RICHMOND, Va. – The St. Bonaventure University women's basketball team scored a 64-53 road win at VCU Saturday evening to cap off a pair of games in Virginia.
Laycee Drake paced the Bonnies with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Aaliyah Parker also finished in double figures for the Brown and White with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals.
The Bonnies (15-12, 6-10 A-10) got out to a fast start Saturday, taking a 13-6 lead behind eight early points from Parker which forced a VCU timeout.
A jumper from Drake and a free throw from Kylie Buckley pushed the lead to 10 midway through the first, but VCU battled back to pull within four, 18-14, with a 6-0 spurt to end the first.
The two teams traded scores in the second quarter as VCU was able to take a 26-25 edge following a Katarina Knezevic with 3:39 to play in the first half.
It was more of the same the rest of the second quarter as the Bonnies grabbed the halftime lead, 34-32, after Drake's jump shot with 19 seconds to play.
Drake gave the Bonnies a spark coming out of the break, scoring eight of the 15 third-quarter points for the Brown and White.
Bona's also got baskets from Elyse MacDonough, Mackenzie Pettinelli and Olivia DiFranco in the frame to take a 49-42 lead at the end of the third.
Knezevic scored back-to-back baskets for VCU to begin the fourth to pull within five, 51-46.
The Bonnies, however, responded with a 7-0 run to take a double-digit lead, 58-46.
The Brown and White would not fade as they hung on to capture the 64-53 win over the Rams (8-18, 4-10 A-10).
GAME NOTES
- The Bonnies finished the game shooting 45.6 percent (26-for-57) from the field and 38.9 percent (7-for-18) from beyond the arc.
- Bona's registered 26 points in the paint in Saturday's win.
- Saturday's victory marked the first win on the road against VCU and is also Coach Crowley's first win against the Rams.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JIM CROWLEY
"Really proud of this group. To come into a place that we've never won before and to do so on Senior Day and Alumni Day, playing a good team that was really hungry for a win and our group really stuck together. We defended well in the second half and just had a lot of people come up big when they needed to. A great team win. We have a little bit of time to enjoy it but we have to get ourselves ready for the stretch run."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies are off until next Saturday when they return home to host Loyola Chicago. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m. at the Reilly Center.
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