By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The streak is over.
Its 59-50 win over Davidson on Feb. 4, marked the return to the win column for the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team after a five-game losing skid.
Behind a well-rounded, full-squad effort, the Bonnies managed to do what they had struggled with mightily over recent weeks: execute down the stretch.
A bucket to stop a 7-0 run from the Wildcats with a minute left on the clock, three consecutive defensive stands and 5-of-6 made free throws within those final seconds sealed a big win for head coach Jim Crowley’s side. But, building off what one of his team’s leaders, Laycee Drake, said after the victory, it wasn’t like the win shocked them back to life. Over the course of the losing streak they had just been on, four of the five losses were by single digits. The margins were thin, and a few favorable possessions was all they needed.
So, ahead of its next game, a home affair against Duquesne on the back of a quick turnaround, the energy within the Bona team has been at a steady level, which Crowley likes to see.
“The group has been pretty good, and to be very honest, like our turnaround is unique, because we practice in the morning, so we got to, pretty quickly, move right into Duquesne,” Crowley said. “We’ve got the two days to prep, we’re dealing with Gabby (Robinson’s) injury, and various things there. I thought we were in a good place yesterday. Today’s even more important. But never during the streak was there a day we came in and everybody was feeling sorry for themselves and we had to do a full blown ‘rah, rah.’ They handled it pretty well.”
Davidson’s 50 points was its second-lowest tally all season. It won the only other game in which it scored less than 50 — taking down Saint Joseph’s 48-36. But entering the game against the Bonnies, the Wildcats had lost consecutive games in which they netted just 51 points apiece. So, for Crowley, whose team’s defense has been its best ally all season, that was exactly what the kind of game he wanted to force their guests into playing.
“If we play the way we’re trained to play, it suits us, because not everyone plays that way,” Crowley said. “If we’re able to make people work a little harder into their offense, and we’re making them work a little harder into their defense, and we’re getting to our spots, that gives us a really good chance, because we’re used to playing that way. On Saturday, if we play the way Duquesne wants to play, they’re much better at that. So the more we can control that, and the more we can limit easy scores, the better our chances.”
Its game against Duquesne marks the first reverse fixture of the season for Bona. Last time out, in Pittsburgh, the Bonnies won a low-scoring 46-38 matchup. The Dukes are still in search of their first in conference play, currently sitting in the basement of the Atlantic 10 standings at 0-11.
But record aside, defeating a team is always more difficult the second time around and according to Crowley, Duquesne has improved and will be hungry to avenge one of their more narrow losses in A10 play.
“They’ve had a couple of injuries, people in and out of the lineups, but they’re better,” Crowley said. “They’re going to come in confident against us. They’re going to come in hungry against us. We’ve got to approach this game just like we would, no matter who we’re playing. We’ve got to play, defensively, really connected and really hard. Then we’ve got to make sure, offensively, we’re taking care of the ball and taking good shots, because the first game was low-scoring, we took a lot of early shots, obviously we didn’t make them, and that’s their game.”
Alexis Bordas leads Duquesne with 15.2 points per game and since that game against Bona, she has dipped into single digits on just two occasions. The 11 points the Bonnies held her to in round one is her fourth-lowest in conference play, but this time around she is coming off a 22-point performance and will look to lead her team into the win column.
“She’s got to see multiple defenders, she got to see a hand all the time,” Crowley said. “We have to be really disciplined and not leave her. She gets them off very uniquely because she’s a lefty and because some of the stuff they run. We’ve got to all be engaged in knowing where she is, specifically on offensive rebounds. That really gets her going, when she gets some 3s off (offensive rebounds). She had a late one against us the first time that really kept them in it. … She’s very crafty, we got to use multiple bodies on her and we got to make her defend. She’s playing 30-plus minutes, so we got to make her work on the defensive end as well.”
The only other player averaging double figure points per game for the Dukes is Nadia Moore, who scored six points against the Bonnies. But she has been out of the lineup since Jan. 11, so they will look towards Mackenzie Blackford (9.0 points) and Harriet Ford (7.7 points, 7.8 rebounds) to pick up the slack.
As for Bona, there may be a change in lineup for the first time in a while as Gabby Robinson, who went down with an injury late against Davidson, was given the official designation of “doubtful.” If Robinson misses the game it will certainly be a blow, but Crowley noted if it comes to it, he has all the confidence in the world in those behind her, which include Kylie Buckey, Brillana Boyd, Olivia DiFranco and others who can make an impact.
On the back of losses, the Bonnies have been positive. The four single-digit losses over the course of their five game losing streak showed that. They didn’t allow a narrow loss to spiral into losses by wider margins.
But Crowley wants to see his team build off a win for a change. Bona has not won consecutive games since Dec. 12 when it defeated Le Moyne and Mercyhurst.
“What we’ve done pretty well is respond from losses, … but what we need to do is respond to wins,” Crowley said. “(Duquesne) will press, they’ll play aggressive offensively. So, if they have an opportunity, or they sense it, and that’s what happened with Fordham, their confidence goes through the roof. So we, as coaches, have to make sure we’re really ready. Our leaders have to make sure we’re ready. This is an opportunity that we’re not going to get again. So we got to go get it.”
The fixture against the Dukes is also special for it is the Bonnies’ annual Pink Game — where all proceeds will benefit the Olean General Hospital Foundation (OGH) and their local cancer care.
In his recruitment process ahead of this season, Crowley put an emphasis on local talent, people who knew the program and would be familiar with the area. It is that community, which he has grown to call home, that he is proud to help support in any way he can.
“Cancer touches everybody, and we’ve been fortunate here to partner with OGH so whatever we raise, we’re able to keep local,” Crowley said. “I think that’s a really important thing, because so much of what we do as a program, what we do as a university, is a part of this community. And this local community, they’re so supportive in so many ways across the board, so at least we get to do something to give back.”
St. Bonaventure will tip-off against Duquesne at 1 p.m. on Feb. 7 in the Reilly Center.
