Feb. 14, 2009

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure women's basketball team overcame a very sluggish first half with strong defensive play throughout to come away with a 56-48 Atlantic 10 win over Fordham on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Hill Gym.

The win is the Bonnies' fourth straight and 19th on the season, breaking the program record for most wins in a season. The Brown and White's four-game winning streak is St. Bonaventure's third such streak this season.

The Bonnies improve to 19-6 overall and 8-2 in A-10 play with the win, keeping them in sole possession of third place in the conference standings. On the flip side, Fordham's long season continues as the loss dropped its overall record to 8-17 and 1-9 in the A-10.

St. Bonaventure was led by senior Katelyn Murray who tallied a team-high 11 points. A recent ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 1 selection and 1,000 point scorer, Murray tallied her 11 points on 3-of-6 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Junior Dana Mitchell upped her double-digit scoring streak to 12 games with 10 points, including eight in the second stanza.

The Bona defense once again was the driving force behind another win, as it improved to 8-1 when holding an opponent to under 50 points. The St. Bonaventure defense has now held three of its last four opponents to under 50 points and forced Fordham into 26 turnovers today which led to 26 points for the Bonnies.

Both squads came out cold to start the game. Fordham took a 6-2 lead after a Randall Hurst jumper at the 15:39 mark of the first half. A pair of free throws by Hurst would extend the Rams lead up to 9-4 with 12:09 remaining in the first.

Murray would try to wake the Bonnies up with a long jumper from the wing to make the score 12-8 Fordham with 10:58 to go in the half, but the Rams would keep the lead after Tiffany Stokes converted a lay in off an out-of-bounds play to extend Fordham's lead to 14-8.

Freshman Armelia Horton would try to gain some momentum for the Brown and White after her lay in made the score 14-10. Fordham would come right back with a three-pointer by Kyara Weeks to extend its lead up to seven at 17-10, with 7:00 left until halftime.

The Brown and White would begin to look like it usually does towards the end of the first, using a 10-4 run to cut the Fordham lead down to just one. A lay in by freshman Megan Van Tatenhove would make the score 21-20 with just 3:29 remaining in the first.

The teams would trade scores over the next two minutes, with Mitchell collecting the St. Bonaventure basket for her first two points of the game. The Rams would get the last score of the half, however, as Weeks canned a jumper with just seven seconds left to put Fordham up 25-22 going into intermission.

The Bonnies struggled mightily on the offense end in the first half shooting only 29 percent (8-28) from the field. All- Conference forward Dana Mitchell was a big reason for the offensive woes, going just 1-of-10 from the field for two points. The Brown and White's 22 points were tied for their second lowest output in the first half this season.

St Bonaventure would score the first points of the second, as Murray would covert a lay in to bring the Bonnies within one, at 25-24, with 18:40 remaining in the game. Mitchell would put in another score just moments later with a driving lay in to give the visitors their first lead of the game at 26-25, with 17:48 left in the second half.

Once the Brown and White captured the lead they focused their attention to the defensive end, holding the Rams scoreless over the opening 5:15 of the second half. A pair of free throws by Hurst would break the Fordham drought to make the score 28-27 St. Bonaventure with 15:45 remaining in the second.

Back-to-back scores for the Bonnies by Van Tatenhove and senior Ashley Edwards would make the score 34-29 in favor of the visitors with 11:51 to go in the game. The Brown and White would stretch their lead up to double-digits after a three-pointer from freshman Jessica Jenkins would make the score 41-31 with 8:58 remaining in the game.

Hurst would try to keep the Rams close as she would drain a turnaround jumper in the key to make the score 43-35 St. Bonaventure with 7:53 remaining in regulation. Fordham would get even closer after Kristina Bell converted an old-fashion three-point play to cut the Bonnies lead down to just five, at 45-40, with 4:57 left in the second half.

The Edwards' combination of Ashley and Priscilla would extend St. Bonaventure's lead over its next two possessions. Ashley would convert a put back lay in and on the very next possession Priscilla would hit two free throws to put the Brown and White up 49-42 with just 2:51 left in the game.

Mitchell would reach double figures in scoring with a layup off a nice pass by Priscilla Edwards to put the Bonnies up nine with just 1:35 left in the game. Murray would seal the game after getting fouled by draining a pair of free throws with just 25 seconds left to make the score 55-48 St. Bonaventure.

Ashley Edwards also had a solid game for the Brown and White putting in a season-high 10 points on 5-of-6 from the field to go along with six rebounds.

Taking the game-high scoring honor of 19 points on 8-of-10 from the field for Fordham was Randall Hurst. Kyara Weeks was the only other Ram in double figures with 10 points, all of which game in the first half.

St. Bonaventure will be back in action as they welcome Duquesne to the Reilly Center for its second contest of the year against the Dukes. Gametime is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be watched live on Bonnies All-Access on www.GoBonnies.com .