Final Score: St. Bonaventure 54, La Salle 42

Location: Richmond Coliseum – Richmond, Va.

Records: St. Bonaventure 23-9 | LaSalle 15-15

Box Score (PDF) | Final Stats and Play-by-Play

Facebook Photo Gallery (by the A-10) 

The Short Story: On an emotional Friday night, St. Bonaventure pulled away late in the second half and posted a 54-42 win over La Salle in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Bonnies will face the winner of tonight's quarterfinal game between Duquesne and Fordham on Saturday at 1:30 on CBS Sports Network.

The Bonnies were ahead 40-36 with 4:57 remaining when they scored nine straight points to open a 49-36 lead.

Hannah Little powered St. Bonaventure with a career high 22 points and 17 rebounds. Nyla Rueter added 14 points and Katie Healy had 11 points.

Little now has 284 rebounds this season, breaking the St. Bonaventure record of 269 set by Sue Shay in 1989-90.

It was St. Bonaventure's first game since the passing of assistant sports information director Brian Moretti on Wednesday evening.

St. Bonaventure Starters: #33 G Emily Michael, #21 G Nyla Rueter, #24 F Chelsea Bowker, #42 F Katie Healy, #11 F Hannah Little

How It Happened:

• St. Bonaventure started the game with a 9-0 lead but La Salle came back and tied the game at 9-9 by the 9:57 mark.
• The Bonnies scored the next six points to go ahead 15-9 but again the Explorers chipped away and made it 15-14 on Alicia Cropper's three-pointer with 6:15 left until halftime.
• Hannah Little 's layup made it 17-14; she added a free throw at the 44 second mark and after a defensive stop, the Bonnies led 18-14 at halftime.
• The Bonnies played a superb defensive first half, holding the Explorers to four field goals on 33 shots (12 percent).
• However, offense was also hard to come by for the Bonnies as they made just six of their 20 first half shots and had six turnovers.
• The game remained close through the first 12 minutes of the second half as the Bonnies maintained their lead but were not able to push it any more than seven; Little's two free throws made it 32-25 at the 10:10 mark.
• Cropper made a jumper at the 9:07 mark to pull LaSalle within two points at 32-30.
• The Bona lead was 40-36 when Little sparked a 9-0 run that effectively decided the outcome. She converted a three-point play at the 3:51 mark, then took a pass from Rueter on a fastbreak and scored to put St. Bonaventure ahead 45-36 with 3:23 to play. After another La Salle missed shot, Nyla Rueter was fouled after collecting the rebound and made two free throws that pushed the Bonnies' lead to 47-36 at the 2:44 mark.
• Rueter converted a jumper at 2:07 to give the Bonnies their largest lead of the game at 49-36, and the lead did not dip below 10 points after that.
• While the Bonnies were just 15-40 (37 percent) from the field, they got to the free throw line 27 times and made 21. Little was 8-10 and Healy went 7-10.

Beyond the Box Score:

• The Bonnies are in the A-10 Tournament semifinals for the second time in three seasons; in 2012 they defeated Saint Joseph's to reach the final.
• Little's 22 points bettered her previous career high of 21 set at UNCG in December.
• Little's 17 rebounds are one shy of her career high and the fifth-best rebounding total ever in A-10 Tournament history (the record is 23).
• Little's double-double is her ninth this season.
• LaSalle's 14 first half points were the fewest points the Bonnies have given up in a first half this season.
• Freshman guard Imani Outlaw played key minutes (25) off the Bona bench; she scored four points and set a career high with her six rebounds.
• A good showing of Bonnies fans at the Richmond Coliseum included the Bona softball team, which is playing in the Hampton (Va.) Classic this weekend.
• The Bonnies are now 13-1 this season when leading at halftime.
• St. Bonaventure is 131-65 since the start of the 2008-09 season.
• Chelsea Bowker is now 28 points shy of 1,000 for her career.

Up Next: The Bonnies will face Fordham, which defeated Duquesne 45-41 in Friday's last quarterfinal game, on Saturday at 1:30 on CBS Sports Network.

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