Women’s basketball loses 77-68 at Fordham
By Mikael DeSanto
Staff Writer
The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team took a loss to Fordham 77-68 on Feb. 24 in an away game. The last Bonnies win came on Feb. 20 when they defeated the La Salle Explorers 70-63 for their 22nd win of the season.
Senior forward Katie Healy picked up a double-double against Fordham with 14 points and 11 rebounds and led the team against La Salle with 22 points in 36 minutes. Healy also accounted for six rebounds, five assists and two steals in the La Salle game. The rebounds made Healy the third player in Bonnies women’s basketball history to register 800 or more career rebounds, putting her on the list with Sue Shay and Missy Ward.
“I think there were times that we kind of relaxed, whether it was defense or offense,” Healy said. “But we kept coming, which is a very crucial thing, especially late in the year.”
Head coach Jim Crowley saw positives to the La Salle win, but also recognized that there is room for improvement in the way they played.
“I thought we did what we needed to,” Crowley said. “I thought that La Salle did some things that made us not look good, but I thought overall we executed what we wanted to do and got ourselves in a situation where we could make plays to finish it off and we did.”
Another player who contributed to the win was redshirt junior forward Gabby Richmond. In 22 minutes off the bench, Richmond scored 10 points and hauled in a team-leading seven rebounds. In the Fordham game, Richmond played 24 minutes and picked up four points, five rebounds and two blocks.
“I think I had good energy off the bench,” Richmond said. “I feel like I could have played a little better, but I think overall the starters have been playing good all year, so it’s time for everybody else to step up.”
The win also marked the team’s seventh road win of the season but the loss to Fordham hurt their road record, bringing it to 7-6. Coach Crowley addressed the issues on the road and how the team can handle games away from the Reilly Center.
“We are 15-0 at home, well that means we are playing at other people’s homes, so they’re probably pretty good there too,” Crowley said. “You’ve got to be able to play outside of comfort and just focus on what we can control: our effort, our execution and those kinds of things.”
With the season winding down, Atlantic 10 teams will soon be preparing for the A10 Championships, which take place in one week. The Bonnies have already clinched a top-four seed in the tournament, and will get a first round bye to start.
“We need to make sure we don’t go in to that having a bigger ego than we need to,” Healy said. “We’re going to be playing one of the lower seeded teams, but anybody can win at any time on any day in the A10, so we need to make sure we’re locked in.”
Healy also knows what the team needs to do to prepare for the competition they will face throughout the tournament.
“Focus, obviously that’s the number one thing,” Healy said. “We need to make sure we don’t sleep on any teams, we need to make sure we are preparing, scout and watching film, all that good stuff.”
Coach Crowley said that he is not focusing on the Atlantic 10 Championships, emphasizing that the teams’ main focus is on the next game. Crowley is looking to take game preparation as a game-by-game process, indicating that the team will prepare specifically for the Atlantic 10 Championships once the regular season games are over.
Graduate student guard Emily Michael was seen Feb. 22 at practice on crutches and her lower calf and below wrapped in ice. She later left after practice still on crutches with an undisclosed injury. Coach Crowley described the situation as “day to day” and said that “We’ll see what the next day brings.”
The Atlantic 10 tournament will go from Mar. 2-6 in Richmond, Virginia.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
