WNIT First Round

St. Bonaventure (20-11) vs. Lehigh (21-10)
Thursday, March 17 | Reilly Center | 7 p.m.

St. Bonaventure Postseason Guide

Lehigh Game Notes

WNIT Bracket

WSBU-FM 88.3 The Buzz Audio Link

Twitter In-Game Updates

Tickets are general admission and $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 4-17. Students WILL be admitted free; however, they need to pick up a ticket at the SBU Ticket Office. More information on tickets and how they can be purchased can be found here.

The game will be produced by SBU-TV and streamed FREE OF CHARGE via this link, or the link at the top of the page.

With a win, St. Bonaventure will play the victor of Syracuse-Monmouth in the Second Round.

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – For the third consecutive year, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team is playing in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, as it hosts the Patriot League's Lehigh Mountain Hawks in first-round action Thursday night. In each of the previous two years, the Bonnies have won at least one game in the tournament, and in 2008-09 advanced all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual WNIT champion South Florida. Bonaventure received an at-large selection into the field of 64, while Lehigh gained one of the 31 automatic berths by having the best record among teams in its league not selected to the NCAA Tournament. Lehigh holds a 2-0 all-time edge in the series, as the two teams met in St. Bonaventure's first year as a Division I member, 1986-87, and last year in the championship game of Lehigh's Christmas City Classic. Both games have been two-point decisions, as the Mountain Hawks have claimed 61-59 and 68-66 wins. Last year's game, which went to overtime, featured a combined 55 team fouls and 79 attempted free throws. Jessica Jenkins, currently St. Bonaventure's second-leading scorer this year at 13 points per game, missed all 10 of her shots in that game – including seven from 3-point range – as she was held without a point in 29 minutes of action. The winner of Thursday's contest advances to the second round to play the victor of Monmouth and Syracuse.

Last Time Out
After winning its first-round game as a 7 seed over 10th-seeded Fordham, 48-41, at the A-10 Women's Basketball Championship, St. Bonaventure fell in the quarterfinals for the third straight year, this time to NCAA Tournament participant Temple, 75-56.

Number Crunching
Thursday's matchup features the Patriot League's best offense against the Atlantic 10's best defense. Lehigh enters averaging 65.3 points per game, while St. Bonaventure holds its opponents to an average of 55.3 points per outing. The Mountain Hawks and Bonnies have faced five common opponents this year, but just one which is not an A-10 or PL member. The Bonnies will be hosting their 15th game of the season, and they are 10-4 in previous games. The 10 wins marks the third consecutive year in which Bona's has won 10 or more home games, the longest such streak in program history.

Scouting Lehigh
 The Mountain Hawks finished 2nd in the Patriot League with a 20-9 (10-4) regular-season record
 They led the Patriot League in scoring (64.7 ppg), steals (9.2) and turnover margin (+3.1)
 Lehigh ranks 48th in the nation in 3-point field goals made per game (6.8)
 Senior guard Erica Prosser leads the team in scoring at 14.1 ppg and is 13th in the nation in assists per game at 5.9
 Prosser was named Patriot Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year 
 Prior to losing to American in the Patriot League semifinals, Lehigh had won its previous four games by an average of 26.5 points per contest

St. Bonaventure vs. Lehigh
Series Quick Facts
At St. Bonaventure: Lehigh Leads, 1-0
At Lehigh: Lehigh Leads, 1-0
At Neutral Site: N/A
Most St. Bonaventure Points: 66 (Dec. 30, 2009: 68-66)
Most Lehigh Points: 68 (Dec. 30, 2009: 68-66)
Fewest St. Bonaventure Points: 59 (Dec. 6, 1986: 61-59)
Fewest Lehigh Points: 61 (Dec. 6, 1986: 61-59)
Largest St. Bonaventure Margin: N/A
Largest Lehigh Margin: 2 (two times)

Lehigh head basketball coach Sue Troyan is certainly no stranger to winning.  Now in her 16th season, she has helped turn around the women's basketball program from a struggling team to a three-time Patriot League Champion program.

2010 marked Troyan's third Patriot League title, and second consecutive and second-ever Patriot League regular season title with a league record of 13-1, earning the Mountain Hawks the top seed in the tournament.  Lehigh advanced to its third NCAA Tournament in school history, finishing the season with a 29-4 record.  For the second season, Lehigh went undefeated at home, breaking the record set the previous year for most wins in a season (29) and league wins (13).

In 2009, Troyan won her second Patriot League title, capping off a historic season in which the Mountain Hawks broke school records in wins (26), league wins (12) and home wins (17). Lehigh won its first-ever Patriot League regular season title by rolling through the league with a 12-2 record to earn the top seed in the tournament. The Mountain Hawks completed their undefeated season at home by winning three tournament games at Stabler Arena to advance to their second NCAA Tournament in school history. Lehigh finished the season with a 26-7 record, the best in Troyan's tenure with the program, and the Lehigh head coach took home her second Patriot League Coach of the Year award.

Common Ground
The Bonnies and the Mountain Hawks shared five common opponents this year in Duquesne, Saint Joseph's, Binghamton, La Salle and Lafayette. The Bonnies had a combined record of 5-1 in those games, while Lehigh managed a 5-2 mark. Both teams lost to Duquesne once, but the Bonnies defeated Duquesne on their second try. Lehigh faced Lafayette three times, twice in the regular season where it was 1-1, and once in the conference tournament where it downed the Leopards, 82-58. Lafayette was the only team from the Patriot League that St. Bonaventure met this season. Lehigh and St. Bonaventure both defeated La Salle and Binghamton.

A Tale of Two Halves
This season, the Bonnies have averaged 28.1 points in the first half while allowing 24.5 points. In the second half, however, the Bonnies average 30.9 points and allow 29.8 points. Overall they have scored 959 second-half points and only 870 points in the first half. They have also shot 279-372 from the free throw line in the second half, while going 129-178 from the charity stripe in the first half.

Fine Off The Pine
Since head coach Jim Crowley changed the team's starting lineup on Feb. 19 against Fordham, the Bonnies have gone 4-1, with sophomore Chelsea Bowker reaping the biggest individual change. As a starter, Bowker was averaging only 6.7 points per game, but coming off the bench she's averaged 13.4 points – the second highest points per game average on the team in that span. Bowker has also doubled her field goal and 3-point percentages since the switch, shooting 65 percent from the field and 70 percent from 3-point range since entering into the starting lineup.

The Finisher
Despite being the team's second-leading scorer, junior Jessica Jenkins has been the team's offensive closer. In the last five minutes of games this year, the guard has scored a team-best 102 points – no one else on the Bona roster has more than 80 – while shooting 18-40 (45 percent) from beyond the arc and 38-43 (88 percent) from the free throw line.

They're Winners
This year's senior class of Cara Gustafson and Amanda Johnson is the winningest class in school history. Entering tonight's game, they have been a part of 84 wins. Those 84 wins represent 26.3 percent of St. Bonaventure's all-time wins (319) since joining the Division I ranks in 1986-87. In their freshman year in 2007-08 they won 18 games – their worst year wearing the Brown and White, but at the time it was St. Bonaventure's best-ever season.