ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team took the floor for warm-ups in relative silence Saturday morning, but that was no cause for concern.
The Bonnies tend to be very vocal as they shoot around, but outside of a couple yells of encouragement after made shots in drills, they were quiet before taking on UMass. The laughing was kept to a minimum, replaced by preeminent sounds of dribbling and balls swishing through the net.
SBU was simply locked in, all business.
For three quarters, the laser focus served the Bonnies well, powering them to a dominant effort. The lead provided them enough of a cushion to withstand a Minutewomen run and earn a 69-59 win.
Bona’s record improved to 6-10 with its first Atlantic 10 win after two losses. UMass dropped to 8-8 (0-3 conference).
“They’re just comfortable now,” Bonnies coach Jesse Fleming assessed. “We’ve run the same stuff for a while … it’s a tighter rotation so it’s not, “Hey, who’s running the four spot? Who’s running the three spot?’ I do think they’re just locked in. They know what their role is and they’re taking care of business.”
Bonnies guard Mariah Ruff led all scorers for the second game in a row, recording 24 points on 8-of-20 shooting, including a 6-of-12 clip from 3-point range. Similar to Wednesday’s 31-point effort against Saint Joseph’s, she dealt most of the damage in the third quarter, scoring 11 points behind three 3-pointers.
After Ruff led off the third with two consecutive 3-pointers, UMass coach Tory Verdi was exasperated, calling a timeout and imploring his players to defend the perimeter.
The effort was there, but the only person to stop Ruff this week was herself. In fact, the Oneonta native scored more points in the last two third quarters (31) than any other Bonnie combined for in the two full games.
Danielle Migliore was in double digits as well, with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Though the Minutewomen featured two double-figure scorers (Hailey Leidel with 20 points, Vashnie Perry with 18), SBU held them scoreless for the first 4:35 of the second quarter and without a field goal for the first four minutes of the third.
The defensive outing, save UMass’ 25-point fourth quarter, was excellent. Senior center Maggie Mulligan, who Fleming on Friday called the best post player in the conference, was limited to a pedestrian three-point, five-turnover, four-foul day. UMass shot 33 percent (9-of-27) in the first half.
“We just got stops,” Fleming said. “I thought we did a great job guarding the post. I think Mulligan is a great post player and just didn’t think we let her have a lot of catches. It all started with our ‘D’ allowing us to set our offense and then we executed really well.”
Her 6-foot-2 frame did not deter the relentless Bona attack, as Ruff and sophomore Jalisha Terry drove in the lane early and often.
If Terry wasn’t fouled (she made six of her nine points from the free throw line), Ruff used dribble penetration to draw the defense in and kick it out to an open Migliore, who cashed in on three 3-point attempts.
“Kind of a snake dribble,” Fleming said, describing Ruff’s move. “She kind of jumbles it right into the middle of the paint from the wing. I thought that was really hard to stop. She’s one of the only kids that can actually do that, that can actually get downhill, change speed or change her direction and have the vision on the weak side.”
That ball movement, coupled with the stellar shooting, should make Ruff a candidate for A-10 Player of the Week. For now, the Bonnies will be satisfied with their first league win, a no-doubter for most of the contest.
“I told them … if our problem is that we’re giving up 20-point leads to 10-point leads, that’s the problem I want to have,” Fleming said with a smile. “I don’t want to have the problem of, ‘How are we getting back from 17 down?’”
