By Mikael DeSanto
Sports Assignment Editor
The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball team currently sits at 4-6 on the season and is coming off a two-game road trip that saw them lose both games. In their last game, they took a 74-50 loss to Toledo in which they committed a season-high 29 turnovers.
Head coach Jesse Fleming said despite the issues the team has been having, progress is the most important thing.
“I think we are just trying to grow,” Fleming said. “It’s a little bit of everything; maybe [get] a little cleaner. I’m kind of learning.”
Fleming also said he has noticed some improvements with the team from game to game.
“I think everybody is in the right place,” Fleming said. “I would like things a little bit better. I think the goal will be to try to get them all playing.”
One factor the team has dealt with this year is an influx of youth. The team did not return six players from last year’s NCAA tournament team, either through transfer or graduation, including four of the five starters.
But while Fleming recognizes the inexperience of his team, he knows it is not what defines them.
“We have talked as a team [about how] we are never going to use that as an excuse,” Fleming said. “We are playing other teams that have lost a lot of good players as well. Everybody should be playing confidently because they know they all have an opportunity to play, so I don’t think at the end of the day that should affect them.”
The only returning starter from last season’s team is junior guard Mariah Ruff. Ruff is averaging 13 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game so far this season. Fleming does see where Ruff can improve on the experience she has.
“I have to do a better job of getting Mar clear of looks,” Fleming said. “Mar got herself in a bit of foul trouble against Toledo and she has to do a better job there.”
One bright spot that has being helping alleviate the load on Ruff has been freshman guard Jalisha Terry, who is averaging 7.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game this season. While she has shown growth, Fleming knows she has more work to do.
“Jalisha is scoring a little bit, [but] she still needs to become a little bit more of a point guard,” Fleming said. “Her turnover numbers have to go down, her assists have to go up, she has to defend a little bit better, but she has been somewhat aggressive and she does have that ability to score. I think do think, in our starting lineup, all five players can score if we put them in the right spot. We just haven’t done that yet and we have to [keep] working towards that goal.”
Another factor the team has been working with is the fact that this is Fleming’s first season as a head coach, having been hired to replace Jim Crowley, who left for Providence, over the summer. Fleming said the support of the team has made the transition easier.
“I have really good staff and the players are great; they are really good kids,” Fleming said. “So that has not been a huge adjustment for me. I think it has been more for us, and I think especially for me, of exactly what we need to exercise. We are playing a pretty short roster, and the biggest thing is the next six months of the long practices where we are working and trying to better, and keeping their legs. I think that has been the biggest struggle for us and I am still trying to figure out what is the best way to do that with the time constraints.”
Overall, Fleming knows what and when the end goal is for his team.
“I am excited that we played a Toledo team, that we have got a good Albany team coming in, [and] that we have a great Buffalo team that we are going to play before conference,” Fleming said. “It is all about conference play, it is all about March, but it could go either way. I am hoping that our team comes together, are starting to get a little older, a little more experienced and we start to get chemistry that way. I hope we are not getting discouraged by some up and down results. So I am excited to see where this season is going to go.”
The team will hit the floor Sunday at the Reilly Center to take on Albany at 1 p.m.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
