Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Duquesne | Atlantic 10
St. Bona (15-10, 5-5 A-10) vs. Duquesne (20-4, 7-2)
Saturday, Feb. 12 | 1:30 p.m. | Reilly Center (5,480)
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak and avenge an earlier-season loss to Duquesne when the two rivals meet Saturday afternoon in the Reilly Center. In the first matchup of the year, the Dukes – receiving votes in this week's Associated Press poll – erased a 16-point second-half deficit to come away with a 60-54 win in the league opener for both schools. The Bonnies have not lost four in a row since February 2007, and this will be the fourth consecutive game in which they have faced a team ranked higher than them in the Atlantic 10 standings. Duquesne enters today's contest as owners of the most road wins, 12, in all of college basketball, and clinched its 20th win of the year in a 67-41 contest Wednesday night against Saint Louis. Bonaventure dropped a 54-38 decision to Temple Wednesday. The 38 points were the fewest in a game since Feb. 10, 2006 at Charlotte, and fewest in a home game since joining the Division I ranks in 1986-87.
Last Time Out
Temple (18-6, 9-0 Atlantic 10) held St. Bonaventure to a season-low point total and led for 39 minutes on Wednesday evening at the Reilly Center, defeating the Bonnies, 54-38.
Number Crunching
St. Bonaventure enters Saturday's matchup as the best defensive team in the A-10, holding its opponents to an average of 54.6 points per game. That bodes well for the Bonnies, as in all four of its losses, Duquesne has failed to score more than 59 points. Also, in all four of its losses, the Dukes have committed more turnovers than their opponent. The Bonnies, meanwhile, are 11-3 on the year when they commit fewer turnovers than their opponent, and just 4-7 when they have more. Duquesne currently sits at No. 39 in the NCAA RPI, the fourth straight opponent the Bonnies have faced which has an RPI of 65 or higher. St. Bonaventure is currently ranked No. 73 in the RPI.
Scouting Duquesne
--The Dukes were tabbed to finish sixth in the preseason A-10 rankings
--While the Bonnies have held an opponent below 40 points this year, Duquesne has as well as it allowed Robert Morris to score just 34 points on Nov. 28 in a 61-34 win
--Duquesne has won 12 straight road games, the longest road winning streak in school history
--In all four of their losses this year, the Dukes have committed more turnovers than their opponent
--This year's senior class of Kelly Britcher, Samantha Pollino and Diana Voynova is the winningest class in program history
--Earlier this year, Duquesne established its longest winning streak in program history by rattling off seven straight decisions
St. Bonaventure vs. Duquesne
Series Quick Facts
Overall: Duquesne Leads, 29-14
At St. Bonaventure: Tied Leads, 9-9
At Duquesne: Duquesne Leads, 15-4
At Neutral Site: Duquesne Leads, 5-1
Most St. Bonaventure Points: 85 (Feb. 26, 1991: 85-66)
Most Duquesne Points: 86 (Jan. 22, 1998: 86-82)
Fewest St. Bonaventure Points: 46 (Jan. 9, 2007: 55-46)
Fewest Duquesne Points: 46 (Feb. 20, 2010: 70-46)
Largest St. Bonaventure Margin: 32 (Mar. 4, 1992: 79-47)
Largest Duquesne Margin: 26 (Feb. 2, 1989: 85-59)
Women's Basketball Hall of Famer and Pittsburgh native Suzie McConnell-Serio, one of the most highly-decorated players in the history of women's basketball, owner of over 300 wins as a high school head coach and former WNBA Coach of the Year, was named the ninth head coach in the history of the Duquesne women's basketball program in April of 2007.
The team who the coaches and media picked to finish 13th in the Atlantic 10 Conference, surprised everybody last season by finishing tied for seventh place in the A-10 with a record of 6-8 and 15-15 overall. McConnell-Serio, who inherited a team coming off the worst since 1993 (7-20 in 2007) guided the Dukes to their second most improved season in school history (6.5 games). Additionally, DU improved 79 positions in the RPI, which was the most since 2001.
McConnell-Serio's success on the floor was recognized by league officials as Kristi Little was named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year as well as being named to the A-10 Third Team All-Conference and All Defensive Team. The success continued into McConnell-Serio's second season, as Duquesne set a program record with 20 wins, six consecutive A-10 victories and their first-ever post-season berth when DU was selected to host a WNIT game. The Dukes' winning percentage of .625 was the best since 1998. Additionally, the 2009 squad set a program-high with 2,208 points scored and tied the school record with 487 assists. Little became the only A-10 player to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards.
