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Women's National Invitation Tournament
GAME DAY CENTRAL
St. Bonaventure (22-9) vs. Robert Morris (23-8)

DATE: Thursday, March 18, 2010
SITE: Reilly Center
LOCATION: St. Bonaventure, N.Y.
TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m. ET
RADIO: WPIG (95.7 FM) & WHDL (1450 AM) - Olean
TALENT: Gary Nease (Play-by-Play) & Dr. John Watson (Analyst)
LIVE STATS: www.GoBonnies.com
LIVE VIDEO/AUDIO: www.GoBonnies.com
Talent: Shannon Shepherd (Analyst) & Kevin Clark (Play-by-Play)
SERIES: St. Bonaventure leads 3-1
LAST TIME: December 7, 1993
St. Bonaventure 96, Robert Morris 60
UP NEXT: with a win -
vs. winner of Duquesne/Northwestern

BONA Bullets

• The Bonnies enter their second postseason berth in program history winning five out of their last six games and eight out of their last 11.
• St. Bonaventure made an impressive run through the WNIT last season, picking up a first round bye before knocking off Big East foe and now NCAA participant West Virginia.  The Bonnies then went on to win at Wisconsin before falling to eventual champion South Florida in the quarterfinals in front of a record 4,133 fans.
• St. Bonaventure has made more free throws than its opponent attempted 10 times this season.  The Bonnies went 27-of-34 in the A-10 quarterfinals while Dayton hit just 14-of-20.
• Senior Dana Mitchell became the first women's basketball player in Bona history to have her jersey retired after leading the Bonnies to a 78-46 record through four years.  She is second all-time scoring with 1,968 points and made field goals with 729.
• The Brown and White have hit at least one three-pointer in 193 consecutive games dating back to 2004.  The last time the Bonnies failed to convert a three-point basket in a game was on February 14, 2004 against Temple.
• TOP 15 in the nation - In the March 14 NCAA statistics, the Bonnies ranked in the top-15 in the nation in four categories - third in free-throw percentage (80.4), eighth in turnovers per game (13.5) and 11th in scoring defense (53.9) and  in three-point percentage (38.3).
• St. Bonaventure finished in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Atlantic 10 with Duquesne, Charlotte and Saint Joseph's, but did not own a tiebreaker over any of the teams and received a seventh seed.

ST. BONAVENTURE HEAD COACH
Jim Crowley
@ St. Bonaventure: 132-161 (10th year)
Overall:  171-209 (13 years)
vs. Robert Morris:  First Meeting   

ROBERT MORRIS HEAD COACH
Sal Buscaglia
@ Robert Morris: 126-87 (Sixth year)
Overall:  613-278 (32 years)
vs. St. Bonaventure: First Meeting

Scouting the Colonials
Robert Morris, the regular season Northeast Conference Champion, enters the WNIT carrying a 23-8 mark and having won 13 of its last 14 games and 17 of its last 19.  The Colonials have now made a postseason appearance in each of the past four seasons. RMU earned NCAA Tournament berths in 2007 and 2008 and a Preseason WNIT invitation to start the 2008-09 season.  The Colonials are led by the NEC Player and Defensive Player of the Year, senior guard Angela Pace. Pace averages 15.3 points per game and 7.1 rebounds a contest while shooting 48.1 percent from the field. NEC All-Rookie team selection Vega Gimeno-Martinez adds 10.2 points to a balanced scoring attack that features six players who average over 7.3 points per game.

Against the NEC
The Bonnies are 3-0 against Northeast Conferenece opponents this season.  The Bonnies downed Bryant, Fairleigh Dickinson and Quinnipiac in its 11-0 run to start the season.

Series Note
The Colonials and Bonnies have met just four times with St. Bonaventure holding a 3-1 advantage in the series which has been idle since 1993. The home team has won every meeting in this short series that began in 1988.

There's no Place like Home
The Bonnies are 11-3 at home this season.  They are outscoring opponents by 14.1 points when they enter the Reilly Center and only allow an average of 50.1 points.

ALL-CONFERENCE Bonnie
Senior Dana Mitchell was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference first team, making her the fourth player in program history to be an All-Conference selection four consecutive years and just the second player to earn a first team nod. For her performance in the classroom, Mitchell was also named to the Academic All-Conference team.

The HONORABLE
Sophomore Megan Van Tatenhove earned All-Conference honorable mention after scoring in double-digits in 18 games, including a career-high 27 points in the win at Quinnipiac. The two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Week ranks eighth in the A-10 in field goal percentage hitting 49.6 percent and 13th in free-throw percentage (75.6).

Part of the Big Dance Revolution
The Bonnies played eight teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament this season beating three of them - Temple, Bowling Green and Marist.  St. Bonaventure also faced Dayton, Xavier, Michigan State, Lehigh and Virgina.

Not-so LEADING SCORERS
St. Bonaventure held three A-10 opponents' leading scorers to under their double-figure averages.  Richmond's Brittani Shells and Duquesne's Samantha Pollino were held to two points while Rhode Island's Megan Shoniker scored nine.

From DOWN TOWN
Sophomore Jessica Jenkins has hit at least two three-pointers in 20 games this season.  She sits in third in single-season three pointers made with 80 needing just four more to tie for second.

The “SOPH”-ter side of things
Sophomore Megan Van Tatenhove is second on the team in scoring  (11.6) after posting seven team-high point performances.  Her 16-point second half against Saint Louis in the A-10 tournament pushed the Bonnies to victory.

Under PRESSURE
The Bonnies scoring defense ranks 11th in the nation and first in the Atlantic 10 allowing 53.9 points per game.  St. Bonaventure has held 21 of its opponents to under 60 points.

Seeing DOUBLE
Senior Dana Mitchell broke a 10-year old record and now has 111 double figure scoring games through her career to sit first on the all-time list.   Hilary Waltman is now in second with 98.

BUZZER to BUZZER
The team has led wire to wire nine times this season and have won by an average of nearly 22 points

LEADING Scorers
Dana Mitchell, and sophomores Megan Van Tatenhove and Jessica Jenkins lead the Bonnies in scoring.  The Bonnies have not finished a season with three double-figure averages since 2001-02 when Courtney Mattingly, Gellaine Clarke and Melissa Fazio averaged double-digits.

Going LONG
The Bonnies have made four or more three-pointers in 25 out of their 31 games.  They scored a season-high nine at Quinnipiac and against Buffalo.