By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team endured its toughest loss of the season last time out against Richmond.
But according to head coach Jim Crowley, within the loss were critical lessons.
The 20-point margin of defeat spins a tale of a lopsided affair. After all, the Spiders were a AP Top 25 team entering the season and are led by a high-scoring, experience-ridden trio that have eyes on all-conference nods. But in reality the game was far closer than what the final scoreline alludes.
In fact, it was truly just one poor quarter that cost the Bonnies. But therein lies the most prominent lesson Crowley wanted his players to take away from the defeat: it takes a near-perfect effort to topple the top dogs in the Atlantic 10.
“(They learned) the level of consistency you have to have to execute against high quality opponents,” Crowley said. “We obviously had a bad third quarter (against Richmond), then we got ourselves in a decent place, and then we let up again. (Richmond) didn’t stop. So, it was a really good lesson of the level you have to have all the time to get to where they are.”
Aaliyah Parker and Laycee Drake, Bona’s star duo, had no problem keeping up with the visitors, netting 18 and 16 points, respectively. But in a game in which Richmond reached the 80-point mark, the question of who will step up on the scoring front behind those two came into focus yet again.
After his team’s win over George Washington, Crowley noted that sound defense can make up for the lack of that third consistent scorer. It is when that defense gets overpowered, there needs to be someone that steps up on the scoring front.
But those are loaded requests. He noted that it is not as easy as demanding a 20 piece and suddenly getting it. Especially with a more youthful roster, it takes time and consistent, constructive dialogue.
“There’s some film to it, there’s some conversations, there’s pointing out in practice, ‘hey, here’s your spot, don’t pass this one up. Here’s where you’re gonna be able to get downhill. Here’s what you’ll be able to take advantage of against this defender,’” Crowley said. “It’s more conversations like that. … But, you look at our losses, we’ve let people get in the 70s. That’s just not a number we’re going to have a high success rate with. So, we’ve got to continue to develop our scoring and our offense, we’ve got to find that consistency, defensively, against the better offensive teams, to bring their number down.”
Fortunately, the team that the Bonnies are set to face in their next game have been held in that mid-to-low 60-point range that Crowley likes in each of its last two games, both A10 defeats.
Duquesne is 0-3 in conference play this season with 62 points being the most it scored out of all those affairs. However, this does not mean they don’t have the ability to be lethal when given the opportunity.
“You gotta guard the bounce, you gotta rebound and you can’t turn it over,” Crowley said. “They’re forcing 18 turnovers per game. They’re one of the top teams in the country in offensive rebounds. They really do a great job of getting extra possessions. My belief is they’re going to try to physically dominate us off the bounce. Similar to the fourth quarter against Saint Louis Louis, they’re going to try and do some of that. We got to take away those things. I thought, against Richmond, we played offense too fast a few times. We can’t do that and make it a higher possession game.”
Two players that stand out for the Dukes are Nadia Moore and Alexis Bordas. Despite the former only recently making a return to the lineup, she combines with Bordas for a devastating scoring punch, with the two averaging over 30 points per game together.
Individually, Moore averages a team-high 15.8 points per game while Bordas averages 15.4 per game.
“Moore’s been playing really well the last two games against Saint Louis and Dayton,” Crowley said. “She really gets to her spots. She’s more off the bounce. But (Bordas) is the scorer. She had 38 against Pitt with 10 3s. But she also can go to the hoop. She’s a lefty, I think that throws people off. So, we can’t let them get to their spots. We’ve got to chase (Bordas). We’ve got to be in our lanes against (Moore) and really avoid giving them an easy one, to let them feel good.”
Averaging just under double figures is Harriet Ford, who gives the Dukes a big boost on the glass. She chips in 9.4 points per game and a team-high 8.7 rebounds per contest.
Still, dangers lie outside of the starting five. In fact, only two players for Duquesne average under double-figure minutes per game as it gets big contributions from the entire roster.
Depth has been something the Bonnies have leaned on this season with players like Elyse MacDonough, Brianna Barr-Buday, Mallory Heise and Brillana Boyd each making impacts on certain nights. Therefore, Crowley has laid out the challenge for his team to win the bench points. Fortunately, this year he has the experienced players to help guide these younger bench players to success.
“Last year, our kids had to play a lot of minutes without a lot of experience around them,” Crowley said. “Now, with Laycee and Aaliyah around, with Mack and Gabby having been in the program for a year, there’s more people who are helping them. Not just in handling the pace of play, but handling practice, prep and recovery. I think for all of them, the game is slowing down a little bit, and they’re figuring out what they can’t do that they used to be able to do, and what they can do with what they have. That’s our job, to keep putting them in those good spots.”
St. Bonaventure will look to bounce back into the win column and even up their A10 record on the season on the road at Duquesne on Jan. 7 at 6 p.m.
