South Florida ends Bona’s banner run
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 team.
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 the school’s women’s basketball history (23-11) and the first postseason win for a Big 4 women’s 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 school 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. They 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 (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 Bonnies shot 42.3 percent (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. “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 a while.”
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