Hard work pays off for Bonnies' Van Tatenhove
Published: November 19, 2009, 11:47 pm
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OLEAN — In the offseason, Megan Van Tatenhove spent her workout time with teammate Dana Mitchell.
And it shows.
In her sophomore season, Van Tatenhove has increased her strength and her confidence, roaming the baseline and flashing in the paint with more authority. Her efforts produced a career-high 18 points Thursday afternoon as she led the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team to a 66-49 win over Niagara in front of 497 at the Reilly Center.
"I worked out with Dana and it helped me a lot," Van Tatenhove said of their three-times-a-week weight sessions and twice-a-week general conditioning. "She pushes you and she motivates you. She never stops working."
Mitchell never stops working in games, (she put in 15 points against Niagara), but is impressed with the improvement she has seen in her teammate.
"Megan has definitely stepped up in her role," Mitchell said. "She knows we need her to score points this year. Other teams are focused on stopping me, leaving the weak side open."
Mitchell continues to draw double and triple teams and that's what Niagara did, collapsing on the senior forward whenever she picked up the ball.
That left other players open. Van Tatenhove took advantage of that in the first half and Jessica Jenkins also was a beneficiary, adding 10 points.
Van Tatenhove has moved into a starting role this year after averaging 16.5 minutes off the bench in 33 games as a freshman. She has had stretches of playing exceptionally well, including a pair of 17-point games against Richmond and Temple, but consistency is what she needs to bring as a sophomore.
"Meg is really good and that's not a surprise. I've told her that," Bona coach Jim Crowley said. "She's going to have opportunities. We're more surprised when she doesn't score in double digits. She needs to do it every night. She's still feeling around what we need from her." For the fourth straight game, Bona (4-0) held its opponent to fewer than 50 points, although Niagara made a game of it in the second half.
The Bonnies led by as many as 19 midway through the first half, but the Purple Eagles (0-3) found some rhythm on offense in the second half. Niagara got as close as 11 points, 51-40, on a three-pointer by Liz Flooks with 9:54 to play but couldn't get over that double-digit hump.
"That is a very good basketball team and I told our group that in the second half we played even with them," Niagara coach Kendra Faustin said. "I felt like we looked like the better team at times."
Flooks led Niagara with 15 points while Jennifer McNamee added 13.
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