If the way to the postseason for St. Bonaventure is through defense and senior forward Dana Mitchell, the Bonnies are off in the right direction.

Bona earned a 65-47 win over Canisius on Tuesday in front of 607 at the Koessler Center. the undefeated Bonnies have held all three opponents under 50 points so far.

"I thought this was a great test for our defense," Bona coach Jim Crowley said. "[Canisius] shot it well and a number of those were contested so give credit to them. I thought we did a good job remembering to stay with our defense. ... They hit some big threes but we did other

things well defensively. Our whole philosophy is we don't want to give up any easy scores and we did a good job of staying with that."

The Bonnies took a 28-22 halftime lead and came out with a strong start to the second half, rattling off seven straight points to open up a double-digit advantage, 35-22.

While Canisius got as close as six points a few times in the second half, Bona had all the confidence it needed to finally create some separation when Jessica Jenkins nailed a three-pointer. The Bonnies followed that with a defensive stop then got a pair of free throws from Mitchell for a 53-40 lead with 4:18 to play.

"I don't know if it takes a basketball mind to see that we couldn't stop Dana Mitchell and that we let Jessica Jenkins shoot threes," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "That was our big thing — we didn't want Jess to shoot threes. We wanted to make her go by us and do different things. And we didn't do that. We doubled down on Dana Mitchell but not strong enough and they crushed us on the boards."

Mitchell scored her game-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. She also made four free throws. Jenkins complemented Mitchell's inside game with 19 points, including going 5 of 9 from three-point range. Ellie Radke led Canisius (0-2) with 16 points.

The Bonnies held a 33-19 advantage on the glass and limited the Griffs to 16-for-48 shooting (33.3 percent).

Mitchell looked eager to call for the ball throughout the game and ready to fully embrace the role she was brought to Olean to fill as the team's consummate scorer.

"Since I got here, coach has said to put the ball in my hands and this year I'm taking it full on," Mitchell said. "My teammates know that and support me with that. We've built a trust that if they get it to me, I will take care of it. I can't thank them enough for that confidence in me that even if I mess up, I will get it right the next time."

The Bonnies host Niagara at noon Thursday in the Reilly Center while the Griffs visit Youngstown State on Sunday.