By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — In its first game of the 2025-26 season, there was not much that went wrong for the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team.
The Bonnies rolled Div. II Mansfield 82-34 behind contributions all over the floor and a stout defensive effort. Each and every member of this year’s new-look Bona team made their official debut against the Mountaineers and each finished with points to their names.
The things that head coach Jim Crowley wanted to see corrected after his team’s tight exhibition contest against Daemen University, were done so. Now, it is just a matter of using this performance as a solid foundation for the rest of the season according to him.
“There were a lot of good things, everybody contributed in a very positive way,” Crowley said. “I thought we shared the ball really well. I thought we were able to get to the paint pretty consistently. There were times our defensive execution was really good, we tightened up some of our ball-screen defense, things that we struggle with. We improved on some things we really talked about improving on from (the game against Daemen). I would have liked us to have been a little more defensive minded in that fourth quarter, but there were a lot of really good things and a lot of things that we can build on.”
The Bonnies scored 82 points in the win, the same amount they scored in their season-opening win last year over Binghamton — a tally that stood as their season-high in points. However, there is a substantial difference between how each year’s team got those points. Last year, Bona had four players record double-figures on the way to the win over the Bearcats. Against the Mountaineers this year, just one player, Laycee Drake, reached that mark.
“Something that we purposely looked for in recruiting was people who were good passers and willing sharers,” Crowley said. “That’s hard to do when the score’s a little lopsided. People may get the ‘get their’s’ mentality. But I thought the whole time we were very willing. We didn’t take a lot of bad shots, and they’re proud of that. So, hopefully we can continue that. That makes us much more challenging to guard.”
Drake tallied 16 points, a game-high, to go along with four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Her second consecutive game in front of fans in which she netted double-figures, including the exhibition against the Wildcats.
Crowley has big expectations for Drake this year, setting her up to be one of the biggest point contributors on the team. He knows what she is capable of and that she fits the system well, so the moon is the limit for her.
“(Laycee’s) got to be one of our main options,” Crowley said. “She’s a good basketball player. She’s played a lot of basketball. We’ve known her game for a long time, so we’re very familiar with it, and we’ve felt for a long time she’d fit really well with how we play. We see that every day, so it’s good for her to get that experience and put it together.”
Behind Drake, Kaylee Krysztof finished with the next highest point tally for Bona with nine to her name along with five rebounds. Behind her, Elyse MacDonough and Brianna Barr-Buday finished with seven points apiece.
Still, even with how great the offense looked, Crowley is not allowing that to cloud his judgement of the team. According to him, there is still a mountain to climb in terms of improvement. And realistically, that is all he is focussed on at this point.
“This early in the year you can’t worry about anything other than getting better, and I thought we did that for the most part,” Crowley said. “We got to see some people. We got to see things that we believe we’re pretty good at, and things we know we got to get better at and put some different combinations together. Which was beneficial too.”
For example, Crowley was not a fan of how many layups his team allowed Mansfield. For he knows that if this is an area not adjusted, then his players are in for a rude awakening in their first road game — and first official game against a Div. I opponent this season — against Niagara.
“Niagara is going to go and they’re going to go right at the rim, and if we’re not where we need to be defensively, they’re going to get some easy opportunities,” Crowley said. “The easier opportunities they get, the better their pressure is. I thought we got a little happy with our feet way too many times. I think we had six travels. Those are giveaways. We just can’t be rushed. I thought (Mansfield) did that to us a few times, so it is good for us to have that to work on.”
Crowley will be hoping his Bonnies can stay on the upward trajectory they are currently on, improving drastically from one game to another as they head north to take on the Purple Eagles on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m.
