St. Bonaventure's season will continue at the Reilly Center

Mary Jane Stevens
Olean Times Herald

When the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team's Atlantic 10 Tournament run ended, senior forward Dana Mitchell said she didn't want her career to end in Upper Marlboro, Md.

It won't.

For the second consecutive year, postseason women's basketball is coming to the Reilly Center.

After advancing to the A-10 quarterfinals, where they suffered their worst lost of the season, a 17-point loss to Dayton, the Bonnies' record stands at 22-9. That guaranteed them the fewest losses in the Division-I era, as they can finish with 10 at most. Last year, they finished with 11. The Flyers earned an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Robert Morris finished its season with a 23-8 record, and it was 17-1 in the Northeast Conference. The Colonials won the conference's regular season title, but they fell to eventual tournament champion St. Francis, N.Y. in the tournament semifinals.

If the Bonnies win, they could meet a familiar foe in the second round, March 20-23. Duquesne (20-11) , with whom the Bonnies split a pair of games in A-10 play, plays at Northwestern (16-14) Thursday. Joe McKeown, who coached at George Washington for 19 years, now coaches the Wildcats.

Five A-10 teams, including St. Bonaventure and Duquesne, made the tournament, and four of them are in the Bonnies' quarter of the draw. Saint Joseph's (17-14), Richmond (19-12) and Charlotte (17-13) also earned bids.

Three other A-10 teams - Temple (14-8), Dayton (24-7) and Xavier (27-3) - were awarded NCAA bids on March 15.

Last season, the Bonnies made their first postseason appearance and advanced all the way to the tournament's quarterfinal round. They lost to eventual-champion South Florida in front of 4,133 fans at Bob Lanier Court.

Tickets are available through the Reilly Center ticket office and through Tickets.com. Adults tickets are $8, tickets for students and children between the ages of 7-15 are $5, and children under six will be admitted free.