By Aaron M Smith
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY – If playing on senior day wasn’t enough incentive for Megan Van Tatenhove, having the opportunity to finally beat Xavier in her college career was the icing on the cake.
The senior forward scored 17 of her game high 24 points in the first 8 minutes and 5 seconds of the game as the #22/25 ranked Brown and White cruised to another Atlantic 10 conference win and ran their unbeaten conference record to 12-0. The victory marked the first over Xavier since 2002.
Tyeasha Moss and Sabrina Johnson tallied 10 points each and Lakeisha Crouch collected 14 rebounds for the visiting Musketeers.
The day, however, belonged to Van Tatenhove. With her parents in the crowd, the senior from Sheybogan Falls, Wisconsin scored the first 15 points of the game for SBU and finished with 22 points in the first half.
“Yeah, it (Xavier) was the only team we haven’t beaten,” Van Tatenhove admitted, “so definitely able to check that off. It is a good feeling.”
The forward got the scoring started at the 18 :46 mark of the first stanza when she accepted a pass into the post, stepped through the lane, and hit a short jumper for a 2-0 lead. Van Tatenhove scored the next 13 points for the Bonnies using her entire arsenal, hitting mid-range jumpers, free throws and a three ball.
Both teams exchanged baskets before a Chelsea Bowker screen at the top of the key freed Alaina Walker for a drive and easy lay-up. After Xavier’s Tyeasha Moss missed a lay-up, Amelia Horton grabbed an offensive rebound off a Jessica Jenkins’ miss and the Bonnies led 19-7. The put-back brought the Reilly Center faithful to their feet and forced Coach Amy Waugh to call timeout in an effort to settle her young squad.
The Brown and White immediately came out of the timeout extending their lead to 24-7, thanks to a pair of back to back three balls from junior forward Chelsea Bowker.
Xavier tried to respond, but each attempt to come back was met with an answer from the Bonnies. At the 4:00 mark a Jenkins’ layup off a screen at the top of the key pushed the SBU lead to 33-14 and again forced Coach Waugh to call timeout.
The young Musketeer squad refused to back down and when Shatrya Hawkes nailed a baseline running jumper at the buzzer, the halftime lead was cut to 15, 38-23.
“Certainly, there is not a lot for me to gripe at our kids about. I thought late in the first half we got a little lax with our defense and gave up layups, but I thought we did a really good job for the most part of team defending inside,” Coach Jim Crowley admitted. “We forced them to take a lot of difficult shots and did a really good job rebounding those shots. Offensively, we were stale at times; we weren’t able to move the ball. Rip and go, I thought we did that really well in second half. First half, I thought that came because Meg was so effective.”
Bonaventure started the second half the way the first half ended, going on a 18-5 run to extend the lead to 56-32. The run was aided by a pair of trifectas from Bowker and Jenkins, along with 4 points from Walker.
“Today was a tough day offensively for us and I thought from start to finish St. Bonaventure came out were ready to go,” Coach Waugh reflected. “They were the aggressor from start to finish.”
Bona won the war on the boards out rebounding Xavier 49-37. Walker had a game high 9 rebounds the Brown and White, and 9 players had at least one rebound.
“I think it is the feel good story of the A-10 right now,” Waugh said. “What Coach Crowley has done and this group of seniors – they deserve credit. They have done a great job all year long, and they deserve everything they have gotten so far.”
SBU finished the game committing just 4 turnovers.
The Bonnies improve to 12-0 in the A-10 and 25-2 overall. SBU hosts Fordham on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
Xavier falls to 4-8 in the A-10 and 7-18 overall. The Musketeers travel to Dayton for a date on Wednesday. Tip off is scheduled for a 7:00 pm start.
There are a lot of weapons in that Bonnie lineup. Jenkins scores just seven, and they still win by 18. Bona ripped Xavier’s heart out.
Agreed. The success in this team is not from one or two great players, but the depth of talent on this team. It is an extremely unselfish team that can end up having a different player rise to the challenge each night.
Yesterday was definitely Van Tatenhove’s day.. The first 8 minutes of the game by the senior was possibly the most dominant performance I have seen all season.