by Mikael DeSanto
Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball team fell to the Fordham Rams this afternoon 60-44 at the Reilly Center. The win, coupled with a Saint Louis Billikens loss, makes the Rams the only undefeated team remaining in Atlantic 10 conference play.
“I was talking to the seniors in the locker room because they were a part of the first championship team,” Rams head coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “We go one day at a time, we always talk about win the day, win the day as a person, win the day as an athlete and win the day as a student. All we can talk about is getting ready for Saint Joe’s. Our philosophy is suffer or celebrate till midnight.”
The Bonnies (6-12, 1-5 A10) lost the rebounding battle to the Rams (15-5, 6-0 A10) by 13, finishing with 25 to the Rams 38. However, the Bonnies did win the battle in the paint, outscoring the Rams 24-14.
The Rams outscored the Bonnies 17-10 off turnovers and held them to 1-9 (11.1 percent) from beyond the three point line.
“I thought we had a really good first half, a really good first 16-17 minutes,” Bonnies head coach Jesse Fleming said. “They were locked in. They were doing everything we were asking them to do. [I] really thought this was one we could get.
The Bonnies were able to get into the passing lanes early, force turnovers and come up with steals, finishing with seven steals for the game.
“We just try to be there and we just try to take away certain things,” Fleming said. “I thought the kids were locked in, flying around and active into [junior forward G’mrice Davis], flying out at the shooters. They had 26 points in the first half and three of those were semi-contested threes from [senior guard Danielle Burns] and you have got to give something up.”
Junior guard and leading Mariah Ruff was held scoreless in the contest, making her 0-19 from the field in the past two games.
“I have to find a better way to get her some easy ones early and get her in her rhythm,” Fleming said. “Richmond face guarded her, Saint Louis face guarded her and Fordham, for the thirty minutes she had against Fordham, face guarded her. The looks are a little different, I thought she was just fading a little bit at the basket; I would like to see her go up a little stronger. We have got to figure it out with her because if she can’t score, we struggle to score.”
Fleming also talked about his other offensive options hesitating on shots.
“It is shots I want. Any of the six threes they (freshman guards Jalisha Terry and Sarah Hart) took I thought they were in rhythm,” Fleming said. “They have been told constantly that as long as the ball hits the paint and they’re ready to knock it down. I did like their looks and we just have to keep drilling it, getting their confidence up a little bit because everybody has a little hesitation offensively.”
It was a slow start offensively for both teams, combining for just 17 points in the first quarter. This included a stretch of nearly three minutes of scoreless play from the 6:51 mark to the 4:20 mark of the quarter.
Though the offensive struggles persisted to start the second quarter, the offense soon heated up. In the final four-and-a-half minutes of the second quarter, the Rams outscored the Bonnies to take a 26-22 lead. However, the Bonnies would head to the locker room with some momentum, as their final three points came on a buzzer beater by freshman guard Jalisha Terry.
Terry and graduate forward Gabby Richmond tied for the Bonnies lead in points at the half with six. Senior guard/forward Danielle Burns led the Rams at the half with nine points.
The trading of baskets continued to start the second half, but the Rams would close the third quarter on an 11-2 run in the last five minutes. This extended the Rams lead to 12, as they went up 44-32.
The Rams continued to tack on the offense throughout the fourth quarter, including the final two of the team’s eight three-pointers as the Bonnies continued to attempt to fight back. But that comeback push fell short as the Rams scored the final four points in the last minute-and-a-half to secure the win.
“Both [redshirt freshman guard Kate Kreslina] and Danielle, Bonaventure was dropping off and I said ‘Just take it, if they’re going to you, have confidence. They’re basically saying you can’t shoot and you can shoot,’” Gaitley said. “If you have the open shot, take the open shot, and I thought once we were able to calm down and see right in front of us what was open, rather than trying to make things that weren’t there, I think that had a lot to do with it.”
Richmond’s 16 points and seven rebounds led the Bonnies for the game, with Terry adding 10 points, three rebounds and an assist.
Sophomore guard Lauren Holden led the Rams with 17 points, with Davis (16 points, seven rebounds) and Burns (16 points, nine rebounds) contributing to the win.
The Bonnies will return to the court on Thursday when they travel to UMass to take on the Minutewomen at 11 a.m.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
