NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara women’s basketball team took St. Bonaventure down to the wire but was edged out in the Little Three match-up 51-49 on Monday night in the Gallagher Center.

“I thought we competed well,” head coach Kendra Faustin said.  “Down the stretch we had an offensive rebound that we gave up and I thought we had a good look to tie it and it didn’t go in.”

After controlling play for most of the game the Purple Eagles (1-1) found themselves trailing late as St. Bonaventure (2-0) built a lead that at one time was as much as eight points.  Niagara stuck close with the Bonnies thanks to a timely three-pointer by Vanessa Neal while Kayla Stroman and Kelly Van Leeuwen combined to go 4-for-4 from the free throw line. 

Trailing by two with four seconds left, Niagara watched as CeCe Dixon went to the free-throw line for a one-and-one, only to miss her shot.  Lauren Gatto came down with the rebound, her 11th of the night, and found Van Leeuwen open.  With less than two seconds on the clock, Van Leeuwen launched a shot from half court that went off the backboard and St. Bonaventure came away with the 51-49 win.

“We pressed and put some pressure on their defense because we were getting stops and we could really get out and go,” Faustin said.  “I thought we got more inside touches in the first half that we didn’t get in the second half.”

Stroman led the offense in the second half.   After a scoreless opening half, the junior went a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and added a couple of field goals for 10 points. 

The Purple Eagles came out firing in the first half.  Gatto, who turned in her first double-double of the year, hit the first basket of the game to give Niagara a lead they would hold onto for the next 28 minutes.  Gatto, a junior from Mayfield, Ohio, went 6-11 from the field for 12 points and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds. 

As a team, Niagara shot 48 percent from the floor in that opening half while holding St. Bonaventure to a mere 24 percent from the field.  Meghan McGuinness hit 2-of-3 looks from beyond the arc in the first half and came away with six points on the night while senior Jess Flamm, who led the team in scoring in the season opener, went 4-for-4 from the field for her eight points in the game.

“We’re going to talk about our process and the things we need to do to get better, both from our Robert Morris victory and from the game tonight,” said Faustin.  “We’ll feel bad for a day then we’ll move forward and focus on Bowling Green.”

The Purple Eagles are back on the court this Thursday when they host the Bowling Green Falcons in a 7 p.m. tilt.  Tickets are available and you can find more information by clicking here.