ST. BONAVENTURE at GEORGE MASON
Tuesday, Feb. 27 - 7:00 p.m.
Atlantic 10 Tournament - First Round
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Complete Game Notes (PDF)
BONNIES HOPE THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM: St. Bonaventure and George Mason will meet for the third time this season on Tuesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Bonnies will hope that the third time is the charm after falling to the Patriots 76-63 at home on Jan. 31 and at Mason just over a week ago, 78-63, on Feb. 18. The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the A-10 quarterfinals set for Friday in Richmond. The SBU/Mason winner will play the winner of No. 4 George Washington/No. 12 La Salle Friday at 2 p.m. in the Richmond Coliseum.
BONNIES STORYLINES
- The Bonnies are seeking their first A-10 Tournament victory since 2014, a quarterfinal victory over La Salle, 54-42, at the Richmond Coliseum. Since then, the Bonnies have had their share of A-10 tourney heartbreak: a 55-49 loss to UMass in the 2015 first round, a 59-50 setback to VCU in the 2016 quarterfinals and a 73-70 heartbreaker at La Salle a year ago.
- Senior Mariah Ruff will look to continue her standout career by at least one more game. Ruff, who was honored prior to Saturday's game at the Reilly Center, figures to make her 111th consecutive start Tuesday night. She enters the game needing five points to move into the top 10 in all-time program scoring as she currently owns 1,416 career points, ranking 12th behind Melissa Fazio '01 (1,419) and Stefanie Collins '06 (1,421). One more three-pointer will give her an even 200 for her career as she broke a tie for fifth in the career record books with Katelyn Murray '09 in Saturday's game. She also begins Tuesday's game with 424 career assists, 10 away from Tricia Pawling '98 for third in Bonnies history.
- Ruff led all Atlantic 10 players by averaging 19.6 points per game during the 16 conference games this season. She led the conference by nearly a full point per game as Richmond's Micaela Parson was second at 18.8 ppg.
- Ruff's 148 assists this season rank fifth in single season SBU history and are the most by any Bona player since 1992-93.
- Sophomore Danielle Migliore delivered her second career double-double on Saturday, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds. It was her third straight game of double-figure scoring after not reaching double figures in the previous six contests.
- Junior Mckenna Maycock has been near the league leaders in 3-point percentage all season, hitting over 46 percent of her attempts. She drilled four more 3s Saturday and now has 36 for the season. Entering this year, she had hit nine 3s over her first two seasons combined.
- Arielle Harvey is averaging 19.0 points per game vs. George Mason this season, shooting better than 59 percent from the floor. In five career games, Ruff averages 13.2 points and 3.8 assists vs. the Patriots.
BONA VS. GEORGE MASON - SERIES HISTORY
- The Bonnies and Patriots face off for the seventh time on Tuesday. This season had already marked the first time the two squads had met multiple times in the same year.
- The Bonnies and Patriots have never previously met in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
- In the first meeting of the year, Mason prevailed by 13 points at The RC on Jan. 31. Bona's junior Arielle Harvey netted a career high 22 points while senior Mariah Ruff added 17. Natalie Butler delivered 22 points and 17 rebounds for Mason in the victory. In the second meeting, a big first quarter deficit proved too much to overcome despite several rally efforts by the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team in a 78-63 setback to George Mason Feb. 18 at EagleBank Arena. Four St. Bonaventure players reached double figure scoring on the day – Arielle Harvey led the way with 16 points despite being limited to 23 minutes of action due to early foul trouble. Mariah Ruff finished with 15 points and seven assists while Mckenna Maycock delivered 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting beyond the arc and Danielle Migliore posted 10 points, all in strong scoring efforts.
- George Mason graduate transfer Natalie Butler led all scorers with 23 points, adding 24 rebounds for her 27th consecutive double-double.
- George Mason built a 16-point third quarter lead then held on late for a 52-49 win in Fairfax, Va. on Dec. 31, 2016. A 19-0 Mason run spanning the second and third quarters gave the Patriots a 37-21 lead with 5:26 left in the third, but the Bonnies chipped away late and closed within a bucket with 21 seconds to play. The Bonnies had a chance to tie on the final possession, but an effort at the tying three went around the rim and out.
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