By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — On the back of its first Atlantic 10 win of the season, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team was satisfied with the result, but has not diverted its attention away from the continuous growth it seeks.
The Bonnies were able to storm back from a 14-point deficit on Jan. 8 when they welcomed Saint Louis to the Reilly Center. Excellent performances from Dani Haskell, Caitlin Frost and Zoe Shaw spurred the hosts to victory as they unlocked the Billikens defense late and completed the comeback.
For a team that was on a four-game losing streak before its last result, Bona coach Jim Crowley admitted that it was good to see a tally placed in the win column, but that there is still plenty to improve upon ahead of its game against UMass on Jan. 12.
“To win that way was good, but there are still a lot of things we got to get better at,” Crowley said. “We rebounded very poorly, we had bad pace, offensively, in the first half, we turned it over too much in the first half. So certainly some things to build on. … We want to make sure we’re taking advantage, and UMass is going to mix defenses. … If that throws us off or slows us down, we tend to get out of sorts. The other thing we got to keep getting better at is finding offense if teams are taking Dani away.”
Luckily what has helped a tremendous amount in terms of the team’s growth is the consistency some of its brightest young talents are now seeing.
Frost and Shaw, two of several freshmen that have become pivotal pieces for Bona, have found themselves more comfortable on the court as the season has progressed. According to Crowley, that all can be attributed to how much exposure they are getting at a consistent rate.
“Zoe played 40 (minutes against Saint Louis), Caitlin played 39, it was our ninth straight day (of work) and there wasn’t any easy days in there,” Crowley said. “There was travel, there was games, there was tough losses. So, you put that on top of it and obviously there’s a reason why we feel they can do some things. … Zoe’s been able to stay in the lineup, Caitlin’s now stayed consistently in the lineup. When you’re getting used to playing college basketball, if you’re going in and out, it’s a tough readjustment. So, I think that’s helped both of them.”
Crowley is banking on that experience paying dividends as the Bonnies will look to shut down a UMass team that is attempting to bounce back from consecutive losses.
The Minutewomen’s backcourt duo of Allie Palmier and Yahmani McKayle are set enter the RC leading their team in scoring, averaging 14.1 and 12.9 points per game respectively with the latter shooting just shy of 44% from 3-point range.
Locking up these two specifically will be huge according to Crowley who acknowledged their ability to get hot quick once they start to see shots fall. But that will mean that other guards besides just Shaw will need to step up on the defensive side of the floor.
“McKayle, she shoots the ball really well, shoots from deep,” Crowley said. “(UMass) has two good post players. You get caught on them, and those guys get open looks. So we just got to be there. … Both kids are streak-kids. If they have one, they have a bunch. So, some different people are going to be matched up on them. One of the things that gets underrated about Zoe’s game is what she does defensively. … But we’ve got to find another guard who we can consistently count on for defense, because they have, obviously, multiple guards that can score.”
In the post, the Bonnies — specifically Frost — will need to keep an eye on Megan Olbrys. The 6-foot-1-inch forward is shooting just shy of 55% from the field this season and, with a devastating left hand, has the ability to deliver metaphorical knockout blows.
“If you allow Olbrys to get to her left, it’s over,” Crowley said. “She’s really strong and physical and very good with her left. … Whether she walks you up or spins you out, she’s very crafty getting there. So, we’ve got to keep her away from that left hand, and we got to keep her away from easy ones. We can’t give her put-backs or dump-offs or things like that. Her physicality is going to be an interesting matchup for Caitlin. I think Caitlin has some length that could impact her, so hopefully we win the position and make it challenging.”
On the offensive side of the floor, Crowley is looking for his team to continue down the path it was on in the second half against Saint Louis when it was driving at the basket, getting Frost touches in the post and staying away from dribbling the ball without a purpose. He is putting a premium on moving the ball with the pass as he sees a chance for them to have success that way based on the Minutewomen’s defensive schemes.
“Where we struggle is when we’re wearing (opponents) down just by dribbling,” Crowley said. “When we have possessions where there’s a lot of dribbling, it’s usually not a real good possession for us. We’ve got to move the ball with the pass and there’s going to be things open tomorrow because of the way UMass defends. If we’re slowing ourselves down by dribbling with no purpose, it’s going to slow our offense down. … So hopefully we’ll have that mindset and be able to continue that and continue our post touches. We’re making a conscious effort to play more through the post and to create multiple things. So hopefully that continues.”
St. Bonaventure and UMass will tip-off at 1 p.m. on Jan. 12 at the Reilly Center.
