This week's stories:
Bonnies hope to heat up in A-10 Tournament
By Nate Dougherty After suffering a three-game losing streak to end the regular season, the women's basketball team (13-14 overall, 7-9 Atlantic 10 Conference) limps into the Atlantic 10 tournament at 4 p.m. today against Duquesne in Philadelphia. The Bonnies earned the No. 5 seed in the Eastern division with a 7-9 conference record. The Bonnies faced Duquesne once this season, Feb. 3, with Duquesne winning 75-58. Temple earned the No. 1 seed in the East with a 12-4 record and George Washington earned the No. 1 seed in the West with a 15-1 record. "The last three games of the season have been disappointing for us. We were playing the three hottest teams in the conference and held a lead in all three games," said head coach Jim Crowley. Injuries plagued the Bonnies the second half of the season. Players such as sophomore forward Emma Haywood, sophomore forward Jade Humble, and freshman forward Tory Vyborny, who saw limited minutes earlier in the season, now see significant playing time. Crowley believes that the team showed much improvement this season, and still feels that the team can beat any opponent in the tournament. "There are some things that we know Duquesne wants to do, and there are some things we know we need to do. If we do these things we can have success this weekend," he said. Junior guard Courtney Mattingly remains confident about the team's chances going into the tournament after the losing streak, and even feels that the recent close games may help the team. "The past three games were good for us because they were like tournament play, and they prepared us well," Mattingly said. "We are confident with our outlook in the tournament. We know that we can beat anyone in the conference." On Thursday Mattingly was named to the A-10 All Conference second team. Freshman guard Stefanie Collins was named A-10 Rookie of the Year, the first Bonnie to win the award. On Sunday, the Bonnies squandered a 15-point halftime lead to lose to St. Joseph's 82-77 in their final game of the season. The Bonnies cut the Hawks' lead to 69-68 with 2:46 to play but senior forward Susan Moran answered with two straight baskets to bring the Hawks lead to 73-68 with 1:45 remaining, and the Bonnies could pull no closer than four points for the rest of the game. St. Bonaventure finished the first half on a 16-1 run to take a 36-21 lead into halftime. The Bonnies held Moran, the Hawks' leading scorer, to just five points in the first half, but she exploded in the second half for 33 points. Moran finished with 38, a career high. The Bonnies led the game 48-38 with 15:08 remaining in the game before St. Joe's pulled ahead with a 17-6 run. Moran scored 10 points during the run. "We didn't have an answer for her. She just made some great plays; we played her well," Crowley said. Mattingly's career-tying 23 points led the Bonnies. Humble added with a career-high 14 points, and also had seven rebounds and four assists. Collins and senior center Angela Scott both had 13 points. After the game the players emphasized putting the loss behind them and focusing on the task at hand, the A-10 tournament. "This loss will probably be in the back of our heads, but we've just got to prepare ourselves for the tournament," Scott said. "We won't just cave in and give up." On Feb. 21 the Bonnies lost to Massachusetts, 71-66, in overtime at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies held the lead 59-57 with 30 seconds remaining after Humble connected on one of two free throws but UMass guard Amber Sneed tied the game with 19 seconds remaining. UMass opened overtime with an 8-0 run and never gave up the lead. Collins and Mattingly both added 10 points for the Bonnies. Junior forward Tina Cole added nine points. The Minutewomen were led by Katie Nelson, who scored five of her game high 20 points in overtime. This season the Bonnies had an improvement of six total wins from the previous season and four conference wins. This season's team achieved their highest win total in four years. "We're still learning to win. We've come together a lot this season as a team, but we still need to come together mentally," Mattingly said. "We definitely had high expectations for this season." Crowley also considers this season a success despite the losing streak to end the season. "We've definitely advanced this season. We're better in a lot of ways, but we still have a lot of work to do in the offseason," Crowley said. "We proved that we're no longer a doormat. We can compete and beat anyone in this league," Crowley said.
