Mitchell leads the way against Canisius

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A strong second half effort led the way as the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team cruised by Canisius 65-47 at the Koessler Athletic Center on Tuesday night.

Senior Dana Mitchell tallied double-figure scoring for the third straight game, leading the way with 22 points, shooting 9-12 from the floor in a career-high 37 minutes. Sophomore Jessica Jenkins landed a career-high 19 points thanks to five trifectas, to match her career-high and 4-4 from the line.

The Bonnies kept up their defensive front, holding the Griffs to 30 percent from the floor and forcing 13 turnovers. St. Bonaventure edged Canisius in rebounds 33-19 and allowed only one player to score double-digits. This is also the third game in which the Brown and White held their opponent to under 50 points.

“I thought this was a great test for our defense because they shot it well. They had eight threes and a number of those were contested. I give a ton a credit to them and I hope our team recognizes that we stayed with our defense and didn't give them easy lay ups,” said head coach Jim Crowley. “I thought we rebounded exceptionally well which stopped easy points and that's our whole philosophy, we don't want to give up easy scores.”

After an opening possession bucket by Canisius, the Bonnies scored on five of its next six possessions, going on a 12-3 run highlighted by a Jenkins' and Andrea Doneth three-pointer for an 14-5 score at the 10:51 mark.

The Griffs moved in to close the gap to four off a three-point basket from Stephanie MacDonald at the 3:11 mark, but that would be the closest they would get for the game at 18-14.

A layup from redshirt sophomore Armelia Horton and two consecutive treys from Jenkins moved the score to 26-19 with 2:54 to go in the first stanza.

Canisius would score one more off a free-throw, but with 38 seconds left in the first, a fade away-jumper by Mitchell capped the half at 28-22.

The Bonnies shot 48 percent from the field in the first half, but allowed Canisius to stay in the game committing nine turnovers.

The second half opened in a back-and-forth manner, but the Bonnies doubled the halftime gap off six points from Mitchell and another trifecta from Jenkins to go up 42-30 just five minutes into the second.

The Griffs answered back, scoring two consecutive threes and an Ashley Durham basket between a Mitchell field goal to move in 46-38 at 10:40 in the second.

St. Bonaventure held Canisius scoreless for just over five minutes while going up by 15 off another Jenkins three-pointer, three points from Mitchell and two from Doneth

Clutch free-throw shooting by Jenkins, and sophomore Megan Van Tatenhove through the last 1:34 closed out the game and kept the largest lead of the game at 18.

Jenkins, Doneth and freshman Alaina Walker led with five rebounds each. Jenkins also played a career-high 33 minutes.

Ellie Radke led the Griffs with 16 points and four rebounds. Brittane Russell had five steals against the Bonnies.

St. Bonaventure ends its four-game stretch in a noon match up against Niagara at the Reilly Center. Tip-off is set for noon.