By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — For the first time this season, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team tasted defeat.
The Bonnies were beaten 62-53 by a formidable UAlbany side. But for as much damage as the Great Danes did, self-inflicted wounds were the ultimate difference maker.
It was the hosts that finished the game off on the better note, scoring 36 second-half points, shooting nearly 54% from the field in the process. They turned the ball over just three times throughout the final 20 minutes of action, allowing just one point to be scored from them, scored 20 points in the paint, and saw their bench out-score that of the visitors by an 18-6 margin.
For all intents and purposes, Bona put together one of its best 20-minute stretches of the season.
Unfortunately, it was a poor, stunted start to the game that put the team so far behind the 8-ball, no amount of latter-half dominance would see them back into the game.
“I want to give credit to Albany, they’re very well coached, and they were very physical, and that disrupted us,” Bona head coach Jim Crowley said. “I just think we just tightened up and it slowed us down. It took away something that’s been really good for us, which has been our pace and our effort. It was strange, honestly, because we’d get a rebound and walk it up, which just got to (our players) a little bit.”
The Bonnies turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, of which the Great Danes scored 14 points from. They shot just under 23% from the field (5-for-22) and had just two points contributed from the bench.
For a team that had been battling slow starts to halves throughout the early goings of the season, it was the last thing Crowley wanted to see, and this time they were not able to mount a dramatic comeback like they had done against Binghamton and Canisius. Still, while the loss stings, it gave the coaching staff a clearer depiction of what needs to be addressed moving forward.
“That’s why you play good teams,” Crowley said. “That’s how you have to play, but you have to play that way for 40 minutes. The only way to prepare to play that way for 40 minutes is that kind of physical and mental focus over the course of a practice. That’s where we want to get better. That’s where we have to get better.”
St. Bonaventure’s Laycee Drake (24) puts up a contested jumper. Drake scored nine points for the Bonnies in their loss to UAlbany. (Spencer Bates)
And to their credit, his players showed him they were able to do exactly what was required of them in the second half. They shaved what was a 15-point deficit at halftime down to eight points with five minutes still to play.
Ivona Djikanovic and Elyse MacDonough each played a big hand in that resurgence.
Both were able to push the pace, breaking down UAlbany’s defense before it could get set up. MacDonough played a team-high 28 minutes, scoring five points and grabbing five rebounds as well.
“The pace just was better with those guys,” Crowley said. “We were able to get up the floor a little faster. And until the end, they really hadn’t broken down defensively. So, if you’re playing at a pretty good pace offensively and you’re playing disciplined defense, it makes it hard for a coach to take you out of the game.”
What MacDonough didn’t give in terms of points, Djikanovic made up for. Coming off the bench, the freshman from Belgrade, Serbia scored a career-high 13 points — a big boost as the Bonnies continue to look for reliable scorers outside Aaliyah Parker and Laycee Drake.
“Hopefully it’s something that continues,” Crowley said of Djikanovic’s game. “We know what she’s capable of, and we’ve got to find that third consistent scorer. … We know she’s capable of it. She’s done it in some other situations. I thought she did a good job getting downhill and putting pressure on the defense, and her ball pressure really was instrumental in what we were doing defensively as well.”
St. Bonaventure’s Ivona Djikanovic (12) goes up for a layup through contact against UAlbany. Djikanovic scored 13 points for the Bonnies against UAlbany. (Spencer Bates)
Parker led all scorers in the game with 18 points on 50% shooting (7-of-14) and seven rebounds after an excellent second half. Drake, facing her former team, scored nine points.
UAlbany was led by Delanie Hill, who hit a number of big shots down the stretch to try and restore the lead it had. She totaled 15 points to go along with four assists and four steals. But perhaps the biggest difference maker for the Great Danes was Amaya Stewart. The 6-1 freshman from West Reading, Pennsylvania currently leads her team in points despite not starting and was a nightmare for the Bonnies under the basket. She scored 14 points, roped in seven rebounds and drew a game-high six fouls.
“She’s really talented, and they do a great job of putting her in a position where she’s really effective, and making you have to do a lot of things before she gets there,” Crowley said of Stewart. “It’s not just like she comes and sits down on a block, you gotta figure her out.”
Bona’s blemish free record is no more, and with how well the team responded in the second half, the sting of defeat might be greater. But if the team is to take one lesson away from the loss, Crowley hopes that it is the level that must go into preparation for games from here on out, because they will only get tougher.
“If you want to be a really good team, (it comes down to) how much you have to lock into every play and how you have to handle things,” Crowley said. “That’s why it’s great to play this game. Albany took advantage of our pace in the first half. Albany took advantage of our tentativeness and our poor execution, and even in the second half, if we weren’t where we needed to be, they took advantage. That’s what good teams do, and I think we got a chance to get there. We did some of that to them at times in the second half. So, it gives us a chance to grow. It gives us a chance to know that we’re capable of it. I can take some more confidence from this, seeing some of the stuff we do, but we got to do it all time. That’s the difference.”
St. Bonaventure will head into its mid-season tournament at Cleveland State with a 5-1 record. Their first game of the round robin event will be against the host Vikings on Nov. 26 at 6 p.m.
