By SPENCER BATES
DAVIDSON, NC — Suffering the full might of a devastatingly effective defensive effort, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team recorded its season-low in points on the road against Davidson in its 55-37 loss.
The Bonnies’ started things off well as they sought to avenge the heavy defeat they suffered to the Wildcats earlier in the season, winning the first quarter 15-14, thanks in part to eight straight points from Dani Haskell in the frame. However, the defense of the hosts eventually caught up with Bona as it would fail to score double-figure points in any of the three remaining quarters of play.
“We were making shots in the first quarter, in the second quarter we had a couple defensive breakdowns and we were missing shots,” Bona coach Jim Crowley said. “That combination is tough. But I was pleased, because last week against (George Washington), we had a similar case, but we lost our defensive intensity. While not scoring, we were giving away too many points. I thought we had a couple breakdowns, but we never really lost our intensity. A good offensive team, we made earn scores.”
The Bonnies went just shy of nine minutes between the end of the first quarter through just about the end of the second quarter without scoring a point. Overall, scoring just five in the second frame before halftime. They would have another prolonged barren spell in the third quarter where they went just shy of 7.5 minutes without scoring, and another at the end of the game in which they scored one point in the final 4:45. Those three empty runs combined to just over 21 minutes of game time in which the Bonnies had just one point to their name.
“I thought at the start of the third the looks (we got on offense) were not good,” Crowley said. “We weren’t moving the ball well and our pace wasn’t at the level we needed it to be. But I thought later in the third, we got some really good looks, I thought earlier in the fourth we were getting some looks and the ball didn’t go in, or they were able to get some rotations to impact our shots. But, you know, I thought early in the third quarter was really the only time we stalled offensively. I know that may sound crazy with the number of points we scored, but we didn’t turn it over, we didn’t throw it all over the place.”
St. Bonaventure guard Zoe Shaw (32) brings the ball up the court while getting lightly pressed by a Davidson defender. (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
And although the Bona offense may have struggled to find its legs, with Haskell being the only player on the team to have reached double-digit points with 10 to her name, Crowley was pleased with the defensive effort considering the large number of points his team gave up the last time the sides faced. In the reverse fixture, at the Reilly Center on Jan. 18, Davidson piled up 83 points to Bona’s 45. This time, it cut the total the Wildcats were able to reach by 28 points.
“I thought our defensive effort was very solid,” Crowley said. “Obviously, (Davidson) is a very good team that put up over 80 on us before, so I’m pleased with that. Our offense just stalled at times. I thought we ran some things that we wanted to run and couldn’t get the ball to drop. But again, I’m pleased with our defensive effort. Credit to Davidson, they had some people make some big plays for them to create some separation. But I thought we competed hard throughout.”
Crowley also enjoyed seeing his team take better care of the ball this time out. With how hard it was for his team to crack the Davidson defense, he was happy with only turning the ball over 14 times in comparison to the 17 they had the last time the sides faced off and the patience they showed in possession, granted it led to some shot clock violations at times.
“I just thought we took care of the ball better,” Crowley said. “I thought we had way more intensity, defensively, and we didn’t play defense as much. In the first game, we had to play defense a ton because we were taking early shots and we were turning it over. This time, we were a lot more patient offensively, and I just thought, physically, we defended in a much better way.”
The loss was St. Bonaventure’s 10th in a row, a streak it will look to snap in its next game, a home affair on Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. against VCU.
