January 22, 2025
How St. Bonaventure freshmen Caitlin Frost and Zoe Shaw are making an early impact
While the results haven’t come on the scoreboard yet, the pair are helping lay the foundation for the Bonnies
Over the summer, St. Bonaventure welcomed nine new players, including six freshmen. Though head coach Jim Crowley hoped he’d see contributions from his freshmen this season, some have had to play more minutes than expected, including forward Caitlin Frost and guard Zoe Shaw.
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Frost, who is averaging 27.0 minutes per game, and Shaw who is averaging 33.4 minutes per game, knew with so many newcomers they’d be able to earn playing time, but neither expected to play as much as they have. The pair appreciate the experience and learning opportunities they’ve had so far this season.
With the additional opportunities, the coaches have more film to see how defenses are guarding the freshmen as well as where they can learn and take advantage of what other teams are doing. Crowley thought the coaching staff would have to wait until spring to analyze film in that way, but with the additional data points, players’ development has accelerated.
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The St. Bonaventure coaching staff sees the freshmen’s desire to get better and though he doesn’t think Frost or Shaw are close to their ceiling, both have impressed him in their own ways, in addition to their athleticism and skill. While Frost provides an inside presence on both sides of the ball, Shaw can break opponents down off the bounce, control the offense and both create and make her own shots.
Crowley runs a system that players take time to adjust to and he knows that with the additional playing time, that process has been sped up for Frost and Shaw. He looks forward to seeing them grow not only as individuals but how they play off of one another. That development could benefit the program in the years to come as well.
“We’re asking these guys to not just, ‘Hey, come in and spot minutes and score a few points,’” Crowley told reporters on Jan. 17. “We’re asking them to guard the other team’s best player. We’re asking them to be a focus point of our offense, and, in both their cases, to not turn over the ball as much. And they’re getting a lot of experience doing that. So it’s painful at times right now. But if we’re doing our job, and they’re doing their part, then you’re learning quickly.”
Shaw has started all 18 of the team’s games this season and Frost has started 10 of the 12 games she’s played this season, missing the first five games of the season due to injury and the team’s Dec. 17 game against Niagara due to food poisoning.
Frost is averaging 10.1 points — shooting 45.4% from the floor — and 5.1 rebounds per game this season. She’s brought energy to the team as she’s adjusted to the physicality of college basketball and playing inside more and against players with more size and strength.
Shaw’s seen her confidence and the coaches’ confidence in her grow and is averaging 10.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game this season. The Melbourne, Australia native said she’s adjusting to the physicality as well as the differences between FIBA rules and NCAA rules. Shaw brings leadership to the team, ensures her teammates are in the right spot and controls the tempo. In addition, she’s fifth in the Atlantic 10 in 3-point shooting percentage (45.3%) and averages 1.6 made 3-pointers per game.
Crowley believes that the attention the opposing team gives redshirt senior Dani Haskell has freed up Shaw to take and make shots. To capitalize on the opportunities, Shaw understands where she needs to be, creates her own shots and makes good decisions. While Crowley knew that Shaw could play at the pace the team needs her to and play good defense, he thinks her 3-point shooting has been “a really nice bonus” this season.
In all seven A-10 games this season, Shaw has scored in double figures and Crowley is impressed by her consistency and how she has adjusted throughout the season and between games. After having a season-high eight turnovers and one assist against UMass on Jan. 12, she had just one turnover and a season-high five assists three days later against Richmond. “Those are things that you see, that … are beyond the stat sheet … that show a competitor and show an ability to correct,” Crowley said on Jan. 17. “And she’s growing into her communication with her teammates and with me.”
St. Bonaventure is 5-13 (1-6, A-10) on the season, and in four of its wins the team trailed in the second half. On Jan. 8 the Bonnies picked up their lone A-10 win after coming back from being down 14 points midway through the third quarter against Saint Louis.
“That shows a team that’s together, that’s a team that wants to fight for one another and that’s a team that knows how to make plays when they need to,” Crowley told The Next on Jan. 13. “Our issue is doing that in the first quarter. We know how to do it in the second half, and we’re capable of it now. The issue is against this level of competition it’s got to be that mentality the whole time. So that ability to come back, that ability to fight through, that ability to stick together, it’s something we know is going to be a cornerstone of what we’re building. And now it’s just having that mentality from the opening tip to the last buzzer.”
