By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — You may land a punch, but the Bonnies are never down for the count.
In its matchup against Little Three rival Canisius, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team, once again, found itself behind the 8-ball. Shades of its previous matchup against Binghamton started to come through as the Golden Griffins shot out to a nine-point lead after some missed easy opportunities were compounded by poor defensive execution.
Fortunately for head coach Jim Crowley, the negative start was not the only resemblance this game had to his team’s fixture against the Bearcats earlier in the week. As for the second time in as many games, the Bonnies staged a massive comeback, this time to claim a 66-61 victory over the Griffs.
“I’m proud of the resiliency and the plays down the stretch,” Crowley said. “I thought we got some really good contributions from Elyse (MacDonough) and Kylie (Buckley). I thought we did some things that really helped us both in the second quarter and second half. But credit to Canisius, I thought they ran their stuff very well. They shot the ball really well, we got exposed to some things defensively that we have to shore up, but thankfully, we’re able to make some plays down the stretch when we needed them. Canisius was really hungry, they executed really well and they came at us for 40 minutes. I think that’s a game that’s going to help us.”
The Bonnies were led by Aaliyah Parker on the scoring front on the night. A woman on a mission, given the chance Parker charged right through the Canisius defense for several tough, big-time buckets. Her best game as a member of the Bonnies thus far saw her finish with a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double.
“Honestly, I was just taking it one play at a time, looking to get to the rim first and then just went from there,” Parker said.
But while Parker wound up doing a significant amount of the team’s heavy lifting, the initial spark that woke the team up came from the bench. After starting the game 0-for-7 from the field, it was Ivona Djikanovic that found the bottom of the net first for the Bonnies, over five minutes into the contest. Kylie Buckley, Elyse MacDonough, Mallory Heise and Djikanovic were all players that stepped up in a big way when their name was called.
Buckley, especially, made her presence known. Dominating in the paint, she was a thorn in the side of the Golden Griffins all night, netting a season-high 10 points to go along with four rebounds.
“Kylie enjoys a little physicality and (Canisius) were a very physical team,” Crowley said. “She really shored up our inside and was able to get some plays going offensively. Right now, she’s steady. She’s doing what we’re supposed to do, she’s playing hard and she’s able to give us a physical look on the block, on both offense and defense. She’s guarding with some good pace too.”
St. Bonaventure’s Elyse MacDonough (30) pulls up from 3-point range against Canisius. (Spencer Bates)
What MacDonough, Heise and Djikanovic gave the Bonnies off the bench was the opposite. Each member of the trio has a motor that once it gets going there is no slowing down. They dictated the speed of play, got downhill in a hurry and caused all kinds of havoc for Canisius on the defensive end.
“The three of them come in with a different pace, and I think that changes the game up pretty quickly,” Crowley said. “We got to get to a point where they come in (when we have) a lead. They can elevate us a little bit. They play with a really good pace and tempo, so it changes some things up. We can do some different things with lineups. Depth is going to be a really good weapon for us. I think we’ve got three or four more folks who are going to continue to get better and fight their way into the rotation too, and that just makes us better because we can practice against each other.”
But the contest was far from in the hands of Bona after overcoming its original deficit. Canisius was not just about to roll over as it fought tooth and nail in an attempt to get its first win of the campaign. In fact, as late in the contest as the 2:08 mark in the fourth quarter the game was tied and the story of the Bonnies’ continued resilience could have been dashed in the dying minutes.
“(Canisius) really did a great job every chance we had to pull away,” Crowley said. “Shariah Gailes, specifically, would make a play in the paint, get fouled, get a put back, or score at the end of the shot clock. She really hurt us in big moments. That’s something we got to take a look at and make sure we improve.”
St. Bonaventure’s Brianna Barr-Buday (23) drives along the baseline against her Canisius defender while looking for a pass. (Spencer Bates)
But in the face of ever-mounting pressure, the Bona players’ commitment to one another would not allow for their victory to be stolen from their hands. There is no better example of this connection than when Heise’s pressure on a Canisius possession with 18 seconds left on the clock led to a loose ball that Laycee Drake — the Bonnies’ second-leading scorer on the night with 13 points and four rebounds — hit the deck to reel in, all but sealing the victory.
“They don’t want to let each other down,” Crowley said. “We have different folks doing different things for us that are allowing us to make some really positive plays when we need to. There’s certainly still things we want to get better at, but I think people are starting to understand where they can really contribute.”
Crowley knows his team has a lot to work on. The fact of the matter is trying to win from behind each night is not a sustainable method. But for now, his Bonnies are 4-0 to start a season for the first time since that fateful 2011-12 season when they reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
“We had a few rough starts, but all that matters is how we finish them,” Parker said. “We fought back, we stayed with each other and we got the win.”
St. Bonaventure will look to extend its win streak in its next game, a home affair against Buffalo on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.
