This post was written by Hatchet sports reporter Marty Fenn.

What: Women’s basketball (21-4, 11-1 A-10) vs. St. Bonaventure (20-5, 9-3 A-10)
Where: St. Bonaventure, N.Y.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 17 @ 7 p.m. EST

The Colonials have won two straight and are looking to remain at the top of the Atlantic 10 leaderboard as they square off against the Bonnies in New York on Wednesday evening. St. Bonaventure is coming off of a 69-60 loss at the hands of UMass, giving the Bonnies their third conference loss.

The Case for the Colonials:
GW has come back strong from its loss at Fordham, chalking up consecutive wins against Richmond and Dayton. Head coach Jonathan Tsipis’ team can win in a number of ways, something it has been proving ever since Jonquel Jones went down against UMass almost one month ago.

Despite having their rebounding streak snapped against Dayton on Sunday afternoon, GW still found a way to win the game. How? The guards took pressure off of the bigs by crashing the glass, and the bench outscored Dayton’s reserves 25-2, with GW also forcing the Flyers into 20 turnovers leading to 23 points.

Graduate guard Lauren Chase has been particularly superb as of late, with just six turnovers and 29 assists in the last four games. Similarly, sophomore Kelli Prange has posted consecutive games of at least 15 points and six rebounds, and has been a huge asset in the paint in Jones’ absence.

Even foul trouble and a relatively quiet game from junior Caira Washington could not faze the Colonials against Dayton, as Tsipis found a way to win using multiple four-guard rotations. The rebounding ability of the guards may be the single most important quality of this team, because it gives Tsipis so many options in who he can play and whether he chooses to go with offensive-minded or defensive-minded rotations.

The Case for St. Bonaventure:

St. Bonaventure is a tough matchup for a fast-paced Colonials squad because of their efficiency and their ability to slow the game way down. Although the Bonnies only average 63.5 points per game, they do so on an efficient 43.4 percent from the field.

Likewise, St. Bonaventure gives up only 54.1 points per game to their opponents, meaning they will force the Colonials to try and push the tempo and not have to worry about running plays through half-court sets.

Six-foot-one forward Katie Healy leads the Bonnies in scoring at 15.0 points per game on 51.4 percent shooting.

Guard Nyla Reuter could be the x-factor for St. Bonaventure. The senior guard has the most three-point attempts on the team, and shoots the long ball relatively efficiently at 38.9 percent. Three-point defense has proven to be a weakness for GW in the past, and had it not been for an inefficient game from beyond the arc for Dayton, the Colonials might have dropped that contest.

The Bottom Line: GW is playing solid basketball behind the leadership of Lauren Chase. If the Colonials can score in transition and keep their turnovers down, they could take this one more handily than might be expected considering St. Bonaventure’s record, given that they also have a height advantage that they didn’t have against Dayton.