Bonnies Lean on Continuity, Culture Entering New Season

In an era of college basketball that coaches have dubbed the “Wild West,” roster continuity from one season to the next is exceedingly rare. For mid-major programs, especially, current transfer regulations often lead to players moving from school to school each season.

The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball program is bucking that trend.

The Bonnies returned every one of the 10 eligible players from last season’s WNIT roster for the 2026-27 campaign.

“Coach Crowley called us all into a room and expressed to us how much he wanted us all back,” senior forward Brillana Boyd said. “He was going to be supportive of whatever we did, but it was comforting to hear from your coach that he did want us back with all the transfer stuff that goes on.”

Crowley is no stranger to building a successful program. 

Currently in his second stint as the Bonnies’ head coach, Crowley is the program’s all-time wins leader. During his first stint, he led the Bonnies to six postseason berths, including two NCAA Tournaments – a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2012 and Round of 32 showing in 2016.

After spending seven years at Providence College, he returned to a Bonaventure program looking at a rebuild and quickly turned it back around. Last year, the Bonnies captured their first postseason appearance since 2016, with a berth in the WNIT. The program was one of the most improved in the nation year-to-year, adding 11 victories to their win total from the previous year.

This growth is a testament to the culture Crowley has built around the program and the school –one that his players buy into.

“When the season was over, [Crowley] was really trying to bring us together as much as possible and show what St. Bonaventure truly means,” sophomore guard Elyse MacDonough said. “Not just as a basketball school, but as an overall school and culture.” 

For Crowley, the importance lies in making sure his players know they are wanted.

“About mid-February, I told the whole team that I want them all back,” Crowley said. “We wanted to grow this thing together. If someone wanted to move on that was fine, but it wasn’t going to be from me. We liked them as people and players and we wanted them to know that we wanted them here.”

It wasn’t just the returning players that Crowley was able to bring back. After spending her graduate season with the Bonnies, Aaliyah Parker was added to the staff as an assistant coach. Parker averaged 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game and emerged as a team leader during her only season in Brown and White. 

“Whenever you have someone that just did it and can speak the language, that’s beneficial,” Crowley said. “We could see what a basketball mind she had, what a work ethic she had, and her ability to communicate and connect. So for us, it was really easy to decide that we wanted her with us.”

Last season’s successes culminated in not only a postseason appearance, but a home win in the WNIT against Drexel. It was the first trip to the postseason for the Bonnies since their NCAA run in 2015-16, Crowley’s final season with the program before transitioning to Providence. 

It was these experiences and the community support that drew the Bonnies back in and set an expectation for what’s to come.

“Everyone’s supporting everyone, and we saw that at our games, especially the WNIT,” MacDonough said. “I think that just kind of sold us all, like, we’re with who we want to be around and surround ourselves with.”

A bonus to this level of retention is the relative ease of connection within the team, both on and off the court.

“It’s so easy to have chemistry and be supportive of each other,” Boyd said. “Knowing each other’s strengths and what we like to do and putting each other in positions to do that.”

The returners have made sure that the newcomers feel this connection, too.

“We’ve made it known that they can come to any of us whenever they need help,” MacDonough said. “Whether it’s plays, learning the defense, just feeling comfortable, and not just with basketball. If they need anything outside of basketball, we’re always here for them.”

To Crowley, this is an important step in turning back the clock for the program. Much of the program’s continual growth, competitively and culturally, lies on the shoulders of last year’s freshman class, all six of whom came back to Bonaventure.

“All of the returners are still feeling that out,” Crowley said. “We have six sophomores, and I told them they can’t be sophomores. They need to accelerate things. There can’t be the same kind of old-style growth. To get to where we believe we can, people have got to competitively mature quicker.”

It is this maturity that Crowley believes can help the Bonnies steer clear of the shortcoming of the early season last year.

“Last year everybody was new, so they were all kind of figuring it out,” Crowley said. “But I think they learned from that how they can help other people and help them avoid some of the pitfalls that we fell into. That really helped people hit the ground running and have some familiarity and comfortability to make that transition even quicker.”

There is one Bonnie that stands out among the pack; one that represents everything Crowley is trying to rebuild in the program.

Mackenzie Pettinelli is the lone player on the roster entering year three in Brown and White. She has started 61 of the 63 games in her two years –including every game last season –and has been the catalyst of the turnaround.

“She embraces it,” Crowley said. “It’s hard to be a leader, but she wants to be and works hard at it. I think a lot of folks are here because of her. Either they met her on the visit, or they saw her and realized that she’s the kind of person you want to be on a team with.”

The leadership provided by Pettinelli and the other returners adds a layer of expectations to the upcoming season.

“Having that experience from last year and having so many returners, we hold everyone on the team to the same standard that we know we’re supposed to play at,” Boyd said.

In the end, it was an easy decision for the group to return to the Enchanted Mountains for another season. The key was not only the chance to bring the program to new heights, but the family that had formed in a place that feels like home.

“Knowing that so many of my teammates from last year were staying was really comforting,” Boyd said. “And I would say Bonaventure is a very homey school, and it was hard to want to leave.”

“Bonaventure is very welcoming,” MacDonough said. “Our team has developed into my second family. Coach Crowley is like my second dad; they are all like my siblings. I’m not truly away from home, this is just another home.”

The Bonnies open their season at the Reilly Center Nov. 4 in a showdown with D’Youville University.