By SPENCER BATES
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team, in search of a positive result at the tail end of the regular season, will look to take advantage of a floundering La Salle side on the road.
The Bonnies, who currently reside at the bottom of the Atlantic 10 standings, will be looking to steal a win over the Explorers who have dropped each of their last five games. However, their last win, six games ago, came against the Bonnies at the Reilly Center.
In that game, on Jan. 29, Bona and La Salle jostled for the lead deep into the third quarter, with the former holding a lead as late as 1:32 in the third.
However, a 9-0 run by the Explorers that extended from the end of the third into the beginning of the fourth quarter gave them just enough daylight to see the game through as the Bonnies fell 67-58.
Also in that game, Bona’s Dani Haskell led all scorers with 22 to her name. She was supported by 13 from her guard partner Zoe Shaw and 12 from forward Caitlin Frost. Unfortunately, points from other sources were hard to come by.
Joan Quinn led La Salle with 21 points last time against the Bonnies and was backed up by 13 points from Ayisse Magassa and 10 points from Ashleigh Connor. And despite the negative results in La Salle’s last five games, Quinn and Connor have both managed to record double-figure points in three of their last five games.
But the Explorers’ three top-scorers from the last time the sides faced off will not be the only ones Bona will need to shut down on the defensive end. Aryss Macktoon, who had been out of La Salle’s lineup since Dec. 21, made a return to action on Feb. 8 and in her last two games, scored 15 points in each.
Bona will need a solid effort on the defensive end to shut down the Explorers’ as well as a strong performance on the offensive end from Haskell, Shaw and Frost, with an added level of support from Hannah Richardson, who only scored six points in the reverse fixture.
St. Bonaventure will tip off at La Salle on Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.
