Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY: AIDAN SHINNERS, STAFF WRITER
The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team defeated Division III Daemon 71-57 Friday night in an exhibition matchup.
The Bonnies opened the game with an all-guard lineup including freshmen Zoe Shaw and Mackenzie Pettinelli.
Returners, redshirt seniors Dani Haskell and Isabellah Middleton as well as junior Tamar voor de Poort rounded out the starting five.
Shaw struggled in her first game as a Bonnie, shooting only one for six from the field and turning the ball over a team-high five times. Bonaventure head coach Jim Crawley reinforced his confidence in Shaw in a postgame press conference.
“That’s what [exhibition games] are for right?” Crawley said. “To see where they can get better. [Struggles] can impact us in a positive way.”
The Bonnies allowed two unanswered baskets from Daemon to open the game but bounced back with five quick points from Middleton. Middleton finished the game with nine points and four steals. Despite forcing 27 turnovers, Crawley was unhappy with the team’s consistency on defense.
“We broke down on #4 [graduate guard Danielle DiCintio] for Daemon giving her too many threes,” said Crawley. “We had a bad sequence in the second quarter where we gave up three threes in five possessions and late in the third quarter, we gave up a couple easy ones as well.”
Crawley said the Bonnies also struggled with their efficiency from the field shooting only 31%. He said that the team needs to be more consistent in scoring, especially from the paint.
“We’ve got to do a way better job converting,” Crawley said. “We’ve missed a lot of shots in the paint, so we’ve got to get better there.”
Graduate forward Payton Fields scored 19 points and tallied five rebounds off the bench. Crawley said that if everything goes well leading up to the opener against Binghamton, she could see herself in the starting lineup.
Gulf Coast State transfer Gabby Robinson Forde made her presence felt defensively recording eight rebounds and a blocked shot. Crawley said Forde should expect more minutes going forward as her defense is needed on a guard-heavy roster.
“I thought [Forde] really recovered,” said Crawley. “She’s really played better and got better. We’re going to need rebounds from her and we’re going to need interior defense from her.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Daemon cut the Bonnies lead to only 10. Following a timeout, the Bonnies answered back with eight unanswered points of their own. Crawley was happy with the way his team handled Daemon’s run and added that the Bonnies’ response was something to build on.
“We don’t have a lot of experience, so it gave us a really good opportunity to see how we handle that,” Crawley said. “We’re figuring out how to win.”
Bonaventure plays its first game of the season against Binghamton on Friday, Nov. 8. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. with the game being streamed live on ESPN+.
shinnead24@bonaventure.edu
