By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — Last time out, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team faced the daunting task of heading into the home of the current Atlantic 10 leaders Rhode Island.
That game wound up as a loss for the Bonnies, but for a significant portion of the contest, they brought the fight to the Rams. Thus, one of the biggest takeaways that head coach Jim Crowley had after the fact was that his team has what it takes to compete with those at the top of the table, it’s just a matter of shoring up the more minute details.
“Especially on the road, it was a really good environment, they had a nice crowd there, I think we played to the game plan,” Crowley said. “We had a little spurt in the second quarter where we allowed them some comfort off turnovers, but we settled back in. We finished the half strong. Around the third quarter we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, we couldn’t keep them off the foul line, their depth just kind of overwhelmed us in the fourth quarter, and to be very frank, we ran out of gas, and credit to them on that. But I think we’ve seen things that let us know we can compete with the top of the league, but obviously there’s more we have to do to finish that off.”
Crowley admitted his players are starting to see that they are capable of winning these games as well. One of the lessons that he has seen taken to heart is that it takes far more than just showing up on game days and that what really tips the scales is what goes on behind the scenes.
“I think the biggest (lessons) is that we’re right there, but how hard it is to go from right there to there,” Crowley said. “That’s a full time thing. It’s not the last 10 minutes of the game, it’s not the game, it’s the physical prep, it’s the mental prep. It’s taking care of your body, there’s a lot that goes into it. I think they realize that and are starting to understand the on-the-floor stuff, starting to realize the prep stuff and how they can impact things.”
So, now with some tough lessons learned early in the conference season, Crowley will be hoping his team can put it all together ahead of his team’s next game, a home affair against St. Joseph’s.
But before the Bonnies start to worry about what the Hawks may do in the contest, Crowley pointed out they have to focus on the things they can do better in order to get wins over the line. For instance, over its last two games, Bona has scored just 46 and 45 points, respectively, a decent way short of the mid-60-point games it was averaging throughout the year. According to Crowley, it starts with turnovers.
“We’re giving way too many possessions,” Crowley said. “In both those games we had 18 turnovers. That’s giving away too many possessions. We’ve got to keep that number in the lower teens. … The other thing is that we’re just not getting to the foul line enough. We’re not attacking the rim enough. We’re settling for too many contested shots. So those are the two areas we really want to improve in. I think that gives us more opportunities to get some more points on the board.”
Cutting down the opportunities for St. Joe’s will be critical considering they have a plethora of weapons, each capable of making the most of mistakes.
The Hawks lead the Atlantic 10 in assists with 18.5 per game and are second in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 44.2% from the floor. Those two aspects in conjunction make for a devastating attack which ball handling mistakes will only fuel.
“They share it really well and they shoot it well. You can’t do well with assists if you don’t make shots,” Crowley said. “They have a number of people who can score it. They get a lot of those in transition. They’re a good transition team, a very solid transition team. So that’s where we got to start with things defensively.”
Leading the way on the scoring front for St. Joe’s is Gabby Casey, its own version of Bona’s Laycee Drake — a guard that can score the ball in droves (15.7 points per game), clean the glass (6.8 rebounds per game) and dish out assists (3.7 assists per game).
“She plays really hard, she’s a really smart basketball player, and … that’s her third year in the system,” Crowley said. So, she’s grown more comfortable and confident. But even more so, the coaches know where to put her and know how to get her there. Her teammates know where to put her and how to get her there. She works really hard to get to the spots. She’s effective off the bounce, she shoots it really well, she moves without the ball exceptionally well and she creates her own opportunities for rebounds. She’s a hard kid to match up with.”
Plenty of players for the Hawks average in the high single digits in terms of points per game, but the only other player besides Casey to average double figures is Aleah Snead. At 5-11, and listed as a guard, Snead can score at just about every level. Where she is most dangerous is underneath the rim. Her height causes defensive nightmares, but it’s her tenacity that Crowley acknowledged takes her game to the next level.
“The worry is, does she just elevate and score over us,” Crowley said. “We got to keep her away from the rim. She is certainly capable from the perimeter, but we’ve got to make her beat us from there. We can’t let her defense impact us either. She creates a lot of opportunities with her length and one thing St. Joe’s does better than anyone I’ve seen so far is they win the ball. If the ball’s loose, they win it. They create a lot of extra possessions because of that. She’s a big leader in that.”
St. Bonaventure will have its hands full with Casey, Snead and the rest of St. Joseph’s on Jan. 14 at 6 p.m.
