By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — In the words of St. Bonaventure women’s basketball head coach Jim Crowley, the main reason for his team’s recent five-game losing streak was its struggles with late game execution.
Whether it was on the offensive or defensive end of the floor, his team was just unable to see results over the line, which led to four of the five losses being decided by single digits.
So, against Davidson, which sat fourth in the Atlantic 10 standings prior to the game, that was precisely the message: execute until the final buzzer.
Behind a complete team performance, the Bonnies did just that. Snapping the five game skid with a 59-50 victory over the Wildcats on Feb. 4.
“We’ve had a string (of games) where things haven’t gone our way but honestly, I think we’ve been in control of that,” Crowley said. “We’ve had some opportunities to get some important stops and we haven’t been all the way there, and we were there today. (Davidson’s) a really good offensive team, a really good basketball team. And I just thought that we didn’t back down. We stayed physical with our offense, we stayed consistent with our defense, we rebounded the ball really well all game, and we got really good bench production. … I thought that really helped us seal the game.”
The win marked the return of the brand of basketball the Bonnies played during their 9-3 start to the campaign. Over that stretch of games, late game execution was what the Bonnies were best at. They were the ones pulling off the narrow victories.
On the back of a 7-2 run that put Bona up 52-43 with just under five minutes to play, Davidson was forced to call a timeout to try and stop the bleeding. Celebrations and cheers rang out from the home bench immediately after the pause in play, but Crowley’s voice was heard above all, reigning in the jubilation. He had seen this exact movie play out in the last five games and reminded his team the game had yet to be won.
A 7-2 run from the Wildcats out of the timeout, which sliced the Bonnies’ largest lead of the game to just two, proved his point.
“The execution, defensively, we’re in control of that,” Crowley said. “When we’re bought into that, we’re really tough to play against. We’ve seen that when we’re not, we’re not as tough to play against. So, that’s our job as coaches. It’s my job to make sure that we understand that and that we stay committed to that.”
Fortunately, a big-time bucket from Kylie Buckley was enough to right the ship, and from that point out the hosts were able to take advantage of the desperation of Davidson, forcing three big turnovers and nailing free throws to seal the game.
“(Davidson) kept pushing as good teams do, as well-coached teams do, and we handled it,” Crowley said. “And to me, that’s always defense. If you take care of the ball and you defend, you give yourself a chance. Underrated is how well we took care of the ball today. It was probably our best passing game all year, and then we defended.”
One of Crowley’s defensive keys ahead of the game was to limit the easy baskets from those outside of Davidson’s big three of Charlise Dunn, Katie Donovan and Kyra Bruyndoncx. Dunn entered the game leading the Wildcats with 15.2 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game and ranked fourth in the A10 in minutes per game at 34.1. Donovan and Bruyndoncx flanked her, averaging 11.5 and 9.8 points per game, respectively.
Against the Bonnies, Dunn (18 points) and Donovan (13 points) got theirs. But the next highest point tally on the team was Bruyndoncx, who scored seven, and outside of those three, just 12 points were contributed from others.
So, mission accomplished.
“We’re not playing a 90 possession game,” Crowley said. “So if you’re limiting the easy ones, if you make them work quite hard, then it gets a little tougher (for them) to defend. Their shots get a little shorter. I thought we just did a really good job of making them earn everything on both ends.”
The defensive emphasis beyond the 3-point arc was evident as well.
Davidson entered the affair having made the second-most 3s of any A10 team this season. They attempted 36 shots from range against Bona, but only made seven — which works out to 19.4% from deep.
“I thought we were moving really well,” Crowley said. “They hear it when they don’t. It’s a challenge. But when they’re embracing that challenge, and they’re unified in that, (we have success). I think we’ve proven all year, when we’re there, we challenge the 3-point line pretty well.”
The defense was exactly what Crowley wanted, but the offense was just as solid from the Bonnies.
Laycee Drake, who was averaging 19 points over her last three games, led the way with 14 points. But unlike in some of their recent losses, the scoring behind Drake was a collective effort. Bona had seven different players finish with at least five points in the win, with Buckley, Mackenzie Pettinelli and Gabby Robinson scoring eight apiece.
“It’s a great thing that we can have trust in people who may have played five minutes three games ago, to come in and hit big shots, it’s just a great thing to have,” Drake said. “This game and (our game against) Saint Joseph’s were two of our bigger wins, and it’s been that balanced scoring that has been very helpful.”
Crowley was especially proud of Robinson, whose eight points are a new season-high. One of the two returners from last year’s team, she has flown under the radar, mainly fulfilling her role on defensive end and not doing all that much scoring. But her contribution of points, which came on 4-for-5 shooting, mixed with the work she did on the likes of Davidson’s Dunn, had her in the good books following the win.
“Gabby has worked really hard, and her and I have talked about how it’s the home stretch (of the season),” Crowley said. “There’s no reason to let anything get in the way. Nothing else should matter when you play a game. That may sound extreme, but you put a lot of time into this and you’re heading towards the finish. … Credit to her, I thought she defended really well. Dunn is a terrific player, and Gabby spent a lot of time defending her.”
St. Bonaventure will hope this kind of performance becomes the norm as it heads into the final stretch of games in the regular season. Its first chance to build upon the win will come on Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. when it hosts Duquesne.