By Tracy Nelson The men's swimming and diving team finished in second place in last week's Atlantic 10 Conference Championships held at the Flickinger Aquatic Center at Erie Community College in Buffalo. Massachusetts won the title for the second consecutive year. The Bonnies had a three-day total of 748 points. Massachusetts topped them with 838 points. "We really answered on all cylinders," said head coach Sean McNamee. "We did everything possible that we could have to claim a championship. We just came up a little shy." After the first day of the event, the Bonnies led all teams with 236 points. The men claimed four first-place finishes in four events, including the 200 freestyle and the 400 free relays. Senior Ryan Sprang, junior Nick Bedward, sophomore Morgan Hagerman, and freshman Seth Johnson won the 200 free relay in 1:22.44. In the 400 medley relay, the team of Johnson and juniors Lucas Kneeland, Borut Poje, and Gary Payne, captured first with a time of 3:23.76. Poje also placed first in the 500 free in 4:33.13. Massachusetts took over the lead after Friday's events, but the Bonnies captured three first-place finishes. Senior Jason Poniatowski, Payne, Hagerman, and Johnson won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:32.26. Poje took his second individual first place finish in the 100 butterfly with 49.76, and Payne took the 100 breaststroke in 58.26. On the final day of the three-day event, the Bonnies continued to rack up the first place finishes. Senior Ernest Teo won the 100 free in 45.19 and Poje took the 200 fly in 1:51.29. The team of Teo, Poje, Johnson, and Hagerman also took the 400 free relay posting a time of 3:02.77. Poje earned Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet, while Johnson received Most Outstanding Rookie of the Meet. "Borut was fantastic all three days winning all of his individual events, and Seth, what more can I say, he broke our varsity record and was on all of our winning relay teams," McNamee said. "Those two really came through in the clutch and did exactly what we needed them to do." With a strong finish in the championships, McNamee believes the Bonnies proved themselves as a conference power. "I knew we were going to be competitive, but I didn't think we were going to be this competitive," McNamee said. With this years' strong senior leadership, next year's team had great role models to learn from, he said. "We're looking for a team that will take us up onto the top rung of that podium, and our seniors are directly responsible for that," McNamee says. McNamee was impressed by the senior leadership on the team and the lasting impressions that seniors Jason Poniatowski, Ernest Teo, Ryan Sprang, Brendan Morrissey and Lucas Fink will make on next year's squad. "As far as I'm concerned, the table is set," McNamee said. "This year's juniors learned effectively from great mentors, and if they can incorporate the way things were done this year and take the lessons they've learned this year we'll be better off next year."
By Tony Mannarino The women's swimming team closed out its season with a second place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championships held at the Flickinger Aquatic Center at Erie Community College in Buffalo on Saturday. Conference newcomer Richmond won the tournament with a three-day total of 752 points. The Bonnies finished with three-day total of 584.5. "I feel real good about our performance," said coach Lance Brennan. "The girls swam fast. Richmond is a good team and its going to be difficult in the future to beat them. My girls showed a lot of heart and determination this weekend." Individual winners included senior Kelley Northup, who won the 1,650 freestyle in a time of 17:20.54 on the final day of competition. Northup made the All-Conference team for her performance in the event. For Northup and the six other seniors, the A-10 Championships was their last meet. Graduating with Northup are Katie Czech, Kara Daly, Kelly McDaniels, Katie O'Connell, and Emily Trenz. "All seven of my seniors are going to be missed, its going to be a different group when you are replacing seven out of 21 girls," Brennan said. O'Connell won the three-meter diving event with a score of 454.15, with sophomore Maureen Theis placing seventh and McDaniels taking eighth in the event. Diving coach Allison Klemas was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year. The Bonnies are already thinking about next season, and how they can beat the Spiders. "The goal now is to beat Richmond and if we can't do that, put a little bit of a scare into them and of course win A-10's," Brennan said.
