PHOTO COURTESY OF GOBONNIES
BY ALLIE ELKINS, SPORTS EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team fell to George Mason in a nail-biting 57-53 loss in the Reilly Center Wednesday night.
The Patriots (21-5, 12-3 A-10) got off to a hot start against the Bonnies (4-22, 1-14 A-10), but Bonaventure picked up the lead three minutes into the first quarter with a 3-pointer from senior guard Claire Cody.
The Patriots didn’t catch up with the Bonnies until the fourth quarter. With three minutes to go the Patriots tied the game up with a junior guard Ta’Viyanna Habib 3-pointer. George Mason took the lead for good with another Habib jumper to make it 49-47 with two minutes to go.
Bonaventure was led by redshirt junior guard Isabellah Middleton who had 13 points and eight rebounds in the loss. Bona’s senior guards Dani Haskell and Peyton Fields finished right behind Middleton with 12 points each.
“I thought we did a really good job for the most part executing our game plan, we made them work in the half court with our offense and then defensively,” head coach Jim Crowley said. “We wanted to limit transition and limit the paint, and we did that.”
The Bonnies had a total of eight assists in the game with all but one player racking up at least one, which according to Crowley is an improvement on offense.
“I thought we did a much better job of getting downhill and drawing defenders and being willing passers,” said Crowley. “[George Mason] is one of the most athletic defensive teams in the league. Even with 19 turnovers, we kept them under 60 and gave ourselves a chance.”
Middleton had almost half the Bonnies’ turnovers, with every player besides senior guard Tianna Johnson and junior forward Taylor Napper adding at least one turnover to the team total of 19.
“We learned, we showed we can compete with the top team in the league,” said Crowley. “‘Can we do it again? And can we do that prep and practice? And can we keep getting better?’”
Despite the loss, Crowley said he sees improvement in his team.
“I thought everybody really competed hard and did things we asked and everybody did really well,” said Crowley. “Everybody had a mistake here or there but they kept playing hard. So that was pleasing.”
Crowley is looking on the positive side of things. For him, it’s the effort from his team that counts.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get those two late ones at big moments,” said Crowley “But really proud of our effort, our ability to execute, you know, we kind of needed one more play, and we just didn’t get it.”
The Bonnies hit the road to face off against Saint Louis on Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. streaming on ESPN+.
