ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – For the first time in program history, the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team is ranked in the national polls. The 22-2 Bonnies – who just missed out the last two weeks – checked in at No. 25 in the Associated Press Poll.
The ranking is also a first for any Big 4 women’s basketball team, and marks the first time in more than 40 years that a Big 4 basketball team is nationally ranked. The Bonaventure men were the last Big 4 school to be ranked in January 1971 – a season before the women’s program at Bona even existed.
“The ranking is a great piece of national recognition that our players have worked extremely hard to achieve,” head coach Jim Crowley said. “While we’re certainly excited and proud of the ranking, we need to make sure that our focus remains on the next game.”
The Bonnies – who sit atop the Atlantic 10 Conference standings as the lone unbeaten team at 9-0 – are coming off an 80-69 win over George Washington Saturday afternoon. The victory against the Colonials stretched SBU’s winning streak to 11 straight, tying the 2009-10 team’s start for the most consecutive wins in program history.
Bonaventure’s 22 victories are the third-most in the nation, behind only No. 1 Baylor (23-0) and No. 2 Notre Dame (23-1).
St. Bona is 9-2 against top-100 teams in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which is a main ranking utilized by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when choosing its postseason participants. Bona’s only two losses this year have come to RPI #6 Delaware and RPI #16 Villanova, and it was missing a starter in both of those games due to injury.
Bonaventure returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Massachusetts to face the Minutewomen in the first game of a road doubleheader with the men.
The Bonnies will be looking to keep the nation’s best road record intact as they enter the contest with a 10-0 mark in road contests. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. as St. Bonaventure plays its first-ever game as a nationally ranked team.
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