Nov. 16, 2008

Final Stats

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure women's basketball team rolled to an impressive 77-58 victory Sunday afternoon in Alumni Arena against the University at Buffalo.

"Our offense has not been clicking for the first game and a half," said Crowley. "I knew we would pull it together eventually, and in the second half we played extremely well and moved the ball much better."

Dana Mitchell bounced back from a rough opening game to lead the team with 20 points, while chipping in six rebounds and two steals. Senior Katelyn Murray was right behind Mitchell with 19 points on 6-10 shooting, including 2-3 of three-point-land.

Mitchell, who had an off game in the Bonnie win over Binghamton in the season opener, came out of the gates aggressive early on netting the first four points of the game to give the Bonnies an early 4-0 lead.

After a timeout called by Buffalo head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald, the home team seemed to settle in after the rough start and respond. A jumper by junior Brittany Hedderson capped a 12-4 run to put the Bulls up 12-8.

The Bonnies would in turn respond with a 12-0 run of their own highlighted by two three-pointers by Murray to put the Bonnies up 20-12

Another Bonnie three-pointer, this time by freshman Jessica Jenkins, put the Bonnies ahead 29-23. The Brown and White would keep the lead, 30-25, going into half.

The first half featured strong defense by both teams, as both squads shot only 33% from the field in the first half.

The second half was a completely different story as both teams game out firing on all cylinders. Senior Erica Schiefen got the Bonnies going with two straight scores, including a trifecta from the short corner to put the Bonnies up 36-29.

The Bulls offense kept the game close as the home team scored on six of their first seven possessions to start the second half. A lay-in by Hedderson brought Buffalo to within two, 38-36 with 16:04 left in the game.

The Bonnies, however, started to pull away during the middle of the second half outscoring Buffalo 23-7 over an eight minute stretch. Jessica Jenkins capped off the run with back-to-back three-pointers to put St. Bonaventure up 67-45 with just under six minutes left to play.

"We got a big lift in the second half from Armelia Horton and Jenkins during our second half run," Crowley said. "I think that's what our strength will be this season, having different people step up at different times to help us win games."

Buffalo was led by senior Jessica Fortman who poured in 18 points and freshman Kourtney Brown who tallied 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists for the game.

The Brown and White return to action on Wednesday evening when the club welcomes Canisius to the Reilly Center for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off against the Golden Griffs.