By Jonny Walker, Sports Assignment Editor
The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball team earned its first win of the season Wednesday at MVP Arena, defeating Siena, 69-63.
For the third time in as many games, the Bonnies faced a full-court press on most possessions. For the third time in as many games, the Bonnies didn’t win the turnover battle. But for the first time in those three games, it didn’t seem to matter.
With the help of a career day from forward Tianna Johnson, the Bonnies (1-2, 0-0) stayed ahead of a Saints (1-2, 0-0) team that never trailed by more than 11 points.
However, Bona head coach Jesse Fleming said he’s not necessarily concerned with the final scores of non-conference games.
“I’d rather see growth … than … randomly pulling out a win because we just threw in a bunch of shots, and they missed a bunch of shots.”
The Saints shot 34% from the field and just 12% from 3-point range.
The Bonnies shot 36% from the field and 30% from three.
Johnson led Bona with 17 points, a career high. She also recorded career highs in rebounds (13) and free throws made (9).
In her second game back from an ankle injury, guard Maddie Dziezgowski scored 16 points in 34 minutes. All five of her made field goals came from beyond the arc, along with 12 of her 13 total shot attempts.
“She [Dziezgowski] had the Richmond game last year where she was one of the best offensive players on the floor,” said Fleming. “So it was there. And unfortunately, I think with her injury, she just didn’t get to show it as much. We’ve seen that improvement, and it’s going to be really important for us.”
For Siena, four players scored nine or more points.
Forward Anajah Brown led the Saints with 13 points on 75% shooting. Guard Teresa Seppala had nine rebounds to accompany her 10 points. Guards London Gamble and Ahniysha Jackson had nine points each.
Jackson also had a game-high four steals as the main initiator of Siena’s full-court press of Bonaventure’s point guards.
Ahead of the game, Fleming said to watch his team’s point-guard play.
“Our point guard position is really in flux,” said Fleming.
For the first time this season, Nadechka Laccen, who started at point guard, played more minutes (29) than guard Breauna Ware (14). Unlike in the season opener against Bowling Green, neither player was in foul trouble.
“I think for us to be successful, one of those two [Laccen or Ware] has to make an imprint on the game,” said Fleming. “They’ve got to be the calming presence against the press … they’ve got to get us into something.”
Laccen had six turnovers and two assists. Ware had three turnovers and five assists.
Bona’s rotation shrank from 11 players in each of its first two games to nine against Siena. Its starters played a combined 162 minutes of a possible 200.
Fleming said he will continue to experiment with different rotations throughout Bona’s non-conference schedule.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere close to being the team that we can probably be at the end of the year,” said Fleming. “What’s our best eight? What’s our best nine? Right now … we’re 100% a work in progress.”
The Bonnies travel to Cleveland, Ohio Wednesday for the Hampton Inn Cleveland Downtown Viking Invitational. They take on Bellarmine for their first of three games in four days at the invitational.
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
