Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Buffalo | Atlantic 10

Friday Night's Matchup
St. Bonaventure enters Friday night's 7 o'clock contest on a three-game winning streak and winners of five of its last six to sit at 6-3 on the year. After opening the season at 1-2, the Bonnies' lone loss since then was at home to No. 21/22 St. John's, 55-44. The University at Buffalo also opened the season at 1-2, and is coming off a 67-53 loss on Monday evening to Duquesne to have its record level at 4-4. This will be the 22nd all-time meeting between the Big 4 clubs, with St. Bonaventure holding a 13-8 series lead. UB won five of the first seven matchups, but since then the Bonnies have dominated the series, winning 11 of the last 14 matchups, including the last two.

Last Time Out
The Bonnies used a 15-2 first-half run to pull away from visiting Canisius (2-5) on their way to their largest winning margin in series history Tuesday evening at the Reilly Center, 74-41. The 33-point winning margin was the largest for St. Bonaventure in the 43 meetings between the Little 3 rivals, breaking the previous high of 26 set in an 89-63 Bona win on Jan. 18, 1994.

Difference Makers?
UB enters the game 4-0 when it has a higher field-goal percentage than its opponent, and 0-4 when it has a lower field-goal percentage. The Bonnies come in having held their last two opponents to 81 combined points, and in nine games this year have held five opponents to 50 points or fewer. That puts St. Bonaventure on pace to at least equal, or surpass, last year's total when it held 14 opponents to 50 points or fewer and finished as the 9th-toughest scoring defense in the entire country at 52.7 points per game.

Scouting Buffalo
-- The Bulls return all five starters from a team that finished 7-23 a season ago and were selected to finish sixth (last) in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference

-- Senior Kourtney Brown (21.5 ppg, 13 rpg) is 11th in the country in scoring and 2nd in the country in rebounding

-- Brown has 34 career double-doubles, easily making her the MAC's active leader in that category

-- Buffalo is 4-0 when leading at the half this year, and 0-4 when it trails at the break

-- This will be UB's third and final game this year against an A-10 member, as it is currently 0-2 so far this year with losses to Temple and Duquesne

St. Bonaventure vs. Buffalo
Series Quick Facts

Overall: St. Bonaventure Leads, 13-8
At St. Bonaventure: St. Bonaventure Leads, 9-1
At Buffalo: Buffalo Leads, 6-4
At Neutral Site: Buffalo Leads, 1-0
Most St. Bonaventure Points: 105
Most Buffalo Points: 83
Fewest St. Bonaventure Points: 19
Fewest Buffalo Points: 22
Largest St. Bonaventure Margin: 24
Largest Buffalo Margin: 21

Linda Hill-MacDonald begins her sixth season as head coach of the University at Buffalo women's basketball team, having led the Bulls to their most successful MAC Tournament just two seasons ago.

Last season, Hill-MacDonald coached Kourtney Brown onto the All-MAC First Team, just the second UB player ever to do so. Brown was also named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year. The Bulls had five freshmen on the team, with one making the league's All-Freshmen Team. The Bulls played a tough non-conference schedule, meeting teams from both the Big East and Big Ten.

Despite an 8-24 overall record in 2008-09, Hill-MacDonald led the Bulls into the Mid-American Conference Tournament as the sixth seed in the East as the Bulls pulled off two upsets on their way to the conference semifinals before losing to the eventual tournament champion. Hill-MacDonald also coached Kourtney Brown, who had arguably the best year of any player in school history as she set school records for points scored in a season and field goals in a season. She earned Second Team and Academic All-MAC honors.

Another Big 4 Sweep?
With a win Friday night, the Bonnies will have swept each of their Big 4 rivals for the third consecutive year, and in the process claimed their 12th straight win over Big 4 schools. In 2007-08, the Bonnies and Bulls did not meet, but Bonaventure swept both Niagara and Canisius. The last Big 4 school to defeat the Bonnies was Niagara on Nov. 14, 2006, when the Purple Eagles downed the Bonnies in the Gallagher Center, 71-64.

All-Time Against The Mid-American
The Bonnies enter the game with a 22-18 all-time record against Mid-American Conference institutions. St. Bonaventure has played UB the most, in addition to every single team in the East Division. It has only played one school from the West Division, Eastern Michigan, and trails that series 0-1. This will be the first of two games against the MAC this year, as the Bonnies will host Kent State on Jan. 2 in their final non-conference matchup.

