By Skye Tulio
Sports Editor
Second-half woes struck the women’s basketball team yet again last Sunday as they fell to Butler, 64-46. The Bonnies travel to George Washington Sunday for a 2 p.m. game against the Colonials.
With only three games left in the season, the Bonnies (9-16, 2-8) need to find their groove in order to qualify as one of the 12 contenders for the Atlantic 10 Championship. The tournament, scheduled for March 8-10, will be played at Michael Hagan Arena in Philadelphia.
The Bonnies will face Fordham and La Salle in addition to the Colonials in the final stretch of the season.
The La Salle Explorers currently hold the 12th and final place in the race for A-10 postseason play. In its last six games, the Explorers have only won once. Last season, the Bonnies defeated the Explorers, 75-57, to maintain their then-first-place status in the league.
Fourth place Fordham is 18-7 in regular season play and 8-2 in the conference. Last season, the Rams fell to the Bonnies, 52-45. With the win, St. Bonaventure clinched the No. 1 seed at the 2012 Buick A-10 Women’s Basketball Championship. The team became the first squad in school history to win a regular-season A-10 title as it ran its program-best winning streak to 15 straight.
Last time they met, the Bonnies defeated the Colonials (11-14, 5-6), 80-69, winning their record-tying 11th straight game and remaining alone at the top of the A-10 standings. The 11 straight victories tied the program record with the 2009-10 season, which the Bonnies began at 11-0. The win also evened Coach Jim Crowley’s career record (176-176) for the first time in his 12-year tenure at St. Bonaventure. Scoring a season-high 80 points, the Bonnies also shot a season best 52.8 percent from the floor (28-53). Then-senior Jessica Jenkins hit eight three-pointers en-route to a game-high 32 points.
This time around, the Bonnies face the eighth-place Colonials led by a senior class which includes three fifth-year players: Tara Booker, Sara Mostafa and Brooke Wilson. The team averages 58.9 points per game with a .380 field goal percentage.
Last weekend’s game against Butler added another loss to continue their six-game conference losing streak.
Trailing by as many as seven in the first half, the Bonnies tied the score with a triple from junior forward Doris Ortega. However, the score was later changed to a deuce following a review.
After nailing a pair of the free throws, the Bulldogs took a 25-22 lead. Junior guard Ashley Zahn yet again nailed a three with seconds remaining to tie the score at the half.
Failing to keep an offensive spark in the second half, the Bonnies went the first 8:24 minutes without a field goal. The Bulldogs came out of the locker room with guns blazing, gaining an early 36-27 lead by the 17:10 mark.
The Bulldogs shot seven out of 12 from long range in the half, and the Bonnies never found their rhythm. Butler’s junior forward Daress McClung lead all scorers with 17 points and nine rebounds while sophomore center Liz Stratman and junior guard Mandy McDivitt each added 12 to achieve Butler’s 15th win of the season. The Bulldogs currently hold sixth place in the A-10 standings.
Zahn and Ortega were the only two Bonnies to score in double-digits during the game. Zahn recorded 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting from long range while Ortega finished with 10. Freshman forward Katie Healy was one point shy of adding to her streak of double-figure games with nine points. Freshman guard Emily Michael scored six points on 2-6 from long range.
The Bonnies will return to the Reilly Center March 3rd for their final home game of the season against the Explorers.
At press time, the Dayton game had not yet been played.
