ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y — Just looking at the schedule, some would have – and rightfully so – predicted the first half of December was going to be a real challenge for the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team.

Five games in the first 12 calendar days of the month. Granted it was just one road trip, but it was a lengthy one to Long Island (Stony Brook). Then, of course, the Bonnies spent an extra 10 minutes there when the game went to double overtime.

After returning, they looked to four home games in eight days against Georgetown, James Madison, Buffalo and Penn State. That’s about as tough as it gets.

But the Bonnies rose to the occasion, winning all four of those games by an average of nearly 16  – a 15-point win over Georgetown, 11 points over James Madison, a 27-point win versus UB  and a 10-point decision over Penn State.

The first two of those wins came without leading scorer and team captain, senior forward Katie Healy, who suffered a foot injury in practice a day prior to the Georgetown game. She sat out that game and James Madison, yet the Bonnies prevailed.

She returned against Buffalo, and was back in the starting lineup against Penn State, totaling 34

points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists in those two games. In both those games, Bona led for better than 38 minutes.

Prior to that, against Stony Brook, a 73-68 double overtime victory, Healy scored 26 points and was instrumental in the second OT (scoring SBU’s final six points and eight of the team’s 10).

Many teams couldn’t handle opponents the caliber of Georgetown and James Madison without their leading scorer. But the Bonnies beat both soundly.

Each game during this mini-run it was a different player who stepped up and filled the role when another was either absent from the lineup or didn’t play well. Against Georgetown, it was Gabby Richmond who took Healy’s spot in the starting lineup and shot 7-of-11 for 18 points. It was Miranda Drummond’s 25 points coupled with Emily Michael’s seven points and 10 rebounds that led the Bonnies over James Madison. Against Buffalo, when Drummond and Nyla Rueter had off nights, Healy (15 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) and Matea Britvar (10 points, 9 rebounds) both came off the bench to lift Bona.

When asked about the “four-game stretch” after the win over Penn State, coach Jim Crowley corrected, “The game before was a double-overtime road game. It’s not like we eased into this.

“I hope it’s not lost on people how difficult what they did was. It’s not just physical, it’s mental … prepping for teams, dealing with finals, projects and the end of school. To finish it off with (beating) a really good Big Ten team. To win all of them …”

Right now, Bona is playing inspired basketball. That comes with a high level of trust: trusting a teammate to make a shot when passed the ball.

“These guys trust each other, and the more that keeps going stronger, good things follow,” Crowley said after the win over Georgetown. “As they keep understanding who they are and what they do well, we’ll be a tough out.”

There’s a reason Bona leads the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage (239-of-542, 44 percent). The players want to make shots for each other, and the offense is designed to get them set up to take good, high-percentage shots. At the same time, the Bonnies also lead the conference in field goal defense (205-of-607, 34 percent).

That comes as a result of trusting their teammates when on defense, and, as the strategy goes, forcing  opponents into bad shots. If all that continues, Bona has a good shot to prolong this seven-game win streak heading into Atlantic 10 play. Three non-conference games await the Bonnies before the team begins A-10 action on Jan. 3.

“What has to happen now is that they keep it in their memory bank of what they can accomplish and what they need to demand of themselves,” Crowley said after the Penn State game. “This was difficult. We put non-conference schedules together in a lot of different ways. Play good teams but also to put ourselves in difficult situations to see how tough we are. We showed we have that. I can’t allow it to go away, and, more importantly, they can’t allow it go away.”

Crowleys teams have been routinely excellent in the classroom, frequently earning All-Academic Honors from the Atlantic 10. As it appears right now, the Bonnies are earning good grades in both the classroom … and on the court.

“That’s what we’ve been doing,” Healy said. “That’s part of being a student athlete. We have to learn how to balance it. We’ve got wins because we never stopped playing hard, never stopped competing. We’re being smart about it.”

(Jeff Madigan, a Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at sports@oleantimesherald.com)