By Taylor Nigrelli
RICHMOND — St. Bonaventure (23-9, 12-5) rode sophomore forward Hannah Little’s career-high 22 points and game-high 17 rebounds to a 54-42 victory over La Salle (15-14, 9-9) Friday in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament.
Little excelled in the second half, scoring 16 points – more than all but two players scored the entire game. The A-10’s Sixth Woman of the year award winner helped the Bonnies put away the Explorers with an impressive three possession stretch late in the game.
The Bonnies led by just four points with fewer than four minutes remaining when sophomore forward Katie Healy hit little with an outlet pass. Little took contact, drew a foul, hit the basket and then nailed the ensuing foul shot. She then grabbed a defensive rebound among a litany of La Salle forwards and hit a lay-up on the next possession.
Little credited her teammates for finding her when she was open throughout the game.
“My teammates were just giving me the ball they had confidence in me,” Little said. “So I was like, I’m just going finish. I had a lot of energy.”
Defense dominated the game, especially in the first half. The game remained scoreless for the first 4:34 before sophomore guard Nyla Rueter hit a three-pointer. The Bonnies ran out to a 9-0 lead before La Salle guard Alicia Cropper hit two free throws more than eight minutes into the game.
The Explorers didn’t get a field goal for the first 9:14 of the game and failed to hit double digits until the 6:44 mark of the first half. All in all, the Bonnies held La Salle to 22.2 percent shooting.
“It’s who we are,” Crowley said. “It ain’t pretty, but we play some defense. We play really hard.”
After the game, Crowley told his players that they had just put forth the best defensive effort of the season.
“I really thought that we were just where we needed to be all the time,” Crowley said. “Our defense is at its best when people think ‘hey, we just miss shots’ we are doing our best job if people are thinking that.”
What little offense La Salle could muster mostly came from Cropper and freshman forward Micahya Owens. Although the duo shot a combined 9 0f 42, it accounted for 32 of La Salle’s 42 points.
The St. Bonaventure defense, Michael, Little and Rueter in particular, forced La Salle into hurried and low-percentage shots. The Explorers had few clean looks throughout the game.
“Owens and Cropper are exceptionally talented scorers,” Crowley said. “We just did a great job as a team of making them take contested shots. And really in the in the second half we only gave them four offensive rebounds. And I thought that was the game that we were able to limit them to one shot.”
The Bonnies started out slowly offensively as well. The team shot just 30 percent from the field in the first half and scored only 18 points. The offense ran much more smoothly in the second half, however as the team scored 36 points and 45 percent shooting.
Rueter and Little scored 27 of the 36 points, while Healy tallied three assists.
“I thought both (Hannah) and Nyla really responded,” Crowley said. “They responded terrifically. (sophomore guard Emily Michael) running the show, Nyla going to get some rebounds and getting some second half points.”
As he has many times this year, Crowley complimented Little and Healy’s on-court chemistry, even joking that they “share a brain.”
“We were a little tentative against their zone, but again Katie and Hannah connected with another and got some baskets,” Crowley said. “Katie draws a lot of attention with her post play. Hannah draws a lot of attention off drives. They know that the other one is going to make some movement with them.”
The Bonnies have a quick turnaround after the win. They’ll face off against the winner of the Fordham/Duquesne matchup, Saturday at 1:30. The Bonnies defeated the Rams 74-67 in the only game between the two teams this year.
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