By SPENCER BATES
CLEVELAND, OH — The biggest thing St. Bonaventure women’s basketball head coach Jim Crowley was looking for after his team’s loss against Cleveland State was a response.
Its 75-71 loss was its second consecutive and second overall defeat of the 2025-26 season. It was also the first of its three-game stint at the CSU Invitational — where they are playing three games in just four days.
Overall, Crowley was granted his wish as his side pulled out a 55-45 victory over Radford in its second game of the invitational. But the victory did not come without its shaky moments.
“I’m really pleased with our resiliency,” Crowley said. “Obviously, the offensive start was really good. We were moving the ball, and to Radford’s credit, they changed some things up, took that away, and we got pretty tentative. We rushed a few shots, but when we needed to make some plays in the fourth quarter, we did. (Mackenzie Pettinelli’s) four-point play was huge, Aaliyah (Parker) made some big plays. What we did do for 40 minutes was defend. We didn’t really turn the ball over much, and that’s what gave us a chance to be successful against a very solid Radford club.”
Early on the Bonnies were a team on fire. They shot 9-for-16 (56.3%) from the field in the opening quarter, all while holding the Highlanders to single-digit points while shooting 3-for-12 (25%) from the floor.
But while their 13-point lead after just 10 minutes of action was substantial, victory was far from secured. Radford, which had won five of its last six contests, made the adjustments one would expect of a team that had lost just once since its first two games of the season — both of which having come against ACC opposition.
Across the second and third quarters, Bona made just seven baskets from the floor, totaling 16 points. Radford had won the frames by a 24-16 margin and were down just five points at the start of the final frame.
Despite Parker’s quarter-opening 3-pointer, breaking her two-quarter scoreless spell, things went from bad to worse for the Bonnies as the Highlanders erased their deficit and took their first lead of the game. Behind a 10-0 scoring run, it was Radford that led 42-40 with under seven minutes remaining.
Conceding an established lead that far along into a game can be catastrophic. But if this year’s Bona squad has one calling card, it is that it knows how to come up big when it matters most. Over the course of the final 6:58, the Bonnies found a new gear and closed out the game on a 15-3 scoring run.
Parker came up big for Bona in that stretch of time, scoring seven of the 15 points, which also saw her finish as the game’s leading scorer with 17 points. She tacked on six rebounds, three assists and two blocks as well — the latter two marks were also good for game-highs.
Pettinelli, Mallory Heise and Laycee Drake each scored seven points in the contest with Drake reeling in a game-high eight boards and two steals. Ivona Djikanovic, making her second consecutive start for the Bonnies, and Gabby Robinson contributed six points apiece in the winning effort.
But the challenges keep getting tougher for Bona as they now have less than 24 hours to prepare for its next game, against Valparaiso at 1 p.m.
