By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — Oftentimes throughout the first four games of its season, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team found itself the proverbial cat chasing the mouse.
It chased down Daemen University in its exhibition, Binghamton on the road and Canisius at home.
Against Buffalo, a team it had not defeated since the 2015-16 campaign, the roles were reversed. This time it was the Bonnies that were the ones being chased.
And despite seeing what was at one point a 17-point advantage disappear with mere minutes to go, they managed to escape the clutches of the Bulls, completing their first Big 4 sweep since 2015-16 with a 64-57 win.
“I’m really just proud of our resiliency,” Bona head coach Jim Crowley said. “We allowed Buffalo back in the game, and to their credit, they made a lot of plays to get back in the game. They changed the tempo of the game with their pressure on defense and instead of being aggressive against it, we got really tentative, and they were able to get some really good momentum. … Credit to them on that. We got things we got to tighten up. But it’s always better to tighten some of those things up after a victory.”
Determined to leave behind the title of ‘comeback kids,’ Bona wasted no time getting off the blocks against Buffalo. Brillana Boyd and Aaliyah Parker kickstarted the offense on the night, with Laycee Drake getting in on the action after the opening frame, and once the defense cleaned up its act after some early lapses, the Bulls were left in the dust.
The Bonnies held their guests to 30% from the field in the first half, 23.5% in the second quarter, while building what would be a 12-point lead at the break. By nearly all metrics, they were cruising.
What they were not prepared for was the vigor and determination Buffalo would present them with in the second half.
The Bona lead, slowly but surely, was chipped away. Defensive pressure from the Bulls caused numerous turnovers, which led to them winning the points-off-turnovers category by a 16-4 margin in the second half. Their bench made a great impact over the final 20 minutes as well, outscoring the Bonnies’ bench 18-1 in the latter half.
This was the worst case scenario for Crowley, who said prior to the game that slower starts to games, while not desired, were preferred over slow starts to second halves.
“Our offensive execution was really poor,” Crowley said. “They were mixing defenses and, certainly at the start of the third quarter, we were really tentative with that. Then we got it rolling pretty good and I made mass subs and that was on me. … I put some people in situations that weren’t good for them. So, we’ll learn from that. The other thing is, when you’re shooting the ball well you don’t want to really let your opponent shoot better. We made some shots, but we turned the ball over and they went 8-for-12 (from the field). Every other quarter they were under 40%. We got to put it all together and that’s what this time of year is about for us, to learn that and to understand how to do that.”
St. Bonaventure’s Aaliyah Parker (5) puts up an uncontested layup against Buffalo. Parker finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in the Bonnies’ win over the Bulls. (Spencer Bates)
With their lead evaporated, Bona badly needed a response. Fortunately for Crowley and Co., his big time players stepped up to prove they were exactly that. In the second half, Parker scored 10 points to finish with a final stat line of 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. But it was Drake that carried the torch, recording her first career collegiate double-double which consisted of 21 points and 14 rebounds, both of which were career-high figures.
It was Drake who had the ball in her hands late and not once did she blink at the opportunity, hitting huge buckets down the stretch — moments she has been mentally trained for.
“Ever since I’ve been playing basketball, my brothers always told me that pressure is a privilege,” Drake said. “You want that privilege. You want the ball in the big moments.”
Of course, Crowley is hopeful that his bench will respond in the wake of one of its less productive outings of the early season and that they won’t necessarily need to rely on dramatic game-winning baskets. But his clutch players’ ability to do so when called upon is not a bad trait for the team to have.
“They play a lot of basketball, and their teammates already believe in them,” Crowley said of Parker and Drake’s late heroics. “The bench has picked us up (in some games) and good teams do that. They pick each other up. It’s like complimentary football. I’m excited to see how some of those folks who maybe didn’t have as good of a game today respond, because they’re pretty competitive people.”
Crowley admitted that his team’s late resurgence was of no result of him throwing something brand new into the mix. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Instead of trying to change aspects of their game and hoping it sticks, what was needed was a reassurance that what they have worked on will continue to work, so long as they execute.
“It’s just about getting back to what we do,” Crowley said. “For about a 10 minute stretch we got away from that. We were tentative offensively, we lost discipline defensively, we were on our heels, and Buffalo took advantage of that. There’s times you got to get after them a little bit and motivate them. Then there’s other times that they got to be reminded to take a breath and do what we do. And I thought the group did that pretty well down the stretch.”
And while Parker and Drake’s praises will be sung thanks to their pivotal point contributions, having played just as important of a role in the win were the only two returners from last year’s team in Mackenzie Pettinelli and Gabby Robinson.
Who better to trust to get the team back to doing the basics than the two that have known the system the longest?
“I thought they were both terrific defensively,” Crowley said. “We challenged Mack. (Paula Lopez) is a really talented player and for the most part, Mack was guarding her. … Mack really did a great job on her, frustrated her, stayed disciplined and did the stuff we did. Gabby was a great team-defender. She did a great job rebounding and creating some possessions for us offensively. She was in the right position. She was disciplined with how she guarded and we needed it.”
St. Bonaventure’s Mackenzie Pettinelli (1) pushes the pace up the floor against Buffalo. (Spencer Bates)
Pettinelli finished with five points, but was able to rack up three steals. Robinson netted six points and six rebounds and tied her Div. I career-high with three blocks.
The Bonnies have now started a season 5-0 for the first time since 2009-10. An accomplishment secured on the back of hard-fought victories.
This is certainly an achievement worth celebrating, but instead of falling complacent with the fact that his team has won, Crowley is looking at how his team won those games and what they still need to change.
“Other than our first game, (the wins) have been pretty close games,” Crowley said. “To do that with a lot of new kids is something we can build on. But, I also got to look at the fact that we haven’t played very well (over this stretch). We played pretty well in the first half tonight, now we just got to learn how to do that longer.”
For its next fixture, St. Bonaventure will face one of its toughest tests yet as it is set to play host to UAlbany on Nov. 22 at 1 p.m.
