BIG 4 BASKETBALL
Bonnies fall in A-10, men win
An excellent season for the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team has come to an end.
The Bonnies dropped a 67-63 decision to Temple in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at Charlotte, N. C. The Bonnies finish their season at 21-10, setting a single-season record for wins.
The Owls had a nine-point lead with six minutes to go, but Bona rallied to cut the margin to two points with four seconds left. Temple added two free throws to ice it.
Dana Mitchell led St. Bonaventure with 24 points.
The Bonnies could not stop LaKeisha Eaddy, who scored a career-high 26 points for the Owls (21-8). Nineteen of them came in the second half. Jasmine Stone chipped in with career- highs in points (12) and assists (5), while Shaqwedia Wallace had 12 first-half points.
Meanwhile, St. Bonaventure’s men’s team still has some basketball to play.
The Bonnies defeated Charlotte, 74-68, to grab the last spot in next week’s Atlantic 10 tournament. Bona finished the season 6-10 in the conference and 15-14 overall.
The Bonnies will be the 11th seed in the postseason event and will play No 6 Richmond Wednesday at 9 p. m. at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N. J.
“It was tough as a coach to have such a big game and have seven days off to think about it,“ said Bona head coach Mark Schmidt. “I thought the guys came out really well. We shot the heck out of the ball in the first half and we did a good job of attacking. It’s great to have seniors have it pay off for them and they played extremely well.”
Chris Matthews led the Bonnies with 22 points, while Andrew Nicholson came off the bench to score 15.
It was Senior Day at the Reilly Center, as Tyler Benson, D’Lancy Carter and Owen Maxwell played their last home game. The fans saw the Bonnies jump out to a 23-8 lead, and hold a 42-28 lead at the half.
Bona built its lead up to 22, 54-32, at one point early in the second half, only to see Charlotte (11-19, 5-11) score 12 straight points to make the last few minutes a little more interesting. But the Bonnies held on for the win.
The UB women lost to Miami, 67-57, in Oxford, Ohio. The Bulls will be the sixth seed in the East in the upcoming Mid- American Conference tournament and will play Northern Illinois in the first round Wednesday in Cleveland. Jessica Fortman had 17 points to lead UB.
Much at stake for UB
There’s a mighty huge game on tap this afternoon at Alumni Arena. (2 p. m., Radio 1230 AM)
There are two other big games also on the docket today in the Mid-American Conference, but the University at Buffalo’s showdown with the visiting Miami (Ohio) RedHawks is the key to clearing out the log jam atop the East Division standings.
Miami, Bowling Green, UB and Akron each have 10-5 records as the regular season comes to a close. Miami (17-11) can take the East Division title with a win, as the RedHawks swept Bowling Green, split with Akron and would secure a split with UB.
If UB (18-10) is to secure the top seed for this week’s conference tournament and secure at least a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, it needs to beat Miami and have Bowling Green and Akron lose. But the Bulls can clinch a first-round tournament bye with a win regardless of what happens in the other games.
Akron is at Kent State while Bowling Green hosts Ohio.
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