The St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team wiped out La Salle, 75-57, to remain perfect in conference play.
Jessica Jenkins led the charge against the Explores in Philadelphia, collecting 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. Eight 3-pointers catapulted her to a season-best points output, including her 300th career basket from downtown.
The senior guard from Marion, Ohio had four three-point field goals on each side of halftime, initially leading to a 16-point Bonnies (20-2, 7-0 Atlantic 10) lead at the break, which proved to be an insurmountable task for La Salle (9-12, 3-3 A-10).
Senior Megan Van Tatenhove added 16 points to the effort while Doris Ortega joined the double-figures club for St. Bonaventure with 12.
While Jenkins found success beyond the arc, La Salle barely even attempted to match her. The Explorers connected on two of their only seven attempts from three.
La Salle found more success in the second half, putting up 30 to the Bonnies’ 32, but still couldn’t keep up with Jenkins, who had 14 in both frames.
The win was the ninth road triumph for St. Bonaventure as it was able to maintain its perfect road record. It stands as one of three teams in the nation that remains perfect on the road and the only one with nine victories to its cause.
Both squads carry on in conference play next time out on Wednesday night, with the Bonnies traveling to Duquesne and La Salle heading to the Bronx, N.Y. to face Fordham.
Dayton attempting to keep pace with St. Bonaventure
The Flyers recorded their sixth conference win of the season, 74-56, against George Washington to remain just a game behind the Bonnies in the A-10.
Dayton (14-5, 6-1 A-10) dominated the boards, grabbing 45 rebounds to the Colonials’ 33, and were able to convert on 25 second-chance points. George Washington (10-11, 3-4 A-10) was only afforded 11 such points, which proved to be a costly gap for the Colonials.
Freshman Andrea Hoover led the charge for the Flyers, dropping a career-high 22 points, while going 8-for-8 from the line. Justine Raterman and Cassie Sant also joined Hoover in the double-digit category, scoring 15 and 14, respectively.
Dayton never trailed in this matchup and was in command right away. Elle Queen opened the scoring one minute, 10 seconds in with a three, which was the beginning of the 16-4 run that ate the first six minutes of the affair.
GW attempted to respond, going on its own 7-0 run to come as close as five points, but it never could completely close the gap. After that, the closest the Colonials managed to get was 20-17.
The Flyers began the second-half on a 14-2 run, opening up the biggest gap of the night at 46-24.
The Flyers will have to wait until the weekend to play again when it takes on Xavier on Sunday. GW next faces conference leader St. Bonaventure on the road.
Rhode Island still searching for first victory
The Rams fell to Xavier in a battle of winless conference opponents, 67-57. Both teams entered the encounter 0-5 in A-10 contests, but only the Lady Musketeers left with a victory under its belts.
The win snapped an 11-game losing streak for Xavier (4-15, 1-5 A-10), fresh off the heaviest defeat in that stretch after losing to Temple, 64-38, just four days earlier.
Tyeasha Moss recorded 27 points to top the scoring charts. The guard also played the entire 40 minutes of the contest, leading her team to a much-needed win.
Jessica Pachko scored in double figures, collecting 14 points in only 24 minutes of action.
Xavier’s 16 second-chance points proved to be a significant gap in the end, with URI (1-20, 0-6 A-10) only registering four in that vicinity. The Lady Musketeers also converted 7-of-19 threes compared to the Rams’ two conversions on just eight attempts.
The win elevated Xavier out of the conference basement and left the Rams all alone at the bottom.
Up next for the Musketeers is a match-up against Saint Louis tonight.
Jeffrey Okerman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Okerman.
