ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — It looked as if it would be easy.

St. Bonaventure’s women’s basketball team, struggling with injury and an unusually short bench, was hosting Rhode Island, loser of 17 of 19 games and winless in the Atlantic 10, Wednesday night at the Reilly Center.

Sure enough, coach Jesse Fleming’s Bonnies led by 28 with under four minutes to play in the third period.

But the Rams had recouped 19 of those points with 27 seconds left before Bona emerged with an 81-70 victory.

The reason seemed obvious.

St. Bonaventure, which started the season with only 10 players, has had only six healthy for the past half-dozen games.

Against Rhode Island, the five starters averaged 35 minutes, and Rhianna Council, the sixth-and-last player, logged 25.

It seemed Fleming’s crew had succumbed to fatigue.

But SBU’s second-year head coach denied it.

“I think it’s more just having no idea how to play with the lead,” he maintained. “ We don’t necessarily know how to win yet … we need to get locked in.”

Of course in his 13 years as a women’s coach, 11 as an assistant at four schools, Fleming admits have a one-player bench, “is literally the first time ever.”

And, as the boss, with a half-dozen available players, Fleming’s approach has changed.

“I don’t complain about the officiating a lot … I want them to call it both ways and let us play a little bit,” he admitted.  “My fear is to finish the game with four players. Tonight Jay (point guard Jalisha Terry) had three in the first and if she gets her fourth early in the third quarter, you might be playing with five the rest of the game.

“We’ve been pretty smart with that. If people have two in the first half, I just rotate them out. But it really affects our prep (for upcoming games) … like we play a lot of 3-on-3. We joke that we’re the best 3-on-3 team in the country.”

Bona started the season with only 10 players, plus ineligible transfer Dajah Logan from the College of Charleston.

“The other two spots we were only going to take somebody we really thought was going to help us,” Fleming said. “We weren’t going to take somebody just to fill the roster. We thought, ‘Hey, we can do it with 10,’ and we barely are.”

He explained that one recruit didn’t qualify and Bona failed to sign two junior college players.

And he admitted, “We thought with the roster we have, if we were healthy, we’d be having some success right now.”

But injuries, three shoulders (junior college transfer Bree Paulson, freshman forward Abigail Johnson and redshirt sophomore Keely Fresh) and a knee (junior guard Mckenna Maycock) undermined Fleming’s plan.

Paulson, who has played eight games and with fewer than nine is eligible for a redshirt, will take it.

“She would miss a big chunk (of the season) and as a junior college player, it’s almost like she’d miss half of her (Division I) career,” Fleming said. “So she’s going to get her surgery and have two years )to play at Bona.

“We love her … she’s a leader, she’s tough, she’s a kid we love to have late in games because she makes big shots. She’s a kid we’d like to have around for awhile.”

But the other three should return this season.

“McKenna will be back sooner rather than later … she’s getting closer,” Fleming said of Maycock of her knee rehab.

As for Johnson, a native of England, he said, “She’ll be back soon and she’ll play … we’ve had that discussion (about a redshirt as she’s played only four games) and think it’s better for her to get some experience and some reps.”

Fresh, also hopes to return.

“With her it’s how long does (the shoulder) hold up … she’s already had her redshirt year,” Fleming said.

Of the three shoulder separation/tears, he added, “It seems like it’s bad luck, but we’ve got to take a look at different things we can do to prevent that kind of stuff. A lot of people do ACL (knee ligament)  preventions … we’ve got to take a look at what we’re doing shoulder-wise.”

But Fleming hardly feels snake-bit.

“I don’t because I really like the team,” he said. “They could be like, ‘Whatever coach, we’re six players … we’re mailing it in.’ But they play hard, they compete and they don’t make an excuse about (the short bench). They’ve put themselves in games … they really like each other. I just feel appreciative because I get to coach them.”

Fleming added, “You’re never gonna hear the fatigue thing … we’re in the best shape of any team in the country. What I feel bad about is that McKenna has worked so hard, and Bre and Abigail … they’ve done everything we’ve asked of them and to miss so much time, they don’t deserve that.”

“These kids do all the right things on and off the court, they’re really good kids and you just want them to taste some success and just enjoy getting to play.”

He concluded, “Hopefully, we’re going to get some people back and this is going to give the six that are playing a ton of experience and now we get a shot in the arm with, hopefully, a couple of them coming back down the stretch.

“Until they’re back, I don’t want to assume that they’re back. But hopefully, now, in February, we’ll be as healthy as we’ve been all year  and be a dangerous out as we get down the stretch.”

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)