CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Senior Mariah Ruff finished Tuesday's win at Bucknell just one point shy of 1,000 and enters Saturday's game at 999 for her career. With one more point, she will become the 22nd member of the program's 1,000-point club and the first to reach the milestone since Nyla Reuter did so on Jan. 13, 2016 at Davidson.

 

SPEAKING OF MILESTONES: Though Ruff did not get to 1,000 career points Tuesday, she did continue her climb in the program's all-time assists charts. With five helpers Tuesday, she passed current assistant coach Andrea Mulcahy for eighth in the program record books with 311. She also currently leads the Atlantic 10 with 7.0 assists per game.

 

WINNING ON THE ROAD: Bona snapped a longstanding jinx on the road with its win at defending Patriot League champion Bucknell on Tuesday, 59-48. It was the first road win for the 

Bonnies since Jan. 19, 2017 at UMass and snapped a recent string of heartbreak - the Bonnies had lost four of their last five road games by eight points or less prior to Tuesday's win. 

 

MAYCOCK SURGING: Junior Mckenna Maycock matched her career high in scoring by pouring in 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting including 4-of-4 from distance in Tuesday's victory at Bucknell. She matched her previous career best in scoring set just six days prior in an overtime loss at Canisius. Maycock had not posted a single 20-point game during the first 55 games of her collegiate career, but now has two such performances in the past three contests.

 

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: St. Bonaventure has used a similar recipe for victory in its three wins: In all three, the Bonnies have trailed at halftime. 

Conversely, Bona has led at the break in its two losses. The Bonnies have been a second half team for the most part in the early going: During the first half of games, the Bonnies are averaging 28.0 ppg while shooting 40.6 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent from 3. In the second half, Bona has averaged 37.6 ppg, shot 46.2 percent overall and 46.6 from distance. 

 

COMING ALIVE ON THE PERIMETER: The Bonnies have a luxury of perimeter shooting that they did not possess a season ago. St. Bonaventure is averaging nine 3s per game and have hit 45 through the first five games. It took 11 contests for Bona to reach 45 3s as a team last season. 

 

DEFENSE WINS GAMES: While the Bonnies have been finding success on the offensive end, the defense has been solid as well. St. Bonaventure is allowing an average of just 56 points during regulation to opponents this season. 

 

DUO HONORED BY ATLANTIC 10: For the second consecutive week, the Bonnies had two players land on the Atlantic 10 Honor Roll - junior Mckenna Maycock and freshman Emily Calabrese. Maycock had the best back-to-back games of her collegiate career, averaging 18.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 58 percent from the floor. Calabrese, meanwhile, is on the A-10 Honor Roll for the second consecutive week after scoring a career-high 10 points last Saturday vs. Eastern Michigan, adding seven rebounds in 29 minutes of action. 

 

• St. Bonaventure is making its first appearance in the Navy Classic. 
• The Bonnies are playing in Annapolis for the first time since beating Navy, 57-48, on Dec. 19, 2005. The Bonnies also defeated Navy at home, 61-57, on Dec. 4, 2004. In all, the Bonnies and Navy have met three times - the first coming in Annapolis on Jan. 7, 1993 when the Bonnies won, 84-77. Bona is 3-0 against Navy and 2-0 in Annapolis.
• St. Bonaventure has never faced either UMBC or North Dakota State in the sport of women's basketball.
• Though the Bonnies and North Dakota State have never met in women's basketball, they have faced in other sports recently. The Bonnies and North Dakota State both competed in the Colgate Golf Invitational this past fall while baseball took two of three in a series vs. the Bison in Winter Haven, Fla. this past spring. Bonnies baseball has won five of six from NDSU the past two seasons in early season Florida action.

• The Bonnies are playing in a Thanksgiving tournament for the second straight year. Last year, Bona won both of its games at the UCF Thanksgiving Classic in Orlando, Fla., after defeating Austin Peay, 58-57, and Rider, 60-47. In 2013, the Bonnies won two of three games at the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge hosted by UConn, winning vs. Monmouth (61-55) and Boston (65-64) before losing to host UConn (88-39).
• In 2011, the Bonnies rang in the New Year by splitting two games at the Monouth Holiday Classic, falling to Villanova (55-44) before knocking off Norfolk State (58-44). 

ABOUT UMBC
UMBC looks to bounce back from a 1-4 start to the season, dropping the opener at Atlantic 10 member Fordham (55-46) and also suffering losses to Hofstra (71-55) and Towson (95-64). The lone for the Retrievers came against Gettysburg (72-45). UMBC is coming off a season in which the team finished 15-16 overall and 10-6 in the America East, earning a spot in the Women's Basketball Invitational national postseason tournament. UMBC was selected to finish fifth in the America East preseason poll and is led by senior guard Laura Castaldo who averages 11.6 ppg along with freshman forward Janee'a Summers who averages 9.8 ppg while sophomore guard Te'yJah Oliver adds 9.6 for a club that averages 57.8 ppg.

ABOUT NAVY
Navy comes into its home tournament flying high, starting the season with wins over Marist (77-70) on the road as well as home victories against Rider (63-44), Norfolk State (70-51) and, most recently, vs. Air Force on Wednesday night (71-64). Navy was picked fourth in the Patriot League preseason poll after returning three starters from a club that set a school record for wins by going 24-10 and reached the championship game of the Patriot League Tournament before advancing to the second round of the WNIT. Navy scored its first win in a national postseason tournament with a WNIT first round win over George Washington. Navy has averaged 70.2 ppg so far this season, led by Hannah Fenske (12.8 ppg) and Taylor Dunham (12.0 ppg). 

ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE
NDSU also enters the weekend with a 4-0 record with wins over Mayville State (87-43), NJIT (105-58), Valley City State (67-58) and Atlantic 10 member UMass (82-70) for the program's best start since 2004-05. As a team, NDSU ranks second in The Summit League in scoring offense with 85.2 points per game and leads the league in scoring defense as it is limiting opponents to just 57.2 points per game. NDSU ranks second in the league in rebounding with 46.2 boards per game and is holding opponents to only 34.8 rebounds per game -- third-best in the league. Entering the year, the Bison were selected to finish sixth in the Summit League preseason poll.

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