St. Bonaventure 67, Florida Gulf Coast 65 (OT): The analysis

When the 2012 NCAA women's basketball tournament draw came out last Monday, observers knew St. Bonaventure would be rewarded for an outstanding season.

The 29-3 Bonnies, A-10 regular season champions and tournament runners-up, were rewarded with an at large bid. They were also given an extremely tough assignment in an unheralded but dangerous Florida Gulf Coast University.

Coming back from a late double digit deficit to draw even at regulation, the Bonnies went on to defeat FGCU in overtime. The numbers:

Low to mid seventies, an uptempo game, but in this case we are dealing with overtime, 45 minutes. Under those circumstances the pace is of a more a moderate variety.

Both teams took good care of the ball, but the Bonnies were a little better, which made a significant difference in an overtime contest.

Neither team shot well. Both enjoy using the three but both struggled significantly. FGCU was 7 of 26 (27%) while the Bonnies shot 3 of 12 (25%). Give the respective defenses credit as both teams were held under 100 in offensive efficiency.

Overall rebounding saw FGCU with a 37-33 edge. They had a narrow advantage in offensive rebounding percentage. The rebounding end is an area the Bonnies have had some trouble with this season. While the margin was close, in a game like this, that slight difference could settle the outcome.

Sarah Hansen, led FGCU with 15 points. Megan Van Tatenhove of St. Bonaventure paced all scorers with 18 points. Senior guard Armelia Horton added 17, a much needed 17 as normally sharpshooting senior Jessica Jenkins struggled with 5 points going 1 of 5 beyond the arc.

The game marked the first women's basketball appearance in the NCAA Tournament for both schools.