BIG 4 RIVALS SQUARE OFF AGAIN AT RC: Longstanding Western New York rivals will face off again Friday night as the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team takes on Buffalo at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies are fresh off a big win last Saturday over Penn State, 65-62, while UB comes in flying high after starting the year 7-1. St. Bonaventure has owned the series in recent years, and has won 10 straight in the Reilly Center, but the Bonnies seek revenge after Buffalo owned last year's matchup in the City of Good Neighbors. 

 

PENN STATE LEFTOVERS: The Bonnies have momentum after knocking off then-8-2 Penn State last Saturday. St. Bonaventure made Penn State, a former Atlantic 10 member, 118-16 all-time against A-10 teams after roaring back from a 12-point deficit for a three-point win. It was the ninth win for SBU over a power conference team since 2011-12 and the first since a win over Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament on March 18, 2016. Penn State entered the day ranked No. 56 in the RPI. The Bonnies will play their third straight top 60 RPI team on Friday night - Buffalo comes into the game ranked No. 16 while Toledo, which played at The RC last Monday, was ranked No. 28 when the Rockets came away with a victory. 

 

MAYCOCK SURGING: Junior Mckenna Maycock has been outstanding over the first 10 games of the season, again playing a key role as the Bonnies defeated Penn State on Dec. 9. Maycock tied her career high with 23 points, hitting a career-best nine field goals. She joined some elite company with the performance, her fourth 20-point game in the first 10 contests of the year. In doing so, she became the first Bonnies player to score 20 or more points at least four times in the first 10 games of the season since Dana Mitchell did so in 2008. Mitchell, one of just two 2,000-point scorers in program history, ranks second in Bonnies all-time scoring and is the only SBU women's basketball player to have her jersey retired as her No. 5 hangs from the rafters of The RC. Mitchell actually accomplished the feat in back-to-back years, scoring 20-plus points four times during the first 10 games of 2008-09 after registering those totals five times in the opening 10 contests of the 2007-08 campaign. Maycock, who never had scored more than 15 points in a game prior to this season, has scored 20+ in four of the last eight outings - in addition to the PSU game, she tallied 23 points vs. UMBC and 21 points each at Bucknell and Canisius.

 

THIRD QUARTER DOMINATION: St. Bonaventure has been nothing short of dominant in the third quarter at home this season, owning a +58 scoring margin during the third at The RC this season. St. Bonaventure started the third on a 17-3 run vs. Penn State last Saturday. Bona has been behind at halftime in all of its three home wins this season. 

 

CAPITALIZING ON OTHER'S MISCUES: The Bonnies continued their trend of capitalizing on the turnovers of the opposition by leading Penn State by a 15-11 margin in points off turnovers. The Bonnies have outscored opponents in points off turnovers in eight of 10 games this season. 

 

JOHNSON MAKES AWAITED DEBUT: Freshman Abigail Johnson made her long awaited Bonnies debut Dec. 9 vs. Penn State. The England native, who missed the first nine games of the season due to injury, was key to the Bona win with six rebounds in 18 minutes. Johnson is an accomplished international player - she represented Great Britain in the 2017 FIBA U20 European Women's Championship in Israel, leading the tournament with 9.3 rebounds per game in addition to averaging 7.9 points. She also averaged 5.4 ppg and 8.0 rpg at the 2016 FIBA U20s and also played at the 2013 FIBA U6 Euro Championships. 

 

• Friday night marks the 26th meeting all-time between the Bonnies and Bulls.
• The teams have split the last four meetings with each defending home court.
• St. Bonaventure has won 10 of 11 meetings at the Reilly Center - with its only loss coming in the very first game between the schools in Cattaraugus County. St. Bonaventure has not lost to Buffalo at home since the Bulls grabbed a 69-53 win during the 1975-76 season in what was the first game played between the teams at The RC and just the second meeting overall.
• The series has become a holiday season staple. The last eight meetings have taken place during the month of December.
• St. Bonaventure and Buffalo met every year from 1974-75 through 1984-85, but the series was on hiatus for seven years and then took another eight years off after a one-off game in 1992. The teams have met every year since 2008, however, as the Big 4 rivalry has heated up.

• Buffalo enters Friday night's game with a 7-1 record.  The Bulls are 1-1 on the road, defeating Columbia, 65-63, and falling to Arizona State, 76-57. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack and her team are averaging 72.6 points per game, while shooting 42% from the field.
• The Bulls currently rank 16 in the RPI standings, having two wins over power five conference opponents. Buffalo defeated Nebraska, 82-72, on Nov. 23 and Clemson, 61-41, on Nov. 24. Including Nebraska, the Bulls have two wins over teams that are ranked in the top 100 of the RPI, the other being Delaware.
• Senior center Cassie Oursler leads the team in scoring so far this season. She averages 13.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Cierra Dillard is second on the team with 13.4 points per game, while leading the team in assists per game with 4.1 and steals with 29.
• Buffalo is among the top defensive teams in the country, forcing 23 turnovers per game which ranks 14th in the NCAA. They also rank eighth in the NCAA in steals per game with 13.4 and are tied for 22nd with a total of 107 steals.
• Friday's game is the second of five consecutive games on the road for the Bulls. After the game against the Bonnies, Buffalo travels to Niagara, St. John's and Akron. 

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