It came down to the final period. This time the St. Bonaventure women closed it out to earn a 55-47 victory over Youngstown State. Saturday’s game at the Reilly Center saw the 3-7 Bonnies end a three game slide. Youngstown State is now 4-7.
Possessions: 60
Offensive efficiency: St. Bona 93, Youngstown State 77
Four Factors:
| St. Bona | Youngstown St. | |
| eFG pct | 47 | 44 |
| FT rate | 11 | 2 |
| OREB pct | 34 | 24 |
| TO rate | 19 | 22 |
Points of Emphasis:
Answering. Bonnies used an 11-0 run to take a nine point lead into the final period. Youngstown cut the lead to five with just under four minutes to play. Bona’s Dani Haskell then drained a corner three to push the lead back to eight. From that point, coach Jim Crowley’s Bonnies were able to close it out. Beside the win, the manner in how they got it was significant. In several earlier losses Bona was unable to finish in the stretch and seal the verdict. On this afternoon they showed poise making the significant plays.
Rebounding and defense. Bona won the battle of the boards in raw numbers by a 37-29 count. On the season Bona has allowed opponents to average a 92 offensive efficiency. As noted previously they surrendered just 77 OE, 15 below their average. That defensive effort went a long way toward securing the game. In addition, Youngstown’s 6’5” Emily Saunders, averaging 12.8 per game, was held scoreless.
Balance. Bonnies shared the wealth in the scorebook. Claire Cody led the way with 11 points. Payton Fields and Dani Haskell had 10 each. Isabellah Middleton and Nadechka Laccen each had nine.
Shay-lee Kirby of Youngstown led all scorers with 18 points. The 5’10” guard was lethal beyond the arc connecting on 6 of 13. Youngstown shot 9 of 33 (27%) from three and 35% overall. In a statistical oddity and rarity- the visiting Penguins were 0 for 1 from the charity stripe. Bona shot 41% hitting 7 of 22 (38%) from downtown. Bona did not visit the line as much either, hitting 4 of 6 (67%). Most of those attempts were late game when Youngstown trailed and fouled to extend the contest. Game had six ties and four lead changes.
Next up for the Bonnies is a December 21 trip to Colgate.
