By Taylor Nigrelli
RICHMOND — St. Bonaventure’s (23-12, 11-6) emotional roller coaster came to an end Saturday as the team struggled mightily in a 73-32 loss to Fordham (24-7, 13-5).
The semi-final loss eliminated the Bonnies from the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament and sent Fordham to its second consecutive finals appearance.
The Bonnies took the court with heavy hearts and tired legs, Saturday. The team learned Wednesday night that the schools assistant sports information director, Brian Moretti died of apparent cardiac arrest at a Richmond restaurant.
Moretti largely worked with the women’s basketball team, he was in Richmond to handle sports communication responsibilities for the tournament.
St. Bonaventure Coach Jim Crowley knows the type of toll this tragedy took on his team.
“They’re dealing with it together,” Crowley said. “Kids, they don’t know what they don’t know. They’re heartbroken. Everybody grieves differently, but they’re grieving together.”
Although the Bonnies were able to pull off a victory over La Salle in the quarterfinals Friday, the team wasn’t able to muster the same type of effort against the Rams.
The Bonnies fell behind almost immediately. Fordham freshman guard Hannah Missry opened the game with three consecutive three-point baskets to open up a 9-0 lead. The Rams added another basket before sophomore forward Katie Healy gave St. Bonaventure its first field goal of the game – after 5:22 of regulation.
The Bonnies would add just one more basket that half and entered halftime trailing Fordham 38-4. The Rams kept pouring it on, extending the lead to 52-5 early in the second half.
The Bonnies set Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament record lows in field goal percentage (16.7 percent), total field goals (nine) and points in a half (four).
Fordham Coach Stephanie Gaitley removed most of her starters by the halfway point of the second half, allowing St. Bonaventure to start to string together some quality possessions.
All in all, the Bonnies shot 9-54 (16.7 percent) from the field for the game. Healy paced the team with 12 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore forward Hannah Little struggled offensively (0-11 shooting) but grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out three assists.
Gaitley was quick to credit Crowley for his coaching job and empathized with his team’s situation.
“I’d like to congratulate Jim Crowley on the terrific job he did all season long,” Gaitley said. “My heart goes out to them because I know they were playing with a lot of emotion with the loss that they had.”
Senior guard Erin Rooney helped Fordham to victory with 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists in just 24 minutes of game time. Missry led the team 18 points on six three-pointers.
Fordham hit 13 shots from three-point range in all – something Crowley blamed on some defensive sloppiness.
“At times we reacted poorly,” Crowley said. “They shoot the three well…We were a step slow.”
Despite the score – one that drew some national media attention just because of the sheer lopsidedness of it – Crowley isn’t discouraged.
“This was bad,” Crowley said. “But, you know what? We’re going to play again. This isn’t going to define us. It’s not going to because of what we’ve done in the past and what we’re going to do in the future.”
The Bonnies will play again when the WNIT starts. The only thing that remains to be seen is what seed the team will receive and whether that seed will be good enough to merit a home game.
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