By Nick Konotopskyj
Sports Assignment Editor
The holiday season is a time where people enjoy coming home. For the women’s basketball team, that statement couldn’t be more true.
Coming into Wednesday night’s home contest against the State University of New York at Buffalo Bulls (UB), the Bonnies were riding a five-game win streak and were 5-0 inside the friendly confines of the Reilly Center.
That streak was extended to six with a 59-32 win over the Bulls, giving St. Bonaventure a record of 7-2 thus far in non-conference play. The Bonnies jumped out to a 14-6 lead after the first quarter and then blew the game wide open thanks in large part to the return of senior forward Katie Healy.
Healy finished the game as the team’s leading scorer with 15 points on six-of-nine shooting with nine rebounds and six assists after missing the previous two games with a foot injury. Healy made a big difference against UB, but it was the overall team play that impressed head coach Jim Crowley the most.
“I was really proud of the way our kids helped each other,” Crowley said. “[The] true sign of a team is when someone is struggling, then someone else picks them up, and we did that tonight. It was a huge boost to get Katie [Healy] back.”
The zone defense of the Bulls gave the Bonnies some trouble at times, but Healy was able to find cracks in it as the game went on.
“Taking care of the ball was definitely the important thing,” Healy said. “They are really aggressive when they are in it, and they know how to match up, but once you take care of the ball and go forward, the zone collapses, so once we knew that, then we got anything we wanted.”
Even though the Bonnies finished the night with 22 turnovers, it was the huge disparity in rebounds (+22) and assists (+10) that helped carry the Bonnies to the victory.
“It’s contagious,” Crowley said. “If someone is going to make the extra pass to go from a good shot to a great shot, their teammate is going to reward them by knocking that shot down, and then they are going to do the same for another teammate. That is something that didn’t exist last year.”
Sophomore forward Matea Britvar added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Brown and White, and sophomore guard Mariah Ruff pitched in with nine points to help the Bonnies pick up the win.
The Bonnies hope to continue their home cooking on Saturday when Penn State University comes to the Reilly Center for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff.
Crowley wants to see some improvement with his team since another formidable opponent is coming to the Reilly Center, he said.
“It sounds simple, but it comes down to making shots,” Crowley said. “Penn State is a team with a lot of size, so if we can do some damage inside then kick it out for some open three’s, I think that will go a long way.”
After taking care of some large schools in Georgetown and James Madison, St. Bonaventure hopes to do the same to the Nittany Lions and ride that momentum going into the winter break.
