Jessica Jenkins leads from the floor

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's basketball team started its season off right shutting down Binghamton in a 63-42 victory in the Events Center on Friday night.

With the victory, the Bonnies earned their fifth straight win to start the new season and their seventh opening day victory overall under head coach Jim Crowley. Tonight's win is also the Bonnies fourth in four tries against America East member Binghamton, all of which have come in the past three seasons.

“It was a good start to the season. We defended well, but our offensive isn't where it needs to be,” said head coach Jim Crowley. “We did get the contributions from people like Jess Jenkins and Alaina Walker that we needed today.”

Sophomore Jessica Jenkins stepped up in the second half hitting 3-for-3 three-pointers and going 4-4 from the line to lead the Bonnies with 17 points. Senior Dana Mitchell also pitched in netting 15.

The Bearcats took advantage of a slow offensive start for the Bonnies used a rebound on a missed layup for Erica Carter to put up a 3-point bucket to even the score at 14-14 with 9:38 left in the first half.

St. Bonaventure kicked its opening game jitters as redshirt sophomore Armelia Horton started a seven-point run. Freshman Alaina Walker's layup closed the run at 6:22 in the first half, putting the Bonnies up 21-14

The Bonnies made use of Binghamton scoring only one 3-pointer to close the half going on a 10-point run off two consecutive Mitchell layups for a perfect 5-for-5 half and lead the Bonnies to a 31-17 halftime margin.

A pair from the charity stripe from sophomore Megan Van Tatenhove started the second stanza in which the Bonnies never looked back going up as much as 25 late in the half.

Senior Andrea Doneth continued the Bonnies' lead when she threw up a last-second shot to beat the shot clock with a 3-point bucket and push the lead to 43-24.

Jenkins and Walker hit consecutive layups followed by Jenkins' 3-pointer and two charity stripe points in less than three minutes to swell the Bonnies' lead to 52-28.

The Brown and White return home on Sunday to face Akron on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center. Tip-off against the Zips is scheduled for 1 p.m.