Looking For Another Sub-30
Four times in the last six games St. Bonaventure has held its opponent below 30-percent shooting. St. Bonaventure held Quinnipiac to 27.8 percent in its win on Nov. 21. Three days later, the Bonnies held Niagara to just 28.8 percent, including a 20.8-percent clip in the second half. Against Marist last Saturday, the Bonnies held the Red Foxes to a season-low 28.6 percent, and against Canisius on Tuesday they did the same thing as they held the Griffs to just 29.4 percent. The Bonnies held just one opponent below 30-percent shooting last season when they finished as the 9th-toughest scoring defense in the country at just 52.7 points per game.

Van Tatenhove En Fuego
Since being held to just eight points against Quinnipiac in a win earlier this year, junior Megan Van Tatenhove (right) has scored in double figures in five consecutive games. The forward has also mixed in a double-double during that stretch – 10 points and 10 rebounds against Marist – for her second double-double of the year and third of her career.

She has also turned up the heat at home, as after her first two games in the Reilly Center she was averaging just 8.5 points and four rebounds. In three games since, she is averaging 15 points and four rebounds. But she's at her hottest away from the RC, as in four road contests this year the Wisconsin native is averaging 18 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, including both of her double-doubles.

Jenkins MIA
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Van Tatenhove, junior Jessica Jenkins has been held to single digits in each of the last four games after scoring in double figures four of the first five games. Against Marist, the 3-point specialist failed to connect from beyond the arc for the first time all year, snapping a 16-game streak that dated back to Feb. 6, 2010. However, she bounced back against Canisius on Tuesday evening as she hit three 3-pointers in just 22 minutes of action.

Reignited?
Senior Cara Gustafson got her final campaign in the Brown and White off to a fast start as she scored 11 points in 27 minutes off a career-high-tying three 3-pointers in the season-opening win over Binghamton. However, after taking the final shot of regulation she landed awkwardly and missed the team's next game at Indiana with a right ankle sprain. In the six games after, she played just 103 minutes and scored just seven points, going a combined 2-for-12 from the field in those contests. However, against Canisius on Tuesday, the Nebraska native reignited and scored all 11 of her points in the first half as she logged 26 minutes of action.

Zahn All Nylon
After missing the first eight games of the year – and not even dressing for the first six – with a shoulder injury, freshman Ashley Zahn made her first appearance in the Brown and White late in the Bonnies' win over Canisius on Tuesday evening. The Canandaigua, N.Y. product played five minutes and finished with eight points. With just three seconds remaining on the shot clock, Zahn hit nothing but net from the right wing for 3 in her first career field goal attempt. She then hit nothing but net on her subsequent 3-point attempt from the baseline, and nothing but net on two free throw attempts.

The Great Escape
The Bonnies committed 16 turnovers last Saturday evening against Marist, while the Red Foxes had just 12 giveaways. This marked the first time this year St. Bonaventure committed more turnovers than its opponent and won the game. The Bonnies then duplicated that feat against Canisius Tuesday night when they finished with nine turnovers to the Griffs' eight, but still won the game handily.

National Trend Setters
St. Bonaventure turned the ball over just four times in its win against Lafayette on Dec. 1, setting the record for fewest turnovers by any team in the country so far this year. It also breaks a regular-season program record of six, set last year in a win over George Washington. The program record for turnovers is three, also set last year in the Bonnies' final game of the season in a loss to visiting Northwestern in the second round of the WNIT.

Within the Atlantic 10 Conference, the four turnovers ties St. Bonaventure for the second fewest in the history of the league with Duquesne. Saint Joseph's and Temple share the record with just three giveaways.

Among The Nation's Best
The Bonnies entered this week tied for 7th in the nation in free-throw shooting with No. 1 Connecticut. The Brown and White are currently connecting at an 80-percent clip from the line. St. Bonaventure is also ranked inside in the top-50 nationally in turnovers per game (14/17th) and scoring defense (52.9/38th).

