ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The Cornell University women's basketball team returned from a 21-day layoff and dropped a 70-49 decision to St. Bonaventure this afternoon at the Reilly Center. With the loss, the Big Red fell to 4-4 on the season, while the Bonnies improved to 8-3.
St. Bonaventure was led by Armelia Horton and Dana Mitchell with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The Big Red shot well from the floor, connecting on 39.2 percent of its shots, but struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 20 percent from 3-point range. The Bonnies were impressive offensively, shooting 46.4 percent overall and 47.1 percent from 3-point range, with 12 different players landing in the scoring column.
St. Bonaventure held the slight edge in rebounds, 35-32, and forced 19 Cornell miscues, accumulating 21 points off Big Red turnovers.
Despite the long study break, Scarselletta hit the first basket of the game and Fedorowicz rattled off the Big Red's next five points as Cornell jumped put to a 7-3 lead at the 16:37 mark. Another jumper by Fedorowicz made it a 9-5 game, but the Bonnies rattled off the next 18 points to build a commanding 23-9 lead with 8:20 remaining in the first half.
A layup by Scarselletta ended the St. Bonaventure run and the two teams traded baskets over the next four minutes but the Bonnies closed the half on an 11-2 scoring run to take a 40-21 lead into the intermission.
The two teams fought back-and-forth over the opening five minutes of the second half before back-to-back jumpers by Lauren Benson and Virginia McMunigal cut the St. Bonaventure lead to 16 points, 48-32, but the home team retook the 20-point advantage just one minute later.
After chipping back into the Bonnies lead, a layup by Lacey Workman made it a 15-point game once again, 53-38, with just under 10 minutes to play. St. Bonaventure answered with a 9-3 scoring run to put the game out of reach, 62-41, with 6:02 remaining in the contest.
Cornell will travel to the Sunshine State to play a pair of games against Florida Gulf Coast and the University of Miami on Tuesday, Dec. 30 and Thursday, Jan. 1, respectively.
