By SPENCER BATES
SYRACUSE — After a brief hiatus for an early-December Atlantic 10 matchup, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team is set to resume its non-conference schedule with an away trip to Le Moyne.
The Bonnies are coming off the back of a hard-fought battle on the road at Saint Louis and while they may have just come up short in the end, the experience has given many within head coach Jim Crowley’s squad an early understanding of what it takes to be successful in this conference.
“I think they have a good idea now,” Crowley said. “The travel is different, we went in a different time zone midweek, that was a concern going in, and then (we had to face) the relentless approach and the number of people that can do things. Experience is the best teacher and we talked about it and their ability to see it and go through it (is important).”
Bona fell 76-70 to the Billikens on Dec. 3 and had the game within two points with time dwindling. But as much as the game was in the balance until the very end, by his own admission, Crowley noted it was far from the best product his team has put out on the floor this season. The start was slow and the defense was out of sorts late, but for his team to have those problems and still be within reach of a conference win, leaves a lot to be positive about.
“We did not play our best game, and we still should have got it,” Crowley said. “We got to learn from it and we can’t let another one go. In fact, we got to go get one. We lost discipline in our defense quite a bit at times. We weren’t at the level we’re capable of, defensively. We were able to get away with that against some opponents, we’re not going to in the A10. So, it’s obviously frustrating, but it’s also encouraging to know that we have that opportunity now, what we do with it is up to us. Do we continue to focus on the opponent, or do we focus on ourselves and keep getting better?”
One of the highlights against Saint Louis was the boost the Bonnies received from Olivia DiFranco. A transfer from Eastern Michigan, DiFranco has seen season-high minutes in back-to-back games. Time on the floor which was rewarded by a career-high 16-point performance.
The Bona bench continues to grow in terms of which players have the ability to make an impact. And that doesn’t just make the team a harder scout, but iron sharpens iron and the more players Crowley has playing at a high level will only see their preparation yield a better product.
“I mean, we just saw this morning at practice, we had a group that was really making people better because of the pace they were going at to prepare us for tomorrow,” Crowley said. “That’s the first part of it. (The second part is that) people are getting opportunities. I know there’s a couple folks who are going to have breakouts, Liv was one of them we felt good about … and there’s others that are going to do so too. It’s got to continue. It’s a long year. … We need fresh bodies. We need people to give us sparks, and we’re fortunate enough to have the depth to do that right now.”
As for Le Moyne, the Dolphins have just one win to their name through seven contests this season. But much like Crowley was wary of judging a book by its cover against Saint Louis, he is refusing to chalk this fixture up as a win prematurely.
“They don’t get rattled,” Crowley said of Le Moyne. “They run a really nice offense. They have good movement. They play off each other really well. They’re gonna test us on defense and if we’re not where we’re supposed to be, or we don’t match their pace, they’re very dangerous. They have four kids who shoot the 3 quite often, and sometimes well. They’re at home, it’s only their second home game. They’re going to be really ready. The concern is we’re coming off a long trip, we’re coming off a loss, we’re coming into our fifth game in 10 days. We could make all kinds of (excuses). It doesn’t matter, we’ve got to have people ready.”
The Dolphins get the majority of their scoring from a six-man rotation of Eli Clark, Ashley Buragas, Peyton Dincher, Kayden Clark, Sierra Linnin and Jessica Wangolo. But far and away the biggest contributors in terms of points are Eli Clark and Buragas, who average 10.6 and 9.3 points per game, respectively. The latter of the duo being a 6-1 high-motor paint presence that reels in a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.
“(Eli) Clark’s really cagey, she shoots it, plays off the bounce really well and is a tough kid,” Crowley said. “(Buragas) just knows how to use her body. She just keeps coming. She had a 20-point, 22-rebound game in their win over Lafayette. They play really hard, they’re well coached. We may have an inch here and there, but if we don’t play to their pace, they’re going to come in really confident. We got to play a good 40 minutes.”
St. Bonaventure will look to get back to winning ways against Le Moyne at 1 p.m. on Dec. 6.
