By SPENCER BATES
MURFREESBORO, TN — By just about every margin, this season for the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team was an incredible triumph.
As the campaign neared its end, the team hit milestone after milestone, capturing success that has been vacant from the program for a decade.
The Bonnies recorded their first winning season, made their first postseason appearance and tallied their first postseason win since that 2015-16 season, 10 years ago. They finished above the bottom three in the Atlantic 10 standings for the first time since 2016-17 and were inches away from winning their first Atlantic 10 conference tournament game since 2013-14.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end at some point, and for the Bonnies, this season drew to a close at the hands of Middle Tennessee State, who delivered them a 69-50 defeat in the second round of the WNIT.
Bona, after earning an overtime victory over Drexel in the first round of the WNIT, travelled south to take on the Blue Raiders, who had received a bye in the first round. And although they had been stewing without a game for 11 days prior to tip-off, the rest did them well and they held no punches.
Bona got off to a slow start and head coach Jim Crowley was forced into calling a timeout after his side failed to score before MTSU had compiled an 11-0 advantage through nearly four minutes of game time. Mind you, the largest deficit Bona had faced in their eventual win over Drexel in the first round was 10 points.
But, just like they had done against the Dragons, the Bonnies responded. Gradually, they chipped away at their deficit and, thanks much in part to a few 3-pointers from Kaylee Krysztof and a couple buckets from Aaliyah Parker, they brought themselves back to level pegging at 20-20.
However, all their hard work in climbing out of the hole they were in was upended as MTSU punched back with a 17-2 run over the 4.5 minutes that followed the scores being evened up.
Similar stretches of time came and went over the remainder of the game, but the closest Bona managed to bring the scores after that blow was five points in the third quarter. MTSU reestablished a double-figure lead at the free throw line after that Bona attempt at clawing back.
St. Bonaventure’s Aaliyah Parker (5) lines up a free throw. Parker netted eight points for the Bonnies in their loss to the Blue Raiders. (Spencer Bates)
Crowley made his return to St. Bonaventure in March of 2023. His main goal upon reclaiming the spot at the head of the Bona bench: get the program back to where it was when he initially left to take the head coaching gig at Providence. His first two seasons yielded a combined 10 wins. So, while this season wound up ending with a rather lopsided defeat, he was able to acknowledge the significant step that was taken in this, his third year back.
“It takes a lot, it takes a commitment from the administration, it takes players committed to it and willing to go through some tough stuff, and that’s a little harder to come by these days,” Crowley said. “We made great strides, we certainly can celebrate a little bit, but we gotta understand what we gotta do to keep it moving forward.”
The players were, of course, the nucleus of the entire operation. From Laycee Drake transferring in from UAlbany to connect with the coach that grew up just down the road from her hometown, to Aaliyah Parker making the switch from the purple of Niagara to the Brown and White, and every player in between, accomplishing what they did and continuing to extend the season at every chance they could, to Crowley, was tremendous.
Speaking frankly, Crowley knew that there had not been a ton of desire to see the team play over recent years, but in spite of that, they kept rattling off results. Winning is one thing, changing the entire image of a program is another entirely.
“It showed them what they’re capable of,” Crowley said. “To be perfectly honest, we had a program not many people cared about, and they made people care. That’s really hard. Now we got to keep it going, and that’s even harder. But the seniors, in particular, helped start that in a huge way. Now, it’s the responsibility of whoever comes back in the program to build on it.”
The Bonnies lost all but two players to the transfer portal following the conclusion of last season. Mackenzie Pettinelli and Gabby Robinson were the only ones who chose to stay put, the latter of whom noted before the season that the decision to return was a “no-brainer.”
St. Bonaventure’s Gabby Robinson (14) goes through contact for a layup against Middle Tennessee State. (Spencer Bates)
The leadership exuded by those two, in conjunction with the graduate students, Drake and Parker, has Crowley wishing they had more eligibility as Pettinelli will be the only player not graduating.
“We had a pretty big exodus last year, and Gabby chose to stick around. Then, Laycee and Aaliyah came in and, I mean, they became Bonnies right away,” Crowley said. “I think we were fortunate that we got to see the real benefits of it. I would love to coach those kids for a few more years, but getting that year energized our program and energized me, and I’m really thankful that they believed in us.”
The level of belief this group showed in one another is part of what made it so special to Crowley. In this day and age when one bad season could set a program back years, how quickly this squad developed relationships and trust within one another was a spectacle in his eyes.
“They wanted to be there and they wanted to play for one another, again, a unique thing, to so quickly commit to one another, and to care and to trust,” Crowley said. “I mean, those are hard things to do, and they were willing to do it.”
And that’s the whole point at the end of the day. Crowley joked about his age and noted that, to him, it is all about the relationships and the bond built amongst a team. It is also about growth and while this team started out the year on a tear, winning seven of its first nine games, including five in a row to start, the development amongst its more inexperienced players shines through as a true testament as to how impactful this year has been for the program.
“I’m old. I like relationships, and I like people to grow, and I like to see that,” Crowley said. “That’s the most rewarding part of this whole thing. Seeing that out of folks this year was outstanding. We’d love for them all to come back. Those are discussions we’ll have. But, yeah, that’s the goal. Ultimately, we want to keep growing it with the folks who believe in it.”
This was a historic season for the program, but the hope amongst the staff is that this was just the first of many steps towards sustained success.
St. Bonaventure officially finished the 2025-26 season with a 17-16 record.
