23-17.
After a pair of free throws sank by McCaffrey at the eight-minute mark, the Eagles defense tightened up, holding the Highlanders scoreless over the next four minutes until 3:45, when Taiwo sank a three-point bucket from the top of the key with one second left on the shot clock, closing the gap to three, 25-22.
Gerald and Taiwo Oyelola were leaders at halftime with seven. Boston College's Brown, Murphy and Swords each had six points.
NJIT down 29-26 at haltime, Boston College built a 12-2 run to open up the second half led by Murphy with five and Picco with seven pushing the Eagle lead to 13, 41-28.
Boston College outscored the Highlanders 18-4 over the last 7:20 for the 78-50 final.
NJIT will return to action at home on Saturday when they host Texas-Pan American at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center. Tipoff is set for 2pm.