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What has stuck with Frost so far is Crowley’s emphasis on the team’s effort as well as their ability to correct and move on to the next play. Shaw noted that Crowley also emphasizes staying positive on the court so the team can move past mistakes and not let them carry over into future possessions.
The Bonnies are working on themselves, focusing on execution and building good habits while still scouting opponents and entering games prepared. As the season continues, Crowley is looking for his team to continue to improve every day. He hopes to reduce the stretches of possessions that aren’t at the level he needs them to be as well as have his team fix issues without creating new ones, something he knows his team is capable of.
Crowley has seen growth in how the team shares the ball on offense and how his team absorbs what the coaches are telling them, aided by game experience. Up next, he would like to see more consistency, including more of the teamwork on defense during game action that his players are showing in practice.
“We feel like we keep getting better,” Crowley said on Jan. 13. “And now we’re doing it against obviously the high-level opponents we have in the A-10. And that’s really revealing — how hard you have to play on both ends and every part of every possession. And you can’t always duplicate that in a practice scenario or even in nonconference sometimes. So to get that has really helped.”
Frost chose St. Bonaventure because she was looking for a small school with a good culture and found inclusive, accepting coaches and teammates when she visited. Shaw appreciated the genuine connection and good energy in her conversations with the coaching staff and the sense of community at the small school.
In addition to receiving support from the coaching staff, Haskell and redshirt senior Nadechka Laccen provide leadership to the freshmen. “[W]e don’t have that experience in the A-10 but [Dani Haskell] makes sure that we feel comfortable,” Frost told The Next on Jan. 13. “And we’ve grown into being able to play all together in a high conference. And, for example, another one of our seniors, [Nadechka Laccen] she makes sure that if something’s not going well, she communicates really well, so she tries to help us with that.”
Haskell has enjoyed playing with and watching the freshmen step up. Knowing the young players want it as much as the older players, she’s enjoyed leading the team and hopes to leave her mark on the growing program.
“It’s obviously very, very hard to win and be successful. But we just came off our Richmond loss, they’re an old group who plays together, knows what it takes,” Haskell told reporters on Jan. 17. “… [I]t showed [us] like, this is what it takes. And knowing and talking about how it’s not just one person, it’s going to be … [a] group to get it going. And it’ll be cool to see if they can keep doing what we teach and practice every single day and preach and just making sure that they can do it for the years to come.”
The six freshmen have been able to build off of each other and lift one another if someone is having an off day, growing not just individually but as a group.
“We’re all friends off the court and it’s all our first year,” Shaw told The Next on Jan. 13. “So having so many of us has really helped, because we all have similar experiences and we can relate to one another. So we’re all in the same boat, which helps. You don’t feel alone, which has allowed us all to play to our best ability.”
Frost and Shaw believe that as the current freshmen continue their St. Bonaventure careers they’ll continue to grow closer and improve their on-court chemistry. The pair look forward to welcoming freshmen and transfers in the future and teaching them all that they can.
After seeing the six freshmen tackle their first semester of college, succeeding in the classroom as they continued to persevere on the court, Crowley knows what they can get through and the “mental resolve” they have. While the results haven’t come in the win/loss column yet, Crowley knows that wins will come and that he and his coaching staff are laying the foundation for seasons to come.
“[The freshmen] keep showing up. They keep working,” he said on Jan. 13. “We’ve had some tough losses, some losing streaks, but they keep coming in with the right approach. I think they’re really competitive. They hold that back a little bit, which is normal for younger players. But, they are accepting of coaching. They’re accepting of challenges … which makes our job a lot easier. And as I said with Cait and Zoe’s the same, they’re not even close to their ceiling. And they’re already really good A-10 players. So that’s exciting for where we could end up with them.”
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Written by Natalie Heavren
Natalie Heavren has been a contributor to The Next since February 2019 and currently writes about the Atlantic 10 conference, the WNBA and the WBL.
