The Bona Venture

Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Sports

Image courtesy of Sara Regal

Coach Jim Crowley's opening comments following his women's basketball team's 83-66 defeat at the hands of Dayton March 6 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship in Upper Marlboro, Md. were to the point.

"I kind of hate to be Captain Obvious, but (Dayton is) really good," Crowley said. "They are very talented players. They have great depth. They execute well, and they're very focused on where they know they can be."

The loss to the second-seeded Flyers marked the second consecutive season in which the seventh-seeded Bonnies suffered defeat in the quarterfinal round.

Crowley noted that despite his team's early exit, he was pleased with their effort at the Show Place Arena.

"We didn't come out of there feeling bad," Crowley said. "I thought our kids played hard."

Redshirt sophomore guard Armelia Horton scored a career-high 23 points and had five rebounds to lead the Bonnies, while senior forward Dana Mitchell added 18 points in the defeat.

"We got the seed we wanted, and we were able to put down Saint Louis," Mitchell said regarding the A-10s. "I thought we executed our game plan against Dayton, and we did exactly that. Give them credit for hitting all their shots. You can tell they had a week to plan for us."

A day before the quarterfinal matchup, the Brown and White defeated Saint Louis 71-59 in the first round via a 22-7 run in the game's final ten minutes.

Sophomore forward Megan Van Tatenhove tallied 14 points, three rebounds, and two steals during the run, en route to leading the Bonnies with 22 points.

Crowley regarded Van Tatenhove's performance as a possible harbinger of things to come from the Sheboygan Falls, Wis. native.

"For our immediate future … she has to be able to do that more often," Crowley said. "All of our sophomores should do more than they (do)."

The Bonnies' (22-9) fate now lies in the hands of the selection committees of both the Women's NCAA Tournament and the Women's National Invitational Tournament.

The NCAA will release its 64-team field shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday, with the Women's NIT announcing its field - expanded from 32 to 64 teams this season - later that night.

With its future uncertain, the Brown and White are mixing practice with rest while anticipating either their first-ever NCAA berth or a second-consecutive WNIT berth.

"We're going to let them rest a little bit," Crowley said. "I think they'll come back a little bit excited."

Mitchell received A-10 All-Conference first team and Academic All-Conference honors March 3, ranking second in the conference in scoring with 16.3 points per game, trailing only Richmond's Brittani Shells (16.8 ppg). Additionally, Mitchell is fourth in free throw percentage (.839) and fifth in field goal percentage (.514).

"To finally make it to the first team is definitely an honor," Mitchell said. "To know that I've gotten the respect of the other coaches is a big goal of mine … it's definitely the topping on the cake."

Van Tatenhove also received All-Conference honorable mention honors, ranking eighth in in the conference in field goal percentage (.488), 10th in free throw percentage (.784) and 15th in scoring (11.6 ppg).

e-mail: papasejr@sbu.edu

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