By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — In search of a statement win at the tail end of the campaign, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team has VCU in its sights ahead of its penultimate home game of the regular season.
After suffering a 55-37 defeat last time out, on the road at Davidson, Bona’s losing streak reached double figures. But in that most recent loss, there were moments in which coach Jim Crowley saw levels of growth. On offense, he saw his side more purposeful in possession. Unlike in the team’s first bout with the Wildcats on the season, they were patient and waited for better opportunities to arise, and even when they didn’t, the time they took prevented Davidson from getting easy buckets in transition after rushed shots. On the defensive side, they were able to shut down a number of offensive possessions, cutting the total that Davidson was able to put up from the first affair by 28 points the second go-around.
“Our program has to be about defense,” Crowley said. “Tomorrow is another test, but I’ve been pleased that folks have embraced that and taken that challenge, really executed game plans much better and just realizing how much our offense can help our defense, I think that’s where it starts. We weren’t taking a lot of really ill-advised early shots against Davidson on Sunday. In the first game, we did. We weren’t throwing the ball all over the place. So, if you’re making teams guard longer, it impacts their offense. … And then we executed game plans. We played pretty hard, I thought people didn’t let folks get to what they’re good at and made people make some plays that they weren’t comfortable with.”
The Bonnies will look to take those positive moments and carry them over into the VCU affair as Crowley aims for his side to show a bit more consistency as the season comes to a close.
“The challenge that we’ve talked about with them is the consistency of it all,” Crowley said. “If we had played the way we played Sunday at Davidson for the full game against George Washington, that could have been a different result. So can we maintain things? That’s the challenge with a younger team and a team that’s going through some struggles: the discipline to stay with what you’re asking when things aren’t going the way that you want them to in the win-loss column.”
The defense especially will need to find a level of consistency if they are to slow down the likes of VCU’s Mary-Anna Asare, Zoli Khalil, Valentina Ojeda and Mykel Parham.
Asare, statistically the seventh best scorer in the Atlantic 10, leads the Rams with 15.7 points per game. She enters the affair on the back of a 24-point outing in their 76-57 win over Fordham. She also has just five games this season in which she has failed to score double-figures. In comparison, she has nine games in which she has scored 18 or more points, her season-high being a 37-point outing against Duquesne.
Asare is flanked by Khalil, who averages 8.8 points per game, and Ojeda, who averages 7.6 points per game. The former scored 19 last time out against Fordham.
“They have three really dynamic scorers, Asare, Ojeda and Khalil,” Crowley said. “Asare lights it up. Ojeda has had some really big games and seems to be getting more confident every day. And Khalil just plays with such a good pace, attacks the rim and is shooting the ball better. They’re coming off a really good offensive performance against Fordham. … They certainly have a lot of people who have the ability to get to the basket and if you are rotating and getting lost on that, then their shooters are really going to have a day.”
But where the guards may draw a lot of attention, it will be crucial, according to Crowley, that his team does not forget to key in on, statistically, the second-best rebounder in the A10 in Mykel Parham. Her 10.8 rebounds per game puts her only behind Saint Joseph’s Laura Ziegler (11.4) in the conference. Caitlin Frost and Hannah Richardson will have the tall task of keeping her quiet on the offensive end. On the defensive side of things, they will need to do their best to negate her presence in the paint and make room for Zoe Shaw and Dani Haskell to drive to the basket.
“Parham is a great rebounder and a terrific interior defender,” Crowley said. “She’s a Rudy Gobert-type player in there.
“Whether it be Caitlin or Hannah, (Parham) will be guarding someone who can do a little something on the perimeter, so hopefully that makes her think twice. Our folks have got to make good decisions in (the paint). … She’s coming, so are you going off two feet and getting her with some fakes? Are you keeping your dribble alive? One of the things that I think is really important, that we want to keep growing, is, can you use the scout people have for you against the people who have it? They know you drive and they want to go block it, well, can you get them off their feet and get an extra foul? Can you make that easy pass? So, I think folks are starting to understand that and hopefully (we will) be able to carry it over in games.”
In terms of the ranks that will be at hand against VCU, the Bonnies’ depth was given a boost prior to the Davidson game with the return of Lena Walz to the rotation. Another guard that will force teams to look deeper into the depth chart and, hopefully, free up some space for Shaw and Haskell.
“She gave us some good minutes against Davidson, did some defensive things that we liked and moved the ball,” Crowley said. “It’s just good to have another body. She’s physical and has some shooting range, so hopefully she continues to stay healthy and have good practices and get some good minutes for us.”
St. Bonaventure will tip-off against VCU in the Reilly Center at 6 p.m. on Feb. 17.
