By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team, seeking its first double-digit win season since 2021-22, is rolling into its final non-conference matchup of the season as winners of four of its last five games.
Now, on paper that may sound good, and for the most part it is. But one thing that stands out from the wins this season are the margins of victory. Five of the team’s nine wins have been decided by nine or less points. In fact, if you include their three losses, eight of the team’s 12 games have been decided by less than 10 points.
Through the early portion of the non-conference season those slim victories spun a story of resilience. But as the games have gone on, the close games have almost lost their luster, and instead what is coming into focus is the defense.
Taking their last two games as an example, the Bonnies defeated Le Moyne by nine points and Mercyhurst by three. And while the Dolphins and the Lakers have their strengths, they have just one win combined this year. Of course, there are certain circumstances that can factor into how close some of these recent games are, the most prevalent being the fact that the team has been on the road since mid-November. But those are games that Bona, presumably, would have been hoping to not be as stressful as they were.
Just one point split the Bonnies and the Dolphins with under six minutes left in that affair. Against the Lakers, they only skirted by as struggles at the free throw line nearly cost them the win.
Defense has been something head coach Jim Crowley has preached heavily since the start of the season as he sees that aspect of the game changing the most alongside the current landscape of college basketball. But, really ever since late-game defensive errors saw them drop their Atlantic 10 opener to Saint Louis, he has ramped up the focus.
“Everybody talks about the current landscape, I think the biggest impact on the floor is defensively,” Crowley said. “Offensively, sometimes people can just have individual talent and make plays. Defensively, you’ve got to rely on other people. Whether it’s to make the pass more difficult, or to give some help, or to finish the box out. So, asking folks to do that in an accelerated way is challenging, and I think we’re showing some really good parts. … The area that I want us to get better at is eliminating easy scores. Easy scores, to me, are layups and free throws. That’s what allowed 30 points in a quarter against Saint Louis.”
Crowley wants his team to improve greatly on defense. But perfection is not something he has in his lexicon. In lieu of that which is unobtainable, he is striving to get consistency out of his group.
Basketball is famously a game of runs. But the key is when the pendulum swings momentum the other way, don’t make mistakes that keep it from swinging back.
“We’re not chasing perfection, we’re chasing consistency,” Crowley said. “That’s something we’ve talked about a lot. … It is a game of momentum, a game of runs, and I think we’ve responded to things really well. What we have to improve on is when momentum is not on our side, not allowing it to go too long, or allowing it to be so dramatic. … That’s where defense is a challenge when you have a lot of new people coming together. We’re still relying on a lot of first-year players in those moments. It’s a two-fold accelerated learning curve. We’ve got to make sure we continue to be consistent with our teaching, and folks have to be invested in learning, which I do believe we are.”
That reinforcement of the Bona defense will be tested to a high degree in the team’s final non-league game of the season, on the road at Howard University.
The Bison sport a 9-5 record entering the fixture, and have played a myriad of high-caliber teams that have only hardened their identity.
Most recently, they went on the road and defeated Cincinnati, but they also have wins over Providence and A10 peer George Washington. They narrowly fell to VCU this season as well. That crossover and experience against fellow conference opposition has led Crowley to consider this game the unofficial start to conference play.
“It’s a team who knows who they are, and they’re going to try to get you to play that way,” Crowley said. “In both the Cleveland State and the Saint Louis game, we did a really good job for three quarters playing our way, and then we allowed both those teams, in the fourth quarter, to play their way. That’s part of being on the road. That’s part of growing, is figuring that out. We have another chance to show some improvement there.
“I think they average 18 points a game off turnovers and they go off the bounce really well and those are two areas we’ve struggled with. How well do we take care of the ball? How well do we guard the bounce? There’s a lot of games within the game. … But, big picture, are we learning from Cleveland State and Saint Louis and incorporating that in if we get the chance?”
Leading the scoring front for Howard is Zennia Thomas, the 6-2 forward currently averages 15.1 points while also roping in a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game. But her capabilities are not limited to the offense. She is a defensive stalwart for Howard as well.
“Thomas’s length and skill is a challenge,” Crowley said. “She obviously can score around the rim, but she’s really good from 15 to 18 feet, she’s really pure and just an outstanding rebounder. She likes to stay in the paint and alter shots too, so on both ends she’s impactful.”
Not far behind Thomas in the scoring column is Zoe Stewart, who averages 12.7 per game. Having scored double-figure points in seven of her last eight games, her ability to be a chameleon on offense sees her find success via a number of different methods.
“Stewart’s been the kid who has really stood out the last few games I’ve watched,” Crowley said. “She is really confident. She knows her spot, and she’s able to get there. She’s shooting the 3 much better recently. … She’s the first kid we’ve seen, who’s going to be able to shoot the ball off of screen actions really well, so that’s a good challenge for us.”
Crowley noted that his team has done well this season to take away the top scorers from the sides they have faced. Once again, that will be tested against the Bison.
St. Bonaventure will head to the nation’s capitol to take on Howard at 2 p.m. on Dec. 20.
