The Bona season ended on Tuesday night. St. Bonaventure suffered a 69-50 setback at the hands of host Middle Tennessee. The second round WNIT game at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro (TN.) saw the Bonnies end their season at 17-16 while the Blue Raiders improved to 17-15. The numbers…
Possessions: 67
Offensive Efficiency: MTSU 102, St. Bona 76
Four Factors:
| St. Bona | MTSU | |
| eFG Pct. | 41 | 47 |
| FT Rate | 13 | 25 |
| OREB Pct. | 24 | 36 |
| TO Rate | 21 | 17 |
Points of Emphasis:
Slow start. The Blue Raiders jumped out to an 11-0 lead. The Bonnies regrouped and gradually chipped away. With just under seven minutes remaining in the second period, the score was tied at 20. Middle Tennessee responded with a 9-0 run to regain the lead. The Bona deficit was 15 in the third stanza. Once again coach Jim Crowley’s group responded, trimming the difference to five late in the period. And once again, Middle Tennessee answered, getting the lead back to 11 at the conclusion of the third period. The home five was never headed in those final ten minutes.
The Bonnies showed resilience in making their comebacks. In the final analysis, getting in that 11-0 hole, forced Bona to play a game of catch up all night.
“We needed to play really well and we didn’t,” Crowley told gobonnies.com. “They set the tone early and we were chasing. We gave ourselves a good opportunity in the second quarter and they made three threes in a row.”
Significant improvement for the Brown and White. A year ago the Bonnies finished 6-24 (2-16 in the A10). The current season, as mentioned, wrapped up at 17-16 (7-11 in A10). Overall, an 11 game improvement for Jim Crowley in his third year after returning to Bonaventure.
The Bonnies were led by graduates Laycee Drake and Aailah Parker. There is a strong corps of young players returning as a nucleus for Crowley to continue to build on. The transfer portal and NIL will be issues. Everyone however, especially at the mid-major level, deals with this. It will be interesting to see if, and how much, the roster is altered come next fall. This is certain, for those entering the portal from other schools, Bonaventure is a more attractive destination than what was perceived a year ago.
Middle Tennessee was a tough draw. “(That is) A really great program,” Crowley said. “Obviously what coach (Rick) Insell has done here is (develop) the most consistent mid-major in the country.”
A coaching legend, Insell is retiring at the conclusion of this season. His son Matt, an assistant on staff, will take over. Insell has been at the school 21 years and taken the Blue Raiders to 12 NCAA Tournaments, 7 WNITs and one WBIT. In 49 seasons on the bench, including 28 at Shelbyville (TN.) Central HS, Insell has amassed over 1,200 victories.
Notes. Laycee Drake was the lone double-figure scorer for Bona with 14 points. MTSU played four in double-digits. Blair Baugus posted game-high figures of 20 points, 14 rebounds. Savannah Davis scored 14 while Alayna Contreras and Kirston Verhulst added 12 and 11 respectively.
Over the last eight games, MTSU sophomore Savannah Davis fell into a 7 of 33 (21%) shooting slump. Against the Bonnies, Davis hit a career high four three pointers en route to 14 points and 5 of 9 (56%) shooting from the floor.
Bonnies shot 35% from the floor and 26% (6 of 23) from deep. Middle Tennessee shot 39%, hitting 30% 99 of 30) from three.
MTSU won the battle of the boards 42-34. Drake was Bona’s leading rebounder with six.
MTSU hosts Cleveland State in the Super 16 of the WNIT on Thursday.