rv St. Bonaventure (14-2, 1-0 A-10) @ Temple (7-7, 1-0 A-10)
Wednesday, Jan. 11 | 7 PM | Liacouras Center (10,200)
Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Temple | Atlantic 10
Follow & Interact: @Go_Bonnies | #Bonnies
St. Bonaventure, Receiving Votes in the Associated Press Poll for the third time this season, looks to keep its perfect road record intact when it faces preseason Atlantic 10 favorite Temple Wednesday evening. With a victory, the Bonnies will own a four-game winning streak for the third separate time already this year.
The road has been a comfortable place for the Bonnies this year as their current 6-0 mark is the best start away from the Reilly Center to begin a season in program history. The team played a pair of neutral-site games Dec. 29-30 on the campus of Monmouth University, but this will be the first true road contest for the Bonnies since a 68-49 win at Colgate on Dec. 22.
The matchup features the only pair of returning teammates in the A-10 which averaged 13 or more points last season. For St. Bonaventure, senior forward Megan Van Tatenhove averaged 14.5 points, while classmate Jessica Jenkins scored 13.1. For Temple, it's the senior duo of Shey Peddy (14.1) and Kristen McCarthy (13.2). Both Van Tatenhove and Jenkins enter Wednesday's meeting with the same exact amount of career points (1,185).
The 6-0 road mark for St. Bonaventure makes it one of only two teams in the nation with an undefeated mark on the road with at least six victories, as Maryland is also 6-0.
Currently the second-best team in the nation at taking care of the ball (12.8 turnover per game), Bonaventure has been nearly impossible to turn over late in the game on the road. In the final five minutes of their six road games, the Bonnies have committed just one giveaway.
Similar to its late-game ball possession on the road, SBU is also extremely efficient from the free-throw line in the waning moments of its road contests. Currently the 11th-best free-throw shooting team in the nation at 77.6 percent, the Bonnies are 21-27 (77.8 percent) from the line in the last five minutes of their road games. Conversely, those home teams are just 12-21 (57.1 percent) over the same period of time.
A.W. Is A-OK
Junior Alaina Walker – one of the team's best defensive players – has put her offensive skills on display in the last two games. Against Sacred Heart on Jan. 3 she tallied a career-high 18 points, and followed that up with an 11-point performance against Duquesne on Saturday. The back-to-back double-figure point games represent the first time Walker has done that this season and just the second time in her career. The other came last year on Jan. 29 against Massachusetts and Feb. 2 opposite Dayton when she netted 11 and 10, respectively.
1K Points & 500 Boards
With her first rebound against Duquesne on Saturday, Van Tatenhove became just the ninth member of the program's 1,000 Point & 500 Rebound Club. The rebound against the Dukes was part of her sixth career double-double as Van Tatenhove finished with 13 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. The Wisconsin native is the first Bona player to join the club since Dana Mitchell in 2010, and she currently has 1,185 points (T-10th all-time) and 510 rebounds (15th all-time).
RPI Report - #41
~ 10 of St. Bonaventure's opponents are currently in the top-70 of the RPI
~ Five of SBU's first six A-10 games are against teams in the top-90 of the RPI, including three in the top-45
~ In its only two losses (Delaware, #3 RPI; Villanova, #16 RPI), Bonaventure was missing a starter due to injury - Horton (7.1 ppg; 5.3 rpg) against Delaware and A-10 First Team Preseason pick Van Tatenhove (11.3 ppg; 5.9 rpg) against Villanova
Scouting Temple
~ Four of Temple's losses have come against teams currently ranked in the top-10 of the nation (@ Ohio State, vs. Texas A&M, @ Rutgers, Duke)
~ Both the Bonnies and Owls have played St. John's, Kent State and Villanova; each defeated Kent and lost to 'Nova, while SBU defeated St. John's and Temple suffered a loss
~ In six of their seven losses, the Owls have scored fewer than 65 points; the Bonnies have not allowed an opponent to reach 65 in a game all year
~ Senior Shey Peddy was named to the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year preseason watch list
~ Three of Temple's five starters are transfers from Division I schools, including Buffalo native Joelle Connelly, whose mother played basketball at Bonaventure in the late 1980's
~ Temple is just one of six schools in the nation to have both its men's and women's teams participate in the NCAA Tournament each of the last four years
Next Up
St. Bonaventure continues league action on Wednesday, Jan. 11, when it faces Temple in Philadelphia. The Owls were picked to finish first in the A-10 along with Dayton, as the two teams shared the 14 first-place vote s. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
