By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Assignment Editor
The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team continued its home winning streak Wednesday after an overtime win against the George Washington University Colonials, 69-67. The Bonnies are 15-0 at home this season and 6-5 on the road. Losing its last three road games to Duquesne, VCU and UMass, they look to go back on the road to La Salle after a stellar win on Wednesday night.
Graduate student and guard Emily Michael said as a team they just need to work together in order to break their streak.
“Coach always tells us when we are on the road that all we have is each other and it is very accurate,” Michael said. “We know what it takes to win; we just need to stick together and have the confidence in order to fix it.”
With two of the last three games of the season on the road, Michael knows the team can’t let down now.
“We just need to stay focused and keep playing hard. We know what we are capable of,” Michael said. “It takes everyone, everyday going hard and being confident in order to finish our season strong, and the same can be said for the preparation of A10s.”
Junior guard Imani Outlaw agreed with Michael and said the team just needs to stick together and good things will happen.
“When we get on the road, we just need to forget about everything and focus on playing together. All we have on the road is each other,” Outlaw said. “It’s not easy to win on the road, because the crowd is against you and the travel is tiring, but that’s what makes a road win even sweeter. When you defeat the odds and beat a team in their own gym, it’s a great feeling.”
The Bonnies came back after being down 17 in the third quarter to defeat the Colonials. In order to have that type of heart, Head Coach Jim Crowley said the team needs to believe in one another.
“When things happen it doesn’t happen because the coach says it happens,” Crowley said. “It’s our players that have to communicate with one another and understand what is in front of them. We have to be ready, and we know we have to play better on the road.”
With playing such a long season, Outlaw said keeping up with their bumps and bruises is something the team needs to do.
“Taking care of our bodies will be critical, because we are beat up from the grind of a long basketball season, but we need to be at our best because every game matters,” Outlaw said.
The Bonnies haven’t faced back-to-back losses since early in the season, and senior forward Katie Healy said they weren’t going to have it again.
“It is a big game for us, especially coming off a loss. We told ourselves in the beginning of the year we aren’t losing anything in a row,” Healy said.
Outlaw said it is pretty simple to see where her team will be going forward.
“I see us in the NCAA Tournament. Whatever it takes to get there, we’ll do it together,” Outlaw said.
The Bonnies will head on the road to take on the La Salle University Explorers on Saturday at 1 p.m.
