By Jonny Walker
St. Bonaventure snapped its four-game losing streak Friday night in the Reilly Center, defeating Niagara 61-57.
The Bonnies (2-6, 0-0) pulled ahead of the Purple Eagles (1-6, 0-0) late as I’yanna Lops scored eight of her game-leading 19 points in the final quarter. The 6-foot-3 forward routinely exploited post matchups with smaller Niagara defenders while adding 11 rebounds and 5 blocks to her totals.
“She’s great out there,” said Bona head coach Jesse Fleming. “She had some big finishes there at the end — made her free throws.”
Fleming also credited Lops’ defensive presence. The Purple Eagles shot 33%, their second-lowest mark this season.
“[Lops] is like the failsafe,” said Fleming. “You screw everything up at the top, but there’s someone down there to make a play.”
Through three-and-a-half quarters, there were five lead changes. Neither team’s leads had reached double digits.
But Bona put together a 17-0 run that stretched late into the fourth quarter, pulling ahead by 12 with 1:35 remaining. Niagara cut the lead to 4 with a 10-2 run, but it came in what amounted to garbage time.
“We did come out with … some real aggressiveness,” said Fleming. “It wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing win — it’s not going to be against a Niagara team. Their lifeblood is to force turnovers, and they press you from the minute they get off the bus.”
As each of Bona’s opponents has so far this season, Niagara used a full-court press to disrupt Bona’s ball handlers.
Fleming said he would award his team a grade of “B” for its performance against the press despite Bona’s 27 turnovers.
“I was really happy with our start — I think we only had one turnover in the first six minutes,” said Fleming. “I think we got a little tired — we made some boneheaded, dumb things. But I thought for stretches there was good.”
Nadechka Laccen, who started and played 30 minutes at point guard, committed 10 turnovers. But the junior transfer from Tyler JC also finished second on her team in scoring (11) and had 7 assists.
“She’s a competitor, but it’s a wild ride,” Fleming said about Laccen. “I’ve just got to make sure that I let Nadechka be Nadechka — and sometimes that means I’m going to rip my hair out and she’s going to do some crazy stuff. But her heart is in the right place … and I’m proud of her growth.”
For Bona, regular starters Tianna Johnson and Maddie Dziezgowski were out with injuries. Fleming said missing valuable minutes from the pair of guards isn’t ideal, but that he thinks it will help his team’s depth come conference play.
“It’s hard when you’re in the moment to look long term,” Fleming said. “But when I see the performance of Kirah Dandridge tonight — Kaitlyn Parker seeing some growth — from Aaniya Webb, I think for the long run that’s really going to help us. It’s getting them consistent night in and night out, play to play.”
Bona visits Kent State Sunday. Fleming said his team will celebrate Friday’s victory but must quickly shift its mindset towards preparing for its next game.
“I hope that’s where our mentality stays,” said Fleming. “We’re just trying to get better. Win, lose or draw, let’s just show that we’re getting better.”
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
