By Mike DeSanto
Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball team saw the VCU Rams come to the Reilly Center and spoil senior day this afternoon, falling 77-60.
“That’s our worst effort of the year. They just came in a punked us,” Bonnies Head Coach Jesse Fleming said. “I have to figure something out. I have two starters with zero points, but we have been able to defend all year and we absolutely could not guard today. I tried 100 different lineups: go big, go small, one post, two post, and nothing worked.”
The Bonnies (9-17, 4-10 A10) had trouble with fouls throughout the game, fouling the Rams (13-14, 6-8 A10) 20 times and allowing them to go 21-29 (72.4 percent) from the free throw line.
“I think it was a product of, we missed shots and they pushed it at us, and that’s where a lot of it came,” Fleming said. “Six of them are still fouling a jump shooter and it’s something that has been drilled, talked about and talked about. I don’t know how much more we can talk about it with ‘quit fouling jump shooters, if they make the three in your face, they make the three, but you can’t put people to the line for six free shots.’”
The Rams finished the game 25-49 (51 percent) from the field, including going 6-11 (54.5 percent) from beyond the arc.
The Rams also won the rebounding battle 37-33, though the Bonnies were able to outscore them in the paint 36-24 over the course of the game.
After the game stayed tight on the scoreboard to start, the Rams broke it open in the second quarter by out-scoring the Bonnies 20-6, helped by a 13-0 run to open the quarter. Six different Rams players contributed points during the run, which lasted nearly five minutes.
The Rams led 34-16 at the half.
The Bonnies saw a three-way tie for their leading scorer at the half, with graduate forward Gabby Richmond, junior guard Mariah Ruff and sophomore guard Mckenna Maycock all picking up four points.
Senior guard Keira Robinson led the Rams at the half with 11 points.
Ruff would knock down a three just 17 seconds into the second half, but the momentum would be short-lived, as it would be the only three the Bonnies would make on the afternoon and the Rams began to extend the lead just one minute later, going on a 12-0 to go up 46-20.
The Bonnies fought throughout the rest of the second half, but were unable to close the gap, despite ending the game on a 7-0 run, and the Rams secured the victory.
“We knew that we would have to execute at a high level for us to be able to get the win,” Rams Head Coach Beth O’Boyle said. “We came in here with a mentality that we were going to have to earn in for 40 minutes and I thought today, defensively, it was one of our best games that we’ve had in quite some time.”
Freshman guard Jalisha Terry finished as the Bonnies leading scorer with 13 points, and Ruff (12 points, three rebounds) and Maycock (12 points, six rebounds) contributed to the Bonnies day offensively.
“There is literally no grey area a lot of times with this team. It’s either you are 7-9 and you have a great game, or you are 0-5 and you give us nothing,” Fleming said. “Mckenna, I know, is going to give me consistent minutes every single night, and other than that I can’t tell you, the rest of them on this roster, if I’m going to get anything consistent at all.”
Richmond, one of two senior players honored prior to tip-off, scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds in her final home game. The other senior honored was guard Imani Outlaw, who netted a pair of points and pulled in one rebound for the Bonnies.
Robinson topped the Rams with 15 points and eight rebounds, along with contributions from senior guard Ashley Pegram (14 points, eight rebounds) and graduate guard Mooriah Rowser (14 points, three rebounds).
“I do think, this time of year, your seniors should feel urgency and that should be the advantage, for us, for having six seniors,” O’Boyle said. “They don’t want their season to end, they want to get into a good flow and have confidence going into the playoffs.”
The Bonnies will complete their regular season when they hit the road to face the Duquesne Dukes on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
