BY ANDREW HALE, SPORTS EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team secured its first victory of the season, soaring past Robert Morris 70-52 in Saturday’s home opener.
With senior guards Nadechka Laccen and Tianna Johnson out, senior guard Dani Haskell made her season debut as he started alongside forwards Payton Fields Maddie Dziezgowski and Taylor Napper as well as redshirt junior guard Isabellah Middleton.
The Bonnies offense started slow, being held to one point in the first six minutes of the game.
The Bonaventure offense began to click following a pair of three pointers from redshirt senior forward Claire Cody and Haskell. The Bonnies went on a 15-4 run to end the first quarter, shooting 40% from the field and taking a 16-12 lead into the second quarter.
“I just thought they did a great job,” said Bonaventure head coach Jim Crowley. “Even when it started a little rough, they never panicked. They stayed with what we do, guarded really well rebounded really well and for the most part took care of the ball.”
Cody and Haskell once again led the way for the Bonnies in the second quarter, giving the team a 34-26 lead at halftime. Off the bench, Cody entered halftime with 10 points on 3-3 from the field. Haskell had a game-high 11 points at the half.
In the second quarter, RMU outrebounded the Bonnies and had a higher shooting percentage (42.9-27.8) yet trailed at half.
Bonaventure honored former Bonnies, Sue Shay ’92 and Katie Healy ’16 by rasing their number #42 into rafters during halftime.
The Bonaventure offense shot lights out in the third quarter as the team had a 50% field goal percentage while holding the Colonials to 38.5% and 0-6 from three.
Ahead 53-40 going into the fourth quarter, the Bonnies defense didn’t let up, forcing four of 23 RMU turnovers total.
“We’re pretty disciplined,” said Crowley. “We’re not an overly aggressive defense, but we should be a very disciplined defense and we should be in a place where we should be built to rebound it pretty well. And that played out today.”
Haskell, who transferred from Canisius prior to the season, finished with 23 points in her first game of the season. Cody shot 3-6 from three and finished with 13 points. Middleton played 36 minutes, scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
“Just coming out and being like, ‘This is my new home here,’ it was really cool,” said Haskell. “I’ve played here before but obviously it’s never been like this. It was just really cool and to be a part of this new team, it felt really good to start out with a home win.”
Junior guard Naomi Barnwell led Robert Morris with 14 points.
The Bonnies take on UAlbany at the Reilly Center on Thursday at 7 p.m.
