BY JONNY WALKER, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball team lost to Canisius 85-47 Wednesday night in the Koessler Athletic Center, dropping its second-straight game.
“One of the worst losses I’ve had as the head coach here,” Bona head coach Jesse Fleming said in an interview with WSBU 88.3 FM.
The Bonnies (2-8, 0-0) shot 26%, with season-lows 13% from three and 42% from the free-throw line. The Golden Griffins (3-5, 0-0) shot season-highs 55% from the field, 60% from three and 87% from the free-throw line.
“Congratulations to Canisius tonight,” Fleming said. “They came out and fought harder than us … and just did everything better than us tonight.”
Fleming said Bona failed to capitalize on its scouting.
“We did a horrible job of [taking away] the ‘main thing’ for each player on the scout [report],” Fleming said. “I thought we let them get the main things all day.”
On the perimeter, junior guard Dani Haskell had a game-high 16 points for Canisius with 4-of-6 shooting from three. Haskell also had seven assists and five rebounds.
Inside, freshman forward Sisi Eleko had 15 points for Canisius on 4-of-5 shooting. Eleko also had five rebounds and two blocks.
“Give all the credit to them [Canisius],” Fleming said. “They were the more aggressive team.”
For Bona, forward I’yanna Lops and guard Nadechka Laccen each had 12 points.
Defensively, Fleming applauded the play of freshman guard Kirah Dandridge, who recorded 6 steals.
“Kirah Dandridge really got some big deflections,” said Fleming.
Fleming said his players needed to dribble penetrate more often, rather than settle for outside shots.
“Our three [pointer] looks suck,” Fleming said. “We should shoot 3-for-23 with the threes that we take. They’re all contested.”
Fleming said the blame for his team’s shooting woes fall on him.
“We don’t do a good job of setting each other up,” Fleming said. “And that’s all on me. I haven’t put the kids in position … and I just got to go back to the drawing board.”
Bona will have less than 48 hours to rebound from the loss before hosting Binghamton Friday at 7 p.m. in the Reilly Center.
“It’s not about Binghamton,” Fleming said. “I just want to see my team play a little harder, play a little tougher, and attack the rim earlier.”
The Bonnies have now lost six of their last seven games, including two in a row.
“It’s a different team than I thought we’d have going in,” Fleming said. “I think there are some people emerging — but the way I wanted to build this offensive system, I think I’ve got to do some tweaks. It’s my job, as we’re finishing up conference play, to get it where we’re running a style that’s accentuating the strengths of all our players.”
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
