By Tom Seipp, Sports Editor
Less than 20 hours after the University of Rhode Island’s men’s basketball team defeated the St. Bonaventure men’s team on Saturday in front of a sold-out Reilly Center, the Bonnies’ women’s team provided a different result.
A much-needed victory over a short-handed Rams women’s team.
The game started about as awkward as it could have. Rhode Island’s best player and the Atlantic 10’s third-best scorer, Nicole Jorgensen, injured her knee on the first play of the game. After Jorgensen’s injury, the Rams only had six healthy players remaining.
While the Rams got off to a fast start, leading 21-8 at the end of the first quarter. But from the second quarter on, the Bonnies outscored the Rams 56-38 to secure a 64-59 victory.
After losing in dramatic, buzzer-beating fashion to St. Joseph’s just four days prior, Bonnies’ head coach Jesse Fleming said his team had to find a way.
“We just needed to win, somehow, someway,” Fleming said. “We’ve lost so many close games this year. It was ugly at the end, but we made some free throws and took care of business and hopefully that gives us some confidence going forward.”
While the Bonnies lead by as many as nine in the third quarter, Rhode Island countered. Despite the Bonnies having momentum for nearly the game’s entirety, the Rams tied the game at 49 with just over 6 minutes to go.
With 36 seconds to go, the Rams had a chance to take the lead, but the Bona defense prevailed.
From there, the Bonnies sealed the game at the free-throw line. The team, which leads the A10 with a 78.4 FT percentage, made all nine of their shots in the fourth quarter.
Asianae Johnson, in her 50th career start, proved to be the star of the game for the Bonnies.
Johnson led the Bonnies with a career-high 21 points along with five rebounds and four steals.
Johnson credits her performance to her preparation on and off the court.
“Just getting in on film, every single day after a game coach’s telling me what I have to do better in film,” Johnson said. “I’ve just been executing in the next game, doing better. It really reflected in this game.”
Johnson has been playing some of her best basketball of the season as of late. Over a three-game stretch, she has averaged 18 points per-game on 44% shooting.
“The biggest thing wasn’t the scoring, it was those steals at the end of the game. Four steals for the game, she was really, really active. I was just really pleased with her.” Fleming said of Johnson. “She’s been playing really well. I’m just loving the way Asianae is playing right now.”
seipptw19@bonaventure.edu
