OLEAN — For four years, Katelyn Murray and the other seniors on the St. Bonaventure women's

basketball team would come into the Reilly Center for practice and look at the walls.

The gym is a standing testament to the St. Bonaventure men's program, celebrating NIT and NCAA

success with banners and retired jersey numbers.

But Murray and her teammates wanted to hang a banner to celebrate the success of the women's

program.

And now, they have a tangible reason for celebration, even with the dream season ending with

an 80-66 loss to South Florida in the Women's National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal at

the Reilly Center on Sunday afternoon.

"We really wanted to be able to hang a banner and we're really proud of where the program has

come," said Murray, who scored 11 points in her final game as a Bonnie. "We knew it had to end

sometime, and I'm glad it was here, at home, with the chance to play in front of 4,000

people."

Among the records the Bonnies have set, including the best season in program history (23-11)

and the first postseason win for a Big 4 women's basketball team, was the Big 4 women's single-

game attendance record. Bona played its final game of the season in front of 4,133 fans,

surpassing the mark of 4,017 set by the University at Buffalo when it hosted North Carolina in

2000.

Those 4,000-plus fans saw a Bona team play an impressive and aggressive game against a South

Florida squad that set its own program records and by all rights could have been winning some

games in the NCAA Tournament instead of the WNIT.

The Bonnies had a second-half lead and pulled within five points, 67-62, when Dana Mitchell

completed a traditional three-point play with 5:38 left in the game.

Those final five minutes, though, the Bonnies' tank was empty on offense and the Bulls knocked

down their free throws to secure the double-digit lead.

"We just couldn't keep scoring with them," Bona coach Jim Crowley said. "I'm thrilled any day

we get to 66 points and I didn't think we defended badly even though we gave up 80. We haven't

seen speed and size like that. The put a lot of pressure on us defensively and they just have

so many weapons.

"In the end, we were just tired. We ran out of gas. We had to work so hard in the other two

games and there was so much emotion that as the game wound down, all that came up with a lot

of shots that were short. I still couldn't be more proud to be this team's coach."

The Bonnies started the game with a 10-2 advantage before the first half became a story of

momentum swings. The Bulls grew their own lead to nine points (29-20) before Bona made its own

run back, taking advantage of driving the lane and getting to the free throw line.

A pair of free throws by Armelia Horton tied the game, 35-35, until an off-balance

three-pointer at the buzzer by Janae Stokes gave the Bulls a 38-35 halftime lead.

Bona again set the tone in the second half when Erica Schiefen hit a three-pointer to tie the

game. Minutes later, Murray hit back-to-back threes to give Bona a 44-42 lead.

Again, the Bulls started to pull away, only to see Bona counter with a defensive stop or a

jumper by Mitchell. South Florida had more offense over those final five minutes to seal the

double-digit win.

"I'm very proud of our guys," South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said. "In the second half we

did a better job defending dribble penetration and contesting shots. I thought in the second

half we made more reads in our half-court offense, came off ball screens and started to attack

the rim."

Getting good touches to its post players for easy shots inside or points in transition helped

the Bulls (25-10) shoot 50 percent from the floor for the game (28 of 56) and put five players

in double figures. Senior guard Shantia Grace led all scorers with 20 points, including going

13 of 13 from the free throw line. Forward Jessica Lawson had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The numbers weren't too shabby for the Bonnies, either. They shot 42.3 percent for the game

(22 of 52), hit 6 of 14 from three-point range and committed only 12 turnovers against a team

that forces opponents into an average of 20.

Even the rebounding discrepancy (South Florida held a 39-24 advantage on the boards) didn't

faze Crowley.

"We've won games with those kind of rebounding numbers before," Crowley said. "I feel they hit

some tough jumpers at times when they needed to and the constant pressure they put on us hurt

us. If we play that game against 95 percent of our schedule, we would win. I can't look and

say we played bad. It was a tough one to go out on, but they're one of the best teams we've

played in awhile."