Social Media Recap

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's basketball team (3-0) built a 22 point lead and held on down the stretch to claim the 54-45 victory over Colgate (1-2) Friday evening in the Reilly Center.

The game did not start out well for the Bonnies. By the first media timeout, Colgate had built an 8-0 lead and forced SBU to an 0-6 shooting clip from the floor. The Raiders would build their lead to 10-1 before the Bonnies offense found its legs.

Head coach Jim Crowley pulled his five starters and replaced them with four freshmen and sophomore guard Tatiana Wilson. Katie Healy promptly got fouled and converted both free throws followed by a Nyla Rueter driving lay-in. Wilson came down the next possession and stuck a floater in the lane to cut the lead to three, forcing a Colgate timeout.

The Bonnies would continue their run as Crowley began to slowly filter starters back on to the floor. Ashley Zahn came in and hit a three-pointer from the corner off an inbounds play to give the Brown and White their first lead of the game at the 10:35 mark. The Raiders would come down the floor and tie the game, but a pair of Doris Ortega free throws gave SBU the lead that they would never relinquish.

The Bonnies closed the half on a 30-10 run. After starting 0-6 from the floor, SBU shot 11-34 in the first half but were a disappointing 2-13 from long range. Alaina Walker paced the scoring with a game high nine points at that stage. Ortega was filling the stat sheet, registering seven points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists by the midway point.

SBU got the second half started with hot hands. They would build the lead up to 22, 42-20, with an 11-0 run in the first 3:20, before allowing Colgate to score. From there however, it was the Raiders who began to chip away.

The Bonnies offense became stagnant but for a shot while maintained the lead. By the 7:13 mark,

Colgate had cut the lead to just ten points. The teams would trade baskets over the next five minutes. Colgate held the Bonnies without a field goal over the last 5:58.

The Raiders would cut the lead to single digits, 54-45, with 41 seconds to play but would come no closer. The Bonnies hung on to win by that score.

With the win St. Bonaventure moves to 3-0 for the tenth time in program history. SBU hits the road for an eight-game road stand starting on Tuesday (Nov. 20) at Fairfield. From there the Bonnies will travel to New Mexico, then Delaware, Toledo, Buffalo and West Virginia before returning home to face the Golden Griffins of Canisius (Dec. 16).

GAME NOTES: Doris Ortega registered her second consecutive double-double (fourth of her career) with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Ortega also picked up four steals and handed out two assists. Alaina Walker scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Ashley Zahn went 2-7 from three-point land for eight points. CeCe Dixon scored 11 on 4-14 shooting (2-6 3FG) and had three steals. Freshman Katie Healy, who scored 12 points in each of the first two games, scored just 2 points on 0-3 from the floor, 2-3 from the free throw line. The Bench contributed zero points in the second half for SBU. The Bonnies shot just 30.0 percent from the floor in the victory.