ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Four players finished in doubles figures as the St. Bonaventure University women's basketball team kicked off the 2024-25 season with an 82-61 win over Binghamton Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center.
Isabellah Middleton tallied a game-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Mackenzie Pettinelli registered 14 points in her Bonnies debut, grabbing six boards and dishing out six assists in a team-best 35 minutes. Dani Haskell finished with 12 points for the Brown and White while Zoe Shaw chipped in 11 tallies in her collegiate debut.
The Bonnies and Bearcats battled in a back-and-forth first quarter as Yanniah Boyd gave the visitors a 10-9 lead early on.
The Bonnies and Middleton, however, answered with a 3-pointer, putting the hosts back on top, 12-10, and the Bonnies never trailed again.
Boyd brought the Bearcats within two in the second period with a basket with 6:50 showing on the clock.
Bona's responded with a 10-1 run capped off by a Pettinelli three to push the lead back to 11, 35-24.
Shaw ended the first half with a 3-pointer of her own, giving the Bonnies a 41-31 halftime lead.
Binghamton struck first in the second half, but the Bonnies answered with an 8-0 run to take a 15-point advantage, growing their lead to as many as 18 in the third quarter.
Binghamton did not go away quietly, pulling back within 12, 62-50, with just over eight minutes to play.
The Bonnies used five fourth-quarter points from freshman Macy Smith to pull away for good, taking a 67-52 lead and closing out the contest.
Leah Middleton paced the Bearcats with 17 points.
GAME NOTES
- The Bonnies finished the contest shooting 58.5 percent (31-for-53) from the field and 56.5 percent (13-for-23) from beyond the arc. The Brown and White shot over 50 percent from the field just once during the 2023-24 season.
- Bona's forced 21 Binghamton turnovers, leading to 31 points scored off turnovers.\
- Gabby Robinson Forde tallied four points and five rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench in her St. Bonaventure debut.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JIM CROWLEY
"We knew this was going to be a challenging game. Binghamton had a great win Thursday. Mary does an amazing job and they have really good guard play. We knew we had to play pretty well and I thought we handled their zone well."
"We passed it well and when we needed a stop, we got it. I thought our first half defense was really, really solid and consistent. We got a little lax in the second half and some things to tighten up there, but really proud of how we passed the ball."
"I thought our older kids kept us calm and helped us get the lead in the first half. They continued to be consistent in the second half and some our younger players were able to contribute then, too."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies head out on the road for the first time when they travel to take on Youngstown State Tuesday, Nov. 12. Tip is slated for 6:30 p.m. in Ohio.
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