Ex-coach looms in final game before postseason
By Matt Dougherty The Bonnies will battle former coach Jim Baron and the Rhode Island Rams at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Rhode Island in their last game before the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Head coach Jan van Breda Kolff said the team has been working towards the A-10s, where it would have to play four games in four days to win the championship. "We've utilized our bench a little bit more, there have been more rotations," van Breda Kolff said. "To win three or four games in a row we have to go to our bench." The A-10 Tournament begins Wednesday in Philadelphia, and runs through March 9. The Bonnies had a chance to move into second place in the A-10 East and position themselves for a bye, but fell behind by as many as 18 points in the first half and fell 75-71 at Temple Saturday. The loss means the Bonnies will finish third in the A-10 East and will not receive a bye in next week's A-10 Tournament. The Owls led by 15 points in the second half at 53-38, but the Bonnies used a 12-4 run to cut the lead to three at 67-64 on a three-pointer by freshman Mike Gansey with 2:27 left. Temple grabbed an eight-point lead at 72-64 with 39 seconds left, but the Bonnies fought back again. Junior guard Patricio Prato scored a four-point play, and Gansey hit a three with 17 seconds left to cut the Temple lead to 73-71. However, Temple's Lynn Greer got out of a trap by Bonnies' sophomore guard Marques Green and senior guard J.R. Bremer and found David Hawkins for the final basket. Van Breda Kolff said the Bonnies made a good effort to get back in the game, but early struggles hurt their chances. "We'd like to have that type of effort from the start," van Breda Kolff said. "We missed a few shots and they made a few, and we dug ourselves a deep hole. We didn't shoot the ball well." Despite the loss, van Breda Kolff said the Bonnies had a good defensive effort in a game where they didn't shoot the ball well. "We had good defensive intensity," van Breda Kolff said. "When we don't shoot as well, defense comes to the forefront." St. Bonaventure tied an A-10 record with 42 three-point attempts for the game. They set the record against Temple in a game in 1997.
By Matt Dougherty In the latest ESPN.com Bubble Watch, no Atlantic 10 team even qualifies as a bubble squad, and only Xavier is expected to earn a berth to this year's NCAA Tournament. For a conference considered one of the top 10 in the nation, that is unacceptable. Somebody else needs to win the A-10 Tournament to keep the conference's respectability and gain another berth. St. Joseph's, Temple, Dayton, and St. Bonaventure are all in position to make the run. Xavier has been the class of the conference all year, holding an 11-2 record in conference play with only five losses overall. However, the Musketeers are not unbeatable, as shown by the Bonnies' 80-79 victory on Feb. 9 and Temple's 67-56 win Feb. 20. St. Joseph's was supposed to be the dominant team in the conference, but never really came together after being ranked in the preseason Top 10. Early season losses to teams such as North Carolina and Pennsylvania sent the Hawks out of the polls, and despite an 11-3 conference record, they have never been able to regain national respect. The Hawks boast a senior-laden team that will need to win out to have a chance to return to the NCAA Tournament. Temple is a perennial NCAA Tournament participant, but this year its customary brutal opening schedule was too much to handle. The Owls failed more often than they succeeded early this season, going 3-9 outside the A-10. However, the Owls are healthy and they are hot, picking up wins over Xavier and St. Bonaventure last week. Their record remains around .500, but they are primed for one last shot at making the Big Dance. Dayton has been the most consistent of the A-10 contenders,winning when expected to and possessing few bad losses. However, on Selection Sunday, the NCAA looks at which teams you have beaten, and the Flyers biggest non-conference win is over a struggling Purdue team. Not many people expected St. Bonaventure to compete for an NCAA berth this year. But after an 88-70 win over Connecticut gave it an 8-2 record and an RPI in the 30s, the Bonnies were projected as a tournament team. However, inconsistency has plagued the Bonnies in A-10 play, as they have recorded a 3-1 record against Temple, Xavier, and Dayton but also possess losses to sub-.500 teams like Massachusetts, Fordham, and George Washington. The Bonnies do have two wins over teams in the RPI top 25 (UConn and Xavier) and played Oklahoma, a Top 10 team, down to the wire on the road. But the only way for the Bonnies to be sure of a bid would be to win the whole tournament. Xavier has earned its spot as the class of the A-10 by being the most consistent team in an inconsistent league. For the sake of the conference, one of these other teams needs to step up during tournament week and knock Xavier off so the A-10 doesn't join conferences like the MAAC and Patriot as a one-bid league.
