Wright State
Bulls Downed By Wright State On Kid's Day
11/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – Visiting Wright State spoiled the University at Buffalo women's basketball team's homecoming on Wednesday afternoon, using its long range shooting to defeat the Bulls, 81-54. The game had a special Noon tipoff as the Bulls celebrated Kid's Day in front of a season-high home crowd of 1,021.
Early on in the game the Bulls were rolling as they raced out to an 11-5 lead just over four minutes into the game. However, the Raiders responded with an 11-2 run over the next three and a half minutes, taking a three-point advantage. A layup by freshman Christa Baccas put the Bulls back up by one at 17-16 with 11:05 left, but that would be UB's last advantage of the day. Wright State went on a 17-2 run over the next five minutes, getting its lead up to 33-19. UB tried to answer back in the late stages of the half, pulling to within eight, but the Raiders hit another three pointer as time expired to take a 41-28 advantage into the half.
The Bulls didn't have much better luck in the second half as they went scoreless over the first six minutes and twenty seconds. Wright State continued to find success from long range, getting its lead up to 30 on two occasions late in the second half. A put back from Nytor Longar with two seconds left made the final margin, 81-54.
"Early on we took a gamble on our defense because Wright State hadn't had as much success shooting from the perimeter this year," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "Once they started hitting all those threes, we had a hard time adjusting our defense and it hurt us."
Senior Brittany Hedderson led the way with 18 points, the only UB player to score in double figures. Longar finished