By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — In its most recent affair, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team got away from what had seen them succeed in games past.
Already one of the more sound teams, defensively, in all of the Atlantic 10, as of late head coach Jim Crowley has been urging his team to be more aggressive and confident on the offensive end. But as Fordham mounted a second-half comeback, the confidence in attack that had put them up by double figures disappeared as they turned the ball over a season-high 28 times.
The Bonnies scored more points in the second quarter than it did throughout the entire second half. And as the offense went, so too did the defense as the Rams completely flipped the script and handed Bona a 13-point loss.
In Crowley’s eyes, it was fatigue that was the ultimate downfall of his team.
“The two big things that I talked about was that we put so much pressure on ourselves with that many turnovers, with that tentative play, and that we still had some really good opportunities, but we, for whatever reason, stopped attacking,” Crowley said. “They were being aggressive and we had moments where we were pretty good against it, and we opened up a double figure lead. But it’s hard to keep attacking. We’re asking for a lot of effort defensively, and it takes a lot of effort to keep attacking. So I think at times, our fatigue shows itself on offense, where we take it easy a little bit. I think that is as much mental as physical. So we’re trying to do some things to work on that.”
As the shots continued to fall short for the Bonnies, and heads began to drop, Fordham’s Emma Wilson-Saltos, who recorded a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double, took advantage of that weakened state and the defensive miscues that came as a result.
Her performance and how she was able to have such success has been a focal point for Crowley in the days and practices that followed.
“She played really hard, she always does,” Crowley said. “We really just weren’t where we needed to be with our ball screen coverage. They knew how we were going to cover it and she was really aggressive out of that coverage. We had a stretch from the end of the first quarter until the middle of the third quarter where we executed it perfectly, repeatedly, and it became a non-factor. Then we didn’t, whether it was we got stuck on the top side of her and they could throw it to her, or that allowed her to rebound. I think 10 or 12 of her points were from that, from our miscues on the ball screen coverage. So credit to her and that’s something we literally even just talked about today.”
One way around having to deal with a plethora of heavy legs is depth — which has been a calling card for the Bonnies this season. In numerous games, the team’s deep bench has come through in big ways. Most recently, when it helped lift them past Saint Joseph’s at home. Just two players hit double figures in that game, but a total of eight players scored at least five points.
The key for Crowley and his staff is to be able to get that kind of production consistently.
“We have depth, we’ve got to keep finding consistency with that depth,” Crowley said. “We needed some folks in the second half and we just got to play a little better there. We believe that (Ivona Djikanovic) will be able to get more minutes tomorrow, so that’ll help with our depth consistency. … We got great minutes in the first half. We got to continue to get those consistently down the stretch.”
Production, in one way or another, from everyone that sees the floor will be pivotal for Bona in its next game, a home affair against George Mason.
The Patriots are 12-6 overall this season and are a pristine 7-0 in conference play, achieving that record by being a defensive force. By taking an average of over 20 turnovers per game and sporting one of the best 3-point defenses in all of the nation, they have shut down opposing teams. In fact, through their seven A10 games this season, they have not allowed any of their opponents to reach 60 points.
Now, Crowley doesn’t mind playing a low-scoring game. But in order to not be completely locked down, his team will have to find ways around some of the best individual defenders in the conference.
“(Mary Amoateng) has started some games, and has come off the bench, but if you bring it up three times against her, she’s taking it at least once,” Crowley said. “(Zahirah) Walton and (Kennedy) Harris are really experienced in the way they defend. They’ve got multiple big folks. (Louis Volker) also has played a lot of minutes for them, so they have a lot of continuity there. They’re really consistent with it. You’re not getting a lot of easy hoops. They don’t give you a lot of offensive rebounds. Honestly, I hope we play a game in that area, the first one to 60 wins. But they create a lot of turnovers, which is an issue for us and I’m sure we’re going to see pressure from it. They create a lot of stuff because of their ball pressure.”
George Mason’s biggest asset on defense? Its speed.
Crowley pointed out that a significant number of the turnovers it gets are due to the pressure it applies and to how quick it reacts to different sets. So, what he has emphasized to his team is to not allow their guests to slow them down — to, once again, remain aggressive and confident while in possession.
“They heavy react to the ball in half court, heavy react to the ball,” Crowley said. “They’re very good and very quick to it. So, our offensive key is how well we can take advantage of that. Can we get the ball side-to-side? Can we kick it from the post in the paint to the other side, and then what do we do with it? Are we then attacking? Are we then throwing it into a post on a duck in? Are we making an extra pass? Are we able to get forward on them? If we are then what are our decisions once we kick it from the paint? Because, again, they really react on defense. We can do those things. We’re gonna get some pretty good looks. But if we’re not getting forward, or we’re just settling for jump shots on those kicks, it’s gonna play right into how they want.”
Offensively, Walton and Harris are the two biggest threats for the Patriots, averaging 19.8 and 14.0 points per game respectively. The former number being the second-best points per game average in the conference.
St. Bonaventure will have its hands full as it looks to topple one of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the A10 on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Reilly Center.
