Women’s basketball: Bona makes Big 4 history with WNIT victory over West Virginia
Bonnies storm back
Second-half surge energizes faithful
OLEAN — They stormed the court.
Granted, the student body was caught up in the excitement of the game. But in the grand scheme of Big 4 women’s basketball it was that important.
With impressive defense and big shots by the big guns, St. Bonaventure edged West Virginia, 68-63, in the second round of the WNIT on Saturday afternoon.
The win was in front of a Reilly Center record women’s crowd of 2,123 (though it was closer to 2,500 with walk-ins after halftime) and marked the first time in Big 4 women’s basketball history that a team has grabbed a postseason win.
“I’m still kind of speechless,” Bona coach Jim Crowley said. “I just said a lot of thank yous in the locker room. Really I thought the second half sums up our kids. I told them this morning that the two words I use to describe them are tough and competitive. I didn’t think we played tough or competitive in the first half. But that’s what these kids are and they rose to it.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet but it’s something these kids deserve. They work hard and they have great faith.”
They needed a whole lot of faith after that first half. Because an important Bona win, well, just wouldn’t be the same without some drama.
While the Mountaineers (18-15) led most of the first half, the Bonnies hung around — that is until the final two minutes.
In that span, West Virginia went on a 10-2 run to take what felt like a commanding 42-28 halftime lead.
Bona struggled defensively in that opening half as the Mountaineers shot a blistering 17 of 27 (63 percent) from the floor and an even hotter 7 of 9 from three-point range.
“We were frustrated, but all year long we’ve gotten where we are because we stuck together,” senior guard Katelyn Murray said. “Some of us were going at it [at halftime] and we were hot at the time but we calmed down and realized we were in a good spot.
“We weren’t playing well. We knew we could come back into the game and at the end of halftime we started to tell ourselves to believe. We knew what we had to fix.
“We’ve done it all year long and [in the second half] we just stuck to the game plan.”
The game plan included playing better defense, especially on switching off screens.
It wasn’t until a glimpse at the final box score that the effectiveness of the Bona defense really sunk in.
In the second half West Virginia went just 2 for 21 from the field.
Yes, the Mountaineers made just two baskets the entire second half.
“I thought we hurried stuff in the second half and took some bad shots,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “We weren’t patient enough when they started cutting into the lead. We needed to work the ball and take time off the clock and make them play defense. We didn’t execute and they did.
“And they just outhustled us on some possessions that could have gone either way.”
Concentrating on defense, the Bonnies were able to chip away at the lead.
They opened with a defensive stop followed by a three-pointer from Erica Schiefen.
A layup by Megan Van Tatenhove with 15:26 to play cut the lead to 45-37 — and the separation stayed in single digits from that point.
It looked as if Bona was going to get stuck on the four-point gap hump for the rest of the game until Schiefen hit another three-pointer — this time to cut it to 58-57 with 5:21 to play.
Two missed shots by West Virginia and a defensive rebound by Armeila Horton led to a jumper by Dana Mitchell which gave Bona a 59-58 lead with 4:27 left.
The Mountaineers tied the game, 63-63, on a layup by Liz Repella with 1:57 to play but Mitchell scored again and Bona hit its free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
“We were out of control a little bit [in the final minute]. Who wouldn’t be in that situation?” Murray said. “We’ve been there so many times this year and in years before that we know what to do.
“Once we left the coaches we came together as a group and said, ‘We’re up, we’re in control, let’s keep it.’ ”
Mitchell led the Bonnies with 18 points while Murray added 14. Schiefen finished with eight points.
The Bonnies (22-10) advanced to the third round of the WNIT. They will play the winner of today’s game between Wisconsin and Kentucky.
The game location, date and time have yet to be announced but it is likely that the Bonnies will be on the road.
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