Dec. 20, 2007
Final Stats
HACKENSACK, N.J. -
Six out of eight free throws in the final minute of regulation sealed a 43-41 victory for the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team over Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday evening at the Rothman Center.
With the win, the Bonnies picked up their fourth victory in a row all away from Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center. The win also matched the program's best start in school history after 11 games previously held by the 1992-93 club with nine wins in their first 11 contests.
Sophomore Dana Mitchell posted her second double-double of the season with a game-high 16 points to go along with a career-best 12 rebounds. Freshman Cara Gustafson chipped in with nine points, while fellow classmate Armelia Horton added eight points and six rebounds in her first extended action since suffering an injury at Bowling Green.
Similar to last season's meeting between the two teams, St. Bonaventure and FDU failed to reach the 50-point mark for the second straight season against each other, while the Knights failed to shoot over 25.5 percent from the field for the second year in a row against the Bonnies.
The Brown and White defense forced FDU into shooting an overall 24.5 percent for the night, while the Bonnies turned 20 Knight turnovers into 19 points. Fairleigh Dickinson's 41 points were the fewest allowed by the Bona defense since Colgate's identical total earlier this season.
After trailing by a single point at the break, the Brown and White used a 9-0 run, while holding the Knights scoreless for a 5:44 span to take their largest lead of the game at 29-23 with 9:59 remaining in regulation. Following Horton's freebie at the 14:06 mark, Mitchell tallied two points off of an offensive rebound put back before Gustafson converted on a lay up to break a 23-23 tie. Two more free throws from Horton and a turnaround jumper from Mitchell extended the lead to six points.
Fairleigh Dickinson responded with seven straight points, including five tallies from freshman Alyssa Mayrose to take a 30-29 edge with 7:01 left on the clock. The Bonnies regained the lead with consecutive baskets from Mitchell and Gustafson to put the club back up by three points.
However, senior Mercedez Walker banked in a triple from the top of the key with 2:44 remaining to give the Knights a one point advantage followed by two free throws from fellow classmate Jennifer Walking that extended the home team's lead to 37-34.
Gustafson responded with a three-pointer from the top of the key 12 seconds later to knot the contest at 37 apiece. The Bonnies made six out of eight shots from the stripe down the stretch to seal the win.
A low scoring first half saw Fairleigh Dickinson take a 15-14 advantage into the locker room at halftime. St. Bonaventure entered the break trailing their opponent for just the third time this season after the Knights tallied six of the final seven points to end the half.
After scoring the initial four points of the first session, the Bonnies managed just nine points the rest of the way. FDU scored the next six points in the game sparked by four points from senior Shanay Freeman.
The Bonnies used a 9-3 spurt over a 5:32 span to gain their largest lead of the half at 13-9 with 6:23 showing on the scoreboard. Sophomore Andrea Doneth started the spurt with a jumper from the left wing followed by a runner in the lane from Gustafson. Horton connected on a turnaround jumper on the next possession to push the Bonnies lead to 10-7. Mitchell concluded the Bona run with the club's last field goal of the half at the 6:23 mark.
The Brown and White continue their 10-game road stretch at IPFW on Sunday, Dec. 23 for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.