Men knock off Dukes, but women fall
By Jesse Fleming Victories in five of the six singles matches and an undefeated record in the three doubles matches powered the men's tennis team past Duquesne 6-1 on Saturday. After junior Vili Nurmi lost at No. 1 singles, the team reeled off wins in the next five matches. Junior Mikko Haulos defeated Seth Fogelman 7-6, 6-3 at No. 2 singles to start the streak. Other wins for the Bonnies included freshmen Mario Arce, Nikhil Murali, Adam Price and Kevin MacDonald at Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 singles respectively. "We played really well against Duquesne. We had some good singles matches," head coach Michael Bates said. Nurmi and Arce won at No. 1 doubles, 8-3, over Vincente Arias and Fogelman. At No. 2 doubles the team of Haulos and Murali picked up a win over David Brady and Don MacNeil, 8-2. MacDonald and Price concluded the match with a 9-8 win over Mike Lydecker and Moseley. Sunday the team fell 6-1 at Penn State. Arce picked up the only win for the Bonnies with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Brad Nudell at No. 3 singles. The loss drops the Bonnies to 8-3 overall, 3-0 in the A-10. The team travels to Cornell Saturday to take on Cornell and Rutgers. "Cornell beat Penn State earlier in the year, so it should be a real good challenge for us," Bates said. "We try to play a tough schedule to prepare for our A-10 schedule." On the women's side, the team fell Saturday to Duquesne, 7-0. Senior Johanna Pesola was the only Bonnie to take her match into three sets, eventually losing to Alina Klinova 7-6, 7-6, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. The loss drops the Bonnies to 2-6 overall, 0-3 in the A-10. Next up for the Bonnies is a home match tomorrow at 1 p.m. with Akron. "Akron is a pretty good team. They have a new No. 1 player, but if we go into the match with a good attitude we'll be successful," Bates said.
Five Bonnies finish home career
By Matt Dougherty Playing in their final game at the Reilly Center Thursday against St. Joseph's gave some extra motivation for five seniors: guards J.R. Bremer and Marquee Poole, and forwards Vidal Massiah, Robert Cheeks and Elton Ruddock. "It's senior night and we want to go out on a good note. At first it's motivation, then you just get into the flow of the game," Massiah said before the game. Cheeks said, "There is focus because it's our last home game. The crowd will be really into it and it's a good opportunity for us to get a victory in our final game." Bremer said the time went by fast at St. Bonaventure. "There's motivation to come out with a big win. It makes a difference (being the final home game), it all came so quick," Bremer said. Head coach Jan van Breda Kolff said underclassmen often play with more motivation because they want their teammates to go out with a victory. "I've heard underclassmen will say they want to play well for the seniors, and the crowd will be excited and this gives us a chance to give back to our fans," van Breda Kolff said. Bremer, from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, finishes a storybook career at St. Bonaventure, currently standing ninth on the team's all-time leading scorer list. Before Thursday's game, he's averaged 25.3 points and 4.6 rebounds on the season, and has connected on a school-record 75 three-pointers this season. Bremer leaves as the Bonnies all-time leader in three-point field goals made (210 before last night's game). He has a number of high scoring games in the Reilly Center, but may be most remembered for a three-pointer that defeated nationally-ranked Temple in the 1999-2000 season when the Bonnies made the NCAA Tournament. Massiah, from Toronto, Canada, averaged only 1.4 and 2.5 points in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He improved to 9.1 points per game last year and averages 10.8 this season. Cheeks, of Jersey City, N.J., had to sit out his freshman season due to NCAA guidelines and averaged 1.9 points per game in both his sophomore and junior year. This year, he has picked up his numbers as playing time increased. Cheeks averages 5.3 points per game and is second on the team with 4.7 rebounds per game this year. Cheeks was granted another year of eligibility after he sat out his freshman season due to academic regulations, and return to the team next season. Ruddock, who went to the same high school as Massiah in Toronto, played in three games in both his freshman and sophomore season before playing in 12 last year, including one start. This season, he has appeared in 11 games and averages 0.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. Poole, a walk-on, played his only season with the Bonnies this year. He has appeared in two games and scored his first collegiate basket Jan. 6 against Rhode Island.
Athlete of the week Borut Poje
Year: Junior
Schedule Men's basketball Sat. at Rhode Island 4 p.m. Wed.- Sat. A-10 Tournament Women's basketball Fri. Duquesne at A-10 Tourn. 4 p.m. Baseball Thu. at Boston College 7 p.m. Lacrosse Sat. at Colgate 1 p.m. Golf Mon.-Tue. at Winthrop Inv. 9 a.m. Men's tennis Sat. at Cornell/Rutgers 9a.m./2p.m. Women's tennis Sat. AKRON 1p.m
Number to chew on 61 The number of points surrendered by the women's basketball team in the second half in a 83-76 loss to St. Joseph's Sunday. The Hawks' Susan Moran scored 33 points in the half.
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