St. Bonaventure (5-1) @ Binghamton (4-2)
Saturday, Dec. 3 | 2 PM | Events Center (5,134)
Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Binghamton | Atlantic 10
Follow: @Go_Bonnies | #Bonnies
For the fifth consecutive season, St. Bonaventure and Binghamton will meet when the two teams take to the Events Center floor Saturday afternoon. The Bonnies hold a 5-0 all-time series advantage, but escaped last year's meeting with a 62-59 overtime win at the Reilly Center.
Bonaventure will be looking to set a program record against the Bearcats as it seeks its first-ever 5-0 road start to a season. The 2009-10 club was the only other Bona squad in history to begin a campaign 4-0 on the road, but lost in its fifth attempt at No. 16/20 Michigan State.
The Bonnies have dominated America East Conference competition recently, currently riding a 10-game winning streak over such foes. The Brown and White has not lost to an AE member since Nov. 25, 2003, versus New Hampshire.
The game against Binghamton will be the fifth rematch for the Bonnies of games played last year, as they are already 4-0 in such contests, owning wins against St. John's, West Virginia, Morgan State and Kent State. Of the 15 non-league games Bonaventure will play, 11 are rematches from the 2010-11 season. The Brown and White went 7-4 in those games, but has avenged three of the losses (St. John's, WVU, Morgan State) already this year.
After leading the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring defense each of the last two years, St. Bonaventure is on its way to once again defending that title as it ranks second in the league, allowing just 55.2 points per game. Both of Binghamton's losses this year have come when scoring fewer than 60 points – a level that the Bonnies have allowed just one opponent (Delaware, 61) to reach all season.
For the third straight game, St. Bonaventure could be without starting point guard Armelia Horton, who is questionable. The redshirt senior suffered a head injury in practice on Nov. 26, but the bench has given the Bonnies a much-needed lift in her absence. In the win against Kent State on Wednesday, sophomore CeCe Dixon started in place of Horton and scored a game-high 14 points – 10 of which came in the second half. Additionally, junior Chelsea Bowker kept the Bonnies in the game in the first half, scoring 11 of her 12 in the opening stanza.
St. Bona is coming off a 60-51 win at Kent State Wednesday night despite turning the ball over a season-high 17 times. Entering the contest, the Bonnies ranked third in the nation in that category, committing just 11.8 giveaways per outing, and hadn't turned the ball over more than 13 times in a game.
Scouting Binghamton
~ 90.2 percent of Binghamton's scoring has come from its starters (314 of 348 total points), and the starting five has accounted for 82 percent of all minutes played by the 13 Bearcats this season
~ The Bearcats are 4-0 when leading at the half and 0-2 when trailing at the break; additionally, both of their losses have come on Saturdays
~ Assistant coach Sara Cartmill coached at St. Bonaventure from 2006-10 before returning to her alma mater prior to last season
~ Binghamton returns four starters and nine letterwinners from a team which went 19-12 last year before losing in the America East semifinals
~ Senior Andrea Holmes was named to the America East Preseason First Team
~ BU has players from four different countries and five different states
Next Up
St. Bonaventure returns to the RC as it will begin a four-game homestand against the Big 10's Indiana Hoosiers next Wednesday. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. as the Bonnies look to avenge a six-point loss to the Hoosiers last season.
