By SPENCER BATES
BINGHAMTON — For the first time in 13 years, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team has won each of its first three games to start a season, sealing the deal with a wire-to-wire come-from-behind 68-65 victory over Binghamton on the road.
Prior to this season, one thing Bona head coach Jim Crowley was hoping to leave in the past was single-digit quarters. Frankly, he had his fill last season. Unfortunately, a slow, discombobulated start by his team resulted in exactly that as the Bonnies found themselves with a mountain to climb after the first quarter of action.
Down 17-6, Elyse MacDonough’s 3-pointer with 1:45 left was the visitors’ only field goal of the opening frame. Laycee Drake and Aaliyah Parker, their two big hitters so far this season, struggled mightily with Drake’s two made free throws standing as the only points between the two over the first 10 minutes of action.
But this year’s team has little to no connection to last season’s. While a single-digit quarter would have most certainly spelled doom in the previous campaign, the resiliency in this Bona team is off the charts.
Sparked by brilliant second-quarter displays from Brillana Boyd and Ivona Djikanovic, who finished the affair with 15 and nine points respectively, the Bonnies out-scored the Bearcats in each remaining quarter. But the comeback would not have been complete without the resurgence of one of the team’s stars.
After scoring just five points in the first half, Drake found her stride and powered Bona with 15 points in the second half for a final stat line of 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
After taking their first lead at 45-44, on the back of a jumper from Mallory Heise — who provided a quality seven points, six rebounds and five assists off the bench — neither Bona or Binghamton extended a lead larger than three points the rest of the way. The game would ultimately be decided by whichever side could make the most of their final-minute opportunities.
And who else but Parker, with a free throw make, and Drake, with a clutch layup, to seal the deal for the Bona.
“We didn’t start well, but credit to Binghamton for that,” Crowley said. “Binghamton is an experienced team, a confident team, and they really played well in that first quarter. I think it was an eye opener for us. We kept chipping away, and I’m just really proud of our group, especially down the stretch for making the plays we needed to in order to pull out a really hard fought road win.”
St. Bonaventure secured its first piece of history this season with the win, getting to 3-0 on the back of consecutive tough challenges on the road. It will return home with the opportunity to extend its blemish-free record to 4-0 — a record it has not seen since the 2011-12 season — against another Little Three rival in Canisius on Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.
