BY JONNY WALKER, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
Bowling Green senior guard Morgan Sharps grabbed a defensive rebound off an errant St. Bonaventure 3-point attempt. She immediately pushed the ball up the court on a fastbreak.
Senior forward Allison Day received the ball near the low post, spun to her right and layed in an easy bucket over a smaller Bonaventure defender caught out of position.
The layup put the Falcons up, 9-3, just under three minutes into the game. St. Bonaventure head coach Jesse Fleming called a timeout.
The sequence signaled what was to come: The Bonnies (0-1, 0-0) failed to keep pace with a Falcons (1-0, 0-0) team known for its aggressiveness and intensity. Bonaventure never led after the first quarter as the Falcons pulled away late for a, 77-61, win Monday at the Reilly Center.
“Obviously, we didn’t play to the level that we needed to,” said Fleming. “But, man, our whole thing … is to just keep getting better, and that team makes you get better.”
After the game, Fleming admitted his team got “punched in the mouth” by a “more physical” team.
“I felt like we never could get into our offense,” said Fleming. “Like, we probably called four or five sets the whole game .. because they were really jamming some things up.”
The Falcons relied heavily on their high-paced, transition offense. They won the turnover battle, 29-12. They significantly outscored Bonaventure on fastbreak points (21-2) and points off turnovers (25-5).
On most Bonaventure possessions, junior guard Nyla Hampton initiated Bowling Green’s full-court press, routinely throwing her body into Bonaventure’s point guards and swiping at wayward dribbles. Hampton had six steals.
“Hampton did an awesome job of picking us up,” said Fleming. “Our point guards combined to go [for] 2 assists and 11 turnovers. They needed to do a better job.”
Junior guard Nadechka Laccen, who started at point guard, had two turnovers and two personal fouls just over five minutes into the game. She finished with six turnovers and four fouls in just 10 minutes of playing time.
Freshman guard Breauna Ware, who came off the bench, had one fewer turnover and an equal number of fouls in nearly triple the amount of playing time.
“For the situation she [Ware] was put in … I thought she did some positive things,” said Fleming. “There couldn’t be more quality reps than getting picked up — in your first real college game — 90 feet.”
In the first half, the Bonnies relied heavily on the shooting of graduate guard Nikki Oppenheimer to keep their deficit under 10 points. Going into halftime, Oppenheimer led Bonaventure with 11 points and three 3-pointers.
“I thought Nikki did a good job of working and getting some of her shots off,” said Fleming.
As the Falcons pulled away in the second half, Oppenheimer shot 1-3 from the field and scored just three points.
Senior forward I’yanna Lops tied Oppenheimer as Bonaventure’s leading scorer with 14. Anchoring the Bonnies’ defense, Lops also led Bonaventure with 10 rebounds and three blocks.
“I thought … Lops really competed for stretches defensively,” said Fleming.
Bowling Green senior guard Elissa Brett led all scorers with 26 points. She shot 50 % from 3-point range, sinking 4-of-8 attempts.
Fleming said scouting led his team to be more concerned with Brett’s driving ability than her shooting ability.
“Man, you can tell that kid has worked on it [her outside shot],” said Fleming. “She’s confident. She plays freaking hard. I give that kid a lot of credit — did a good job of attacking our defensive angles.”
Senior forward Allison Day led the Falcons’ late scoring rally that put the game out of Bonaventure’s reach. Ten of her 19 total points came on fourth-quarter layups.
“The damn kind of broke there the last four or five minutes, you know, where they just kind of wore us down,” said fleming.
For Bonaventure, 11 of 12 healthy players took the court Tuesday.
The Bonnies host East Tennessee State Friday at the Reilly Center. Fleming said to again expect a deep rotation.
“We’re probably going to play 10 or 11 kids for probably the first four or five weeks of the season,” said Fleming. “We got to figure out our rotation … we kind of have no idea, beyond the first four or five, what we’re doing.”
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
