By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team is heading into its final non-conference game of the season with the chance to carry momentum into Atlantic 10 play.
The Bonnies, winners of two of their previous three games, travel to Pittsburgh on Dec. 21 to take on a recently familiar foe in the form of Robert Morris.
The two sides have met in each of the last three seasons with Bona getting the better of the Colonials on two of the three occasions. And if the Bonnies want to continue that recent trend, they will need to be ready to go from the jump.
As of late, Bona has struggled in the early goings of games, but has been able to make solid adjustments part-way through. It out-scored a UAlbany team — that is having its best start to a season in program history — in the second half and stormed back from a 10-point deficit to defeat Little 3 rival Niagara University the very next game.
According to coach Jim Crowley, he, ideally, would rather his team not have to make those adjustments and play solid as one unit throughout all four quarters. But he does understand that for a grand majority of his players it is the first time they are playing together and, for some, it’s their first season of college ball. So a positive he has been able to take away is that resiliency he’s seen from a youthful roster.
“I think they’re growing together, I mean, obviously we’d like to not have to make as many corrections and to do things right at the start,” Crowley said. “But I think the resiliency they have had in two of the last three games, to have come back … I think that shows a really good togetherness and resiliency, which are obviously important traits we want to build on. But also, we’re playing a lot of people for the first time together. There’s a lot of people (where this is their) first time playing college basketball. So, just understanding and reading those challenges and being able to correct them in-game, that’s a really important thing as we continue to grow the program.”
That resilience Crowley has referred to within his team this year, according to him, comes as no coincidence. He said that the dedication his players have had to right the ship, fix the things that aren’t working and pivot on a dime are all signs that they truly care. And that can only help the program moving forward.
“It’s been my experience that if folks have that (resilience), it’s because they’re invested in one another,” Crowley said. “That’s something that we want to build our program around.”
Someone who has been crucial to the Bonnies’ recent run of success, but who may not get as much appreciation when simply looking at a box score, has been Gabby Robinson Forde. The 6-2 forward from Brampton, Canada has been a tremendous presence on the defensive end for Bona in terms of locking down key players and utilizing her length to impose her will on the glass.
“She’s been doing so many good things,” Crowley said. “She’s a really good and versatile defender. … She battled some nagging health injuries early in the year, played through them, but I think she’s fully healthy now, so you can see the pace she can play at. She just brings some more athleticism and length, and is continuing to understand how her game fits and how we play, and I’m excited for that to continue to develop. The things she gives us on the defensive end are tremendous and there’s a long list of them, from guarding different people, to communicating, to rebounding, to positioning. It’s been something that’s been really helpful to our success.”
Robinson Forde has had an even bigger impact as of late in the absence of Caitlin Frost who did not feature in the Bonnies’ previous game against Niagara due to illness. Crowley is still unsure whether or not Frost will make the lineup against Robert Morris and a decision will not likely be reached until the team’s shootaround ahead of the game tomorrow.
But Frost or not, Bona will have its hands full against a Colonials team that, according to Crowley, will look to attack the rim and work back in transition. The key for his team, he said, will be “defending as a group” and communicating well on the offensive end. And with Robert Morris averaging just shy of 17 turnovers per game, the Bonnies’ active defense has to be at the top of its game.
“Our weak side has to be active,” Crowley said. “We obviously have to have good ball pressure, we’ve got to make it difficult for them to pass. And that’s not just for the first one on the ball, that’s got to be people off the ball as well. They’ve played some pretty good teams that have created those turnover numbers, and certainly we’re looking to get as many extra possessions as we can.”
Bona will be looking to record consecutive wins for the first time this season, something that Crowley knows can be big heading into the A10 portion of the campaign.
“They call those streaks, we’d like to get on one of those,” Crowley said. “Anytime you can go home happy and go into a break winning while having a younger group … we think could really springboard us into the new year.”
St. Bonaventure and Robert Morris are set to tip-off at 4 p.m. on Dec. 21.
