BY MICHAEL SEITZ, STAFF WRITER.
St. Bonaventure defeated the Robert Morris Colonials 61-53 this afternoon at the Reilly Center. The game began slow as both teams started cold from the floor. Robert Morris led after an uneventful first quarter by a score of 11-8.
To start the second quarter, the Colonials responded to a Nikki Oppenheimer three pointer by hitting two of its own, forcing Bonnies’ head coach Jesse Fleming to call a timeout. Asianae Johnson gave Fleming the response he wanted following the timeout as the team’s leading scorer from last season rattled off five straight points to make it a one-point game. The two sides traded blows throughout the remainder of the quarter and enter halftime tied at 22.
After a slow start to the third quarter, the pace of play began to pick up. Robert Morris began to open a lead as Esther Castedo and 2020-21 RMU leading scorer Sol Castro took over. The Colonials opened a six-point lead before Oppenheimer and I’yanna Lops cut the lead back to three. The Bonnies entered the fourth quarter trailing 40-37.
Bonaventure didn’t trail for long as Johnson and Oppenheimer put the team up 46-45 halfway through the final quarter. Ene Adams tacked on two free throws to give the Bonnies a three-point advantage with just over four minutes left.
With 3:59 to play, a flagrant foul called on Robert Morris gave the Bonnies’ an opportunity to add two more from the charity stripe. Pheonix Gedeon made an and-one bucket but caught Adams with an elbow after the paly. Adams began bleeding from the face and Coach Fleming asked for a review. The officials charged Gedeon with an intentional foul resulting in two Oppenheimer made free throws.
Bonaventure tried to pull away after the intentional foul, but a three by Mackenzie Amalia kept the Colonials within reach. The Bonnies would make seven of 10 free throws in the final two minutes to secure an eight-point victory.
Oppenheimer led the Bonnies in scoring tallying a game and career-high 13 points, while Castro led the Colonials with 12 points.
Fleming liked his team’s attitude but acknowledged that it was not the cleanest victory. “It wasn’t pretty today but I’m not going to apologize for it,” said Fleming.
The sixth-year head coach also liked his team’s defensive effort this afternoon. “I like our team defensively. We were plus-20 on the boards today,” said Fleming.
When asked how to build off this win, Fleming knew exactly what he wanted to happen. “I want the girls to enjoy tonight but we’re back here at 6:30 a.m. laser focused preparing for Siena. I want to act mature about this, like we’ve been here before,” said Fleming.
Before passing the mic to Oppenheimer, Fleming ended his press conference praising her. “Nikki and the rest of the kids were huge today. They always kept their heads up and played for each other. That may have been the loudest locker room I’ve ever been in here,” said Fleming.
Oppenheimer openly praised the team and program as soon as she began talking. “I finally feel valued somewhere and I love this team,” said the grad student transfer. “We’re good when our energy is up and bad when it’s down. Our energy was up the entire game today and we played well.”
The guard ended her press conference with a message for Bonnies fans. “It was great that everyone came out and set the tone. I hope everyone keeps coming to watch us because we’re fun to watch too,” said Oppenheimer.
The Bonnies will host Sienna on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m., while Robert Morris will host Akron this Saturday afternoon.
seitzmr19@bonaventure.edu
