(Photo credit GoBonnies.com)
By Katie Faulkner @kfaulkner20
The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team entered its game against Detroit struggling offensively, averaging just over 52 points per game over its first three contests. However, the Bonnies showed some life on Tuesday and exploded to an 84-73 victory over the Titans at the Reilly Center.
The win helped the Bonnies improve to a 2-2 overall record on the season, while Detroit fell to 0-4.
The Bonnies shot over 51 percent from the floor and were led by senior Nyla Rueter, who had a game-high 21 points, including three three-pointers. Senior Katie Healy registered 19 points and seven rebounds while graduate student Kelcie Rombach tied her career high with 11 points. Sophomore Mariah Ruff tallied 12 points and six assists for the brown and white.
“We shot the ball a lot better,” said head coach Jim Crowley. “Life’s a lot easier when the ball goes in the basket.”
It was the Bonnies’ best shooting performance since a win over Rhode Island on Feb. 8 of last season, when they connected on 53 percent of their shots.
St. Bonaventure went into halftime with a 52-36 lead. However, the Titans opened up the second half on an 11-4 run. Free throws from Nyla Rueter and Emily Michael helped close the gap, but Detroit refused to surrender and cut the Bonnies’ lead to 76-68 with 4:23 remaining.
“Certainly not overly pleased with our defensive effort or our rebounding effort,” said Crowley. “We didn’t defend as a team.”
Detroit guard Nicole Urbanick brought her squad within eight (78-70) with 1:38 remaining. A Titans foul sent Rueter back to the foul line, where she remained perfect to extend the Bonnies’ lead back to 10. She was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line.
“(Detroit) put a lot of pressure on our defense and they kept coming. They would not go away and that’s a credit to them,” said Crowley.
Rosanna Reynolds recorded a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Titans were held to 36.9 percent shooting (24-of-65) overall. However, they took care of the ball and only turned it over six times.
The Bonnies shared the ball well and had 17 assists on the night.
“We were pretty unselfish, we gave the ball up and got in the paint better,” said Crowley.
Crowley was pleased with only committing eight turnovers,as the Bonnies averaged 20 during their first three contests.
St. Bonaventure returns to action on Sunday when they take on Toledo in the Reilly Center at 1 p.m.
intrepidsbu.com 