The St. Bonaventure University women’s basketball team could not overcome a cold-shooting afternoon, falling to Rhode Island, 82-48, Thursday at the Reilly Center.
Freshman Zoe Shaw paced the Bonnies with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including five 3-pointers in 35 minutes.
“Credit to Rhode Island,” St. Bonaventure coach Jim Crowley said. “We knew coming in they were playing well. They had a big win against Saint Francis and did a great job beating Saint Louis. They came in and dominated us. We steadied the ship at the end of the first quarter, but the start to the second quarter really put us on our heels.
“In the second half, when we’d score, we wouldn’t get back at the level we needed to. There was a lot of times we scored and gave up scores. In the second quarter specifically, we let offense impact a lot of what we were doing. There’s a level to this league you have to play that and we are not there consistently right now.”
The Rams jumped out to an early 12-2 lead after the first five minutes, opening the contest with an 8-0 run.
The Bonnies, however, hung around in the first, ending the period on a 6-0 spurt of their own on a three from Macy Smith and a trio of free throws from Mackenzie Pettinelli to make it a 16-9 game after one.
Rhode Island opened up a 20-point advantage with a 13-0 run to start the second, holding the Bonnies without a basket until the 2:48 mark in the quarter.
Harsimran Kaur’s layup with under a minute left to play in the half gave the visitors a 36-13 lead heading into halftime.
The Bonnies (4-9, 0-2 A-10) shot their best from the field in the third quarter, finishing the period shooting 63.6 percent (7-for-11) from the field.
Rhode Island, however, made eight field goals in the period, maintaining its double-digit lead.
The Rams outscored the Bonnies, 25-15 in the final period, earning the conference victory.
Kaur led all scorers with 19 points to go along with 15 rebounds for the Rams (7-8, 2-0 A-10).