Career Houdini
So far this year, Chelsea Bowker (left) has either had career nights for the Bonnies, or done her best Harry Houdini impression. In six games, the sophomore forward has been held to zero or single-digits points. However, in her other three games she has had career outings. Bowker started this year with point totals of three, six and zero in the team's first three games, respectively. However, the Salem, Ohio native then exploded for a then-career-high 16 points against Quinnipiac on Nov. 21. But then she disappeared for the next two games, scoring one and six points, respectively. Bowker re-appeared on Dec. 1 opposite Lafayette when she tied her career high with 16 points. She then followed that performance up with a career-best 17 points against Marist last Saturday before pulling another Houdini Wednesday night versus Canisius when she finished with just two points.

Don't Foul Them
Of those who qualify, St. Bonaventure has three players shooting over 80 percent from the free throw line. Megan Van Tatenhove leads the club, and is 40th in the nation, at 90 percent, followed by Armelia Horton at 88.2 percent and Jessica Jenkins at 81.5 percent. Jenkins was connecting at a 91.3-percent clip heading into the Marist game, but a 1-for-4 performance dropped her percentage significantly.

Deadly From Distance
Jessica Jenkins is rapidly moving up the St. Bonaventure career 3-point list. The junior currently sits in sixth place on the all-time list with 151 made 3's, and if she continues at the pace she has the last two seasons, will head into her senior year in sole possession of third place. With three 3-pointers tonight, she will tie Courtney Mattingly for 5th on the all-time list.

Using Her 'Arm's
Redshirt junior Armelia Horton has broken career highs for assists twice this year already. The Harlem, N.Y. native came into this year with a high water mark of three assists in a game. She broke that mark with a five-assist effort in the Bonnies' win over Niagara on Nov. 24, and then exactly one week later broke that career high with a seven-dish performance in a win over Lafayette on Dec. 1.

Turnover Duplication
After finishing 2009-10 as the 7th-best ball-protecting team in the country with just 13.6 turnovers per game, the Bonnies are nearly equaling that total so far this year as they are giving the ball away just 14 times per contest. However, the more symbolic figure from that statistic is that St. Bonaventure is 2-3 when it has more turnovers than its opponent, and 4-0 when it has fewer.

Frosh Friends Making New Friends
Freshmen Doris Ortega and CeCe Dixon came to Bonaventure as a package deal from the same high school in Manhattan, and they're starting to let their presence be known on the court. In the Bonnies game against St. John's, Ortega played a career-high 27 minutes off the bench, while Dixon also came off the bench to log 28 minutes. The 55 minutes is the most combined game action the two have seen yet this year, breaking previous highs of 46 in the season opener against Binghamton and 52 at Morgan State. Dixon is doing her best to make friends of her new teammates as well, as the 5-foot-3 guard currently is second on the team in distributing the basketball, issuing 1.8 assists per game.

You Gotta Know When To Hold 'Em; Know When To Fold 'Em
Despite turning the ball over only 14 times a game, only two St. Bonaventure players who have played at least 20 minutes per contest have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. Freshman CeCe Dixon has issued 16 assists while coughing up The Rock 10 times, for a 1.60 ratio. Redshirt junior Armelia Horton has 25 dimes, compared with 21 giveaways, for a 1.19 ratio.

A List Of Firsts
With St. Bonaventure's loss to St. John's on Nov. 29, a few "firsts" happened for the Bonnies:

-- Their first home loss of the season
-- Their first game this year allowing an opponent to shoot higher than 42.5 percent
-- Their first game this season scoring 20 or fewer points in the second half

Don't Remember November
For the first time in four years, the Bonnies finished the month of November without a winning record. The last time Bonaventure failed to achieve that was during the 2006-07 season when it went 3-4 in November.

No Longer Treading Water
With the win over Canisius on Tuesday, St. Bonaventure's record is three games over .500 for the first time this year. The Bonnies have won three straight, and five of six, to get away from a previously unheard of .500 record. When Bona was at, and below, .500 earlier this year, it was the first time that anyone on the roster had ever been at, or below, .500. Prior to this year, the last time St. Bonaventure was at .500 was during the 2006-07 season when on Feb. 15, 2007 it left Saint Joseph's with a loss and had its record level at 13-13.

Next Up
The Bonnies will break for finals and won't take to the floor again until a Dec. 20 meeting with perennial mid-major power Middle Tennessee State. That game will be played in San Antonio, Texas as part of the University of Texas at San Antonio Christmas Classic. St. Bonaventure will face the host Roadrunners the following night, Dec. 21.