WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Excited Bonnies face young WVU
At the first practice after the WNIT field was announced, St. Bonaventure suffered from a bit of rose-colored haze.
Getting caught up in the excitement is natural. After all, the Bonnies grabbed their first postseason tournament bid with one of the 17 at-large berths.
While the Bonnies should savor the moment, they also would like to win some more games and the task begins today with a matchup at the Reilly Center against West Virginia (1
p. m., Radio 95.7 and 88.3 FM).
“Wednesday and Thursday we had to get after them a little bit,” Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Jim Crowley said. “We’re not just playing. We want to prepare to have success and they responded well to that. This is a competitive group. We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t competitive and because of that, I know when they get the chance to play with people in the stands that they’ll compete and play hard. I don’t know what the result will be but I never worry about competitiveness with this group.”
But Crowley does worry about West Virginia. The Mountaineers have dealt with youth and injuries this year, but the tradition of the program speaks for itself. WVU owns an all-time postseason record of 10-8, including 6-3 in the WNIT and 4-5 in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers went to the NCAAs the last two seasons, advancing to the second round each time.
“What worries me the most is their transition,” Crowley said. “We have to control that and be able to handle their defensive pressure. For us on defense, we can’t allow them to get free looks in transition. We’ve been telling the kids all week that it’s great to be excited but we have to remember why we are here and what we’ve done to get here. We need to stick to our principles of defense, sharing the ball and spacing on offense and stay true to who we are.”
Season recaps: It was the best season in Bona program history with 21 wins overall and nine wins in the Atlantic 10 — its first winning season in the conference. The Bonnies scored key wins over then nationally ranked Michigan State and upended A-10 conference champ Charlotte in the regular season home finale.
Speaking of home, the Bonnies have played their best in the Reilly Center, going 12-2 in the friendly confines this season — setting yet another program record — and are 6-4 in their last 10 games.
West Virginia, meanwhile, is having a bit of a down year — if making your third straight postseason appearance can be considered a “down year.” At 17-14, this is the first year the Mountaineers haven’t hit 20 wins but the team has just two seniors and making headway in the Big East is often an insurmountable task.
The Mountaineers are just 3-7 in road games but one of those victories came at No. 5 Louisville in February.
Scouting St. Bonaventure: Without playing in two weeks, the Bonnies could be rusty and overly enthusiastic at the start. The good news is that Bona has won games in all kinds of situations, including slow starts or blowing big early leads.
Playing at home, Bona needs to take advantage of its comfort zone. The team goes 10 deep and look for Crowley to play several combinations on the floor, particularly early on. While Dana Mitchell and Katelyn Murray are the key components, this is a team whose sum has been greater than its parts all season long.
Scouting West Virginia: Liz Repella scored 27 points in the Mountaineers’ 70-40 win over Coppin State in Thursday’s first-round WNIT game. Four players scored in double figures for an athletic and offensive-minded team.
Repella and Takisha Granberry both have scored more than 500 points this season — just the third time in program history that two players have scored 500. Granberry can hit consistently from three-point range while Repella is an all-around guard who can score off the dribble or from long range.
Outlook: West Virginia has a more talented starting five that is quicker and bigger than St. Bonaventure. But the Bonnies are deep and keep fresher longer. The problem for Bona has been its press breaker and if the Mountaineers effectively put pressure on the Bonnies it could mean easy points off turnovers.
But Bona is at home, where it knocked off Michigan State and Charlotte this year. If they stay within themselves, the Bonnies could very well knock off West Virginia and earn a trip to the third-round.
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