St. Bonaventure

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's basketball team celebrated Halloween with a 74-41 exhibition victory over Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon led by a complete team effort and a team-high 14 points from sophomore Elyse MacDonough.
 
The Bonnies got off to a hot start, going on a 14-2 run to start the game highlighted by a pair of three-point field goals from MacDonough and six points in the paint from senior Brillana Boyd.
 
Though some turnover struggles late in the first quarter allowed the Redhawks to hang close, the Brown and White recaptured momentum down the stretch of the opening half, entering the locker room with a 37-20 lead. MacDonough headed the scoring efforts in the first half with 11 points, though the hosts spread the wealth with nine different point-scorers at the break.
 
After a slow start to the second half for both squads, sophomore Kyla Hayes and junior Mackenzie Pettinelli gave the Bonnies some energy, each burying three-pointers to extend the hosts' lead to 21 points with six minutes to play in the third quarter.
 
Bona's defense shined in that third stanza, allowing just four total points. Senior Kaylee Krystof dropped in seven points in the final 1:15 to push the hosts' advantage to 55-24 before the fourth quarter.
 
The Bonnies continued to apply pressure down the stretch, holding on to momentum and defiantly stopping any chances for the visitors to go on a run and shrink the gap. Freshman Lola Gralton recorded 10 fourth-quarter points including a trio of 3-pointers to seal the win for the Brown and White. 
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JIM CROWLEY
"It was good to be in front of the home crowd and work some things out. Obviously, there's things that we want to keep getting better at, but I loved how we moved the basketball. I thought we shared it really well. I thought we did some good things defensively. We just want to continue to be consistent with what we do."
 
"I thought Olivia DiFranco had great minutes. I thought she found teammates really well. I thought Elyse MacDonough really set the tone early. I think everybody did well, but I was really happy with Olivia. She's had a couple of good practices and she carried that over today."
 
GAME NOTES

• Mackenzie Pettinelli, Ivona Djikanovic, Kyla Hayes, Elyse MacDonough and Brillana Boyd filled out Bona's starting five.
• Bona boasted 13 different point-scorers in the contest. MacDonough and Gralton sat atop that list with 14 points and 10 points, respectively. MacDonough went a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range and 5-for-5 from the field overall.
• The Bonnies went 8-for-21 from outside the arc, while the Redhawks posted a mark of 2-for-13. From the charity stripe, the hosts went 8-for-13 while the visitors went 5-for-8.
• SBU corralled 42 rebounds to RWU's 26. For the hosts, 13 of those rebounds came on the offensive side.
• Bonaventure sent out 21 assists to Roberts Wesleyan's eight.
• The Bonnies forced 21 turnovers and scored 21 points off those defensive stops.
• Bona enjoyed 42 points off the bench in the contest.
• Brillana Boyd picked up four steals in 14 minutes of action.
• Diamond Fields led all Bonaventure bench players with 18 minutes played, going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and dishing out a pair of assists.

UP NEXT
The Bonnies host their regular season opener this coming Wednesday against D'Youville at the Reilly Center. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 p.m. with the action streaming live on ESPN+.
 
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