By SPENCER BATES
RICHMOND, VA — For the first time in program history, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team was victorious at VCU.
Prior to its Feb. 14 affair, the Bonnies had only defeated VCU once all-time and head coach Jim Crowley was not a part of that win.
So it was a milestone day for the program, but it would not have been possible without yet another complete team effort. Six different players scored at least five points in the 64-53 win, but none more than Laycee Drake who netted a game-high 22 points on 10-for-17 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Not far behind her was Aaliyah Parker, who put the off-color performance she had against Richmond last time out behind her, netting 18 points while picking up five rebounds, five assists and five steals.
The Bonnies started the game scorching hot, jumping out to an early double-figure lead, but as the game crept closer to the intermission, the grip the visitors had after the positive start began to slip.
A mid-range jumper from Drake gave Bona a 34-32 lead at the half, but VCU had begun to find a groove. The hosts shot 40% from the floor over the first 20 minutes, warming up after a cold start, had dominated the paint 22-8 and had turned seven forced turnovers into seven points.
The Rams have struggled this season. Their Atlantic 10 record sat at 4-9 entering the game, they had suffered an extremely lopsided loss at Rhode Island last time out, and even their head coach was dismissed at the start of the month. So, Crowley knew they would be hungry to get back in the win column.
But the Bonnies came out of the locker room renewed. They won the final two quarters by a margin of nine points (30-21) and grabbed a significant win in the home stretch of the season.
“I’m really proud of our group, to come into a place that we had never won before, and to do so on senior day and alumni day, playing a good team that was really hungry for a win,” Crowley said. “I just thought our group really stuck together, really defended well in the second half, and we just had a lot of people come up big when they needed to. So, it was a great team win. We got a little time to enjoy it, but we got to get ourselves ready here for the last stretch.”
Katarina Knezevic led VCU with a 18-point, 11 rebound double-double. Alongside her, Ty Williams scored 11 points and Makennah White tallied nine points and seven rebounds.
Brillana Boyd (8 points), Mackenzie Pettinelli, Olivia DiFranco and Elyse MacDonough (5 points apiece) were the other important contributors for the Bonnies.
St. Bonaventure will return home for its next game, a reverse fixture against Loyola Chicago set for Feb. 21 at 3 p.m.