We're Number One
St. Bonaventure is the only school in the nation that has decreased its loss total every single year since the 2004-05 season: 2004-05: 19; 2005-06: 18; 2006-07: 15; 2007-08: 12; 2008-09: 11; 2009-10: 10. Going back even further, the Bonnies have not increased their loss total since the 2002-03 campaign. In that year they lost 22 games, and the following year in 2003-04 finished with 19 losses, a total they tied the next season to start the streak.
Seeing Double … And Triple
With her first 3-pointer of today's game, Jessica Jenkins will have hit her 200th career 3. The junior moved into sole possession of third place on the all-time 3-pointers made list last Saturday at Richmond. On the year, Jenkins has hit 71 3's, and her 2.9 3-pointers per game ranks 14th in the nation. Furthermore, Jenkins has hit exactly five 3's in a game on seven different occasions this year. With her team-high 13 points against Richmond, the Marion, Ohio, native has also been in double figures in 11 of the past 14 games.
Not So Sly
The Red Foxes of Marist, ranked No. 24/25 in the nation this week, are currently riding the second-longest winning streak in the entire country. Marist has won 17 straight games, and sit at 21-2 overall … and the Bonnies were the last team to beat the Red Foxes. Bonavenure went to Poughkeepsie on Dec. 4, and in front of a near sold-out McCann Field House, held Marist to its season-low point total in a 45-40 victory. With the win, St. Bonaventure was just the sixth team in the last six years to beat Marist on its home court.
Unfortunately, It Ain't Horseshoes
Close has been the story of the Bonaventure season to this point. Currently at 15-10, seven of the 10 losses have come by fewer than 10 points, with the only double-digit losses being by 11, 16 and 20 points, respectively, to nationally ranked St. John's, Temple and Xavier.
Van Tatenhove's Historic Night
Junior Megan Van Tatenhove turned in one of the best scoring performances in St. Bonaventure history last Wednesday night against Dayton. She finished with a career-high 35 points, the most points scored by a Bonaventure player since Stefanie Collins netted 36 at Stony Brook on Nov. 22, 2003. The Wisconsin native's performance ranks as the sixth-best in program history, and she finished just six points shy of breaking the all-time mark of 40, set by Sue Shay in 1989. Van Tatenhove's 12 field goals and 42 minutes of game action were also career highs. Additionally, she hit a team-season-high nine free throws. She also got the job done on the glass as she grabbed a team-high eight caroms, while getting her teammates involved as well, finishing with a team-best four assists.
Mirror Image
After finishing in the top 10 in the nation in four different statistical categories last year, the Bonnies are looking at repeating those finishes in exactly the same categories again this year. St. Bonaventure is 20th in the nation in free throw shooting (75.4 percent), 17th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (37), 19th in the nation in scoring defense (54.6 points per game) and 11th in the nation in turnovers per game (14).
Something About 19
In the second half of its win over Saint Joseph's Jan. 26, St. Bonaventure held the Hawks to just 19 points. That was the third time through the first six A-10 games that the Bonnies held an opponent to exactly 19 second-half points. The first time they turned that trick was against La Salle after they allowed the Explorers to score 35 in the first half – the most first-half points any team has scored against the Bonnies all year. Bonaventure then repeated that 19-point feat the following game opposite George Washington on Jan. 15 to help earn its first-ever win at the Smith Center (1-16).
Van Tatenhove En Fuego
After ending the non-conference slate against West Virginia and Kent State with six- and four-point performances, respectively, Megan Van Tatenhove has exploded in A-10 play. She has scored in double-figure points in every conference game, increasing her points per game average from 13.2 prior to A-10 play to its current 15.2 level. Furthermore, Van Tatenhove is averaging 18.2 points per game in conference play, good for second-best in the entire league.
She Can Be Offensive
Sophomore Alaina Walker will almost always guard the opposing team's best offensive player as she anchors the A-10's best defense, but recently she's proved she can get the job done at the offensive end as well. Against Massachusetts last Saturday she finished with 11 points, her first conference game in double-figure points. She then followed that total up with a 10-point effort opposite Dayton last Wednesday. Her back-to-back double-figure outings represent the first time in her career she has done that.
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 14.2 times per contest, good for 11th in the nation. However, the more symbolic figure from that statistic is that St. Bonaventure is 4-7 when it turns the ball over more times than its opponent, and 11-3 when it has fewer.
Next Up
After a difficult four-game stretch, the Bonnies will have a week off before heading to New York City next Saturday to face Fordham at 1 p.m.
For more game notes, click here.
