By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team had an identity crisis on its hands.
For more than half of its 83-74 loss to La Salle, Bona got away from just about everything that it had built itself on this season. The biggest aspect that went out the window: defense.
The Bonnies don’t score a ton of points per game. In fact, they sit in the bottom four in the Atlantic 10 in terms of points per game at 62.7 per contest. Instead, where they hang their hat is on the defensive side of the floor. So, while they aren’t scoring in droves, their fourth-best defense in the conference keeps them in games.
And through the first three minutes against the Explorers, they put that defensive discipline on display, forcing a number of turnovers and exchanging them for points, as they shot out to a 11-2 lead.
But it is always calmest before the storm.
Immediately after the 11-2 start for the hosts, La Salle shook its nerves, found a groove and, over the span of the next 14.5 minutes, rained down a barrage of buckets which amassed to a gargantuan 45-11 run.
“I thought we were fortunate we were making shots early, because we could see some things defensively weren’t where they should be, and (La Salle) was playing a little tentative and not taking advantage of it,” Bona head coach Jim Crowley said. “Then they did and it was some loose balls, it was some offensive rebounds that allowed them to get some clean looks. You could just see their confidence go up. We didn’t get out of (our rut) until the last five minutes of the third quarter. It’s one thing if you’re struggling offensively, which we have at times, but your defense is there. This was a disappointing defensive performance without question.”
Offense was not the only thing the Explorers excelled at either, making a statement on defense by forcing 13 first-half turnovers. To put that number in perspective, the Bonnies committed 11 turnovers over the course of its entire previous game against George Mason, one of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the A10.
In Crowley’s eyes, his team had regressed back to the hesitant basketball it had played when it gave up a season-high 28 turnovers in its loss at Fordham. There was a lack of aggression and confidence in possession, thus allowing for La Salle to get eight of those 13 turnovers from steals.
“I thought it was pace,” Crowley said. “I just didn’t think we were playing as aggressive as we needed to. That was something we talked about at halftime, we got to attack the paint. We settled for a bunch of jump shots. I thought the group that came in late was really playing through the paint and making them have to adjust to that.”
St. Bonaventure’s Mallory Heise (4) fights through contact on her way to the basket. Heise scored 11 points for the Bonnies in their loss to La Salle. (Spencer Bates)
The first five minutes of the second half consisted of more of the same. The Explorers ran up their lead to 28 points and just about the only positive for the Bonnies was Laycee Drake’s 16 points.
So, Crowley made a change. Off went his typical starters and in their place went Mallory Heise, Olivia DiFranco, Kylie Buckley, Brillana Boyd and Kaylee Krysztof — members of the Bona roster that, up to this point, had been mainly used as sparks off the bench and were good for a couple buckets each game.
But over the final 15 minutes of action they were more than the reinforcements — they were nearly the heroes.
Subbing into the game with a mountain one would think impossible to summit in front of them, the five played with the exact fight Crowley wanted to see from the first whistle. Little by little they chipped away at the La Salle lead and in the blink of an eye, they had brought their deficit all the way back down to just eight points with under a minute to play.
DiFranco led the bench unit with 12 points, Heise chipped in 11 and Boyd added 10 to go along with a joint team-high six rebounds.
At halftime, the Bonnies had just two points off turnovers, eight points in the paint, one second chance point and seven bench points. Come the final horn, they had 12, 28, 16 and 47 points in those respective categories.
“Obviously the energy they played with (was great),” Crowley said. “For 25 minutes, it didn’t look like what we’ve been doing for the last two months, but that last 15 minutes looked like us. They played at a really good pace, they shared the basketball, they defended together, and I really thought we had a couple breakdowns late in the third quarter where (La Salle) hit shots, so it could have got even more interesting. So, I’m pleased with them. Now, let’s build on that. Let’s keep our consistency growing and continue to add depth to what we’re doing.”
St. Bonaventure’s Brillana Boyd (44) puts up a layup. Boyd scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Bonnies in their loss to La Salle. (Spencer Bates)
As the Bonnies began to build up steam, Crowley had the chance to put his leading scorer back into the game. But Drake, nor any of the other typical Bona starters, were moved from the spots they took on the bench since their exit in the third frame.
“They earned it, I mean, it was that simple,” Crowley said of the bench unit closing out the game. “We stayed with them and hopefully that sets up more depth and competition for us.”
Crowley showed faith in the players that had worked so hard to bring the team back within striking distance, and while they came up just short in the end, what he wants his team to take away from the loss is how well they can play if they don’t waver from their identity.
“The message was simple, we just weren’t where we needed to be,” Crowley said. “Even at the start of the game. For 15 minutes we looked like who we are. That’s not enough. Anybody can beat anybody in this league, and if you don’t play a full game, these things can happen. It’s happened the last two weekends to us, and we got to figure that out quickly.”
Crowley will be looking for an especially big response in his team’s next game, a road affair at Dayton, set for Jan. 28 at 7 p.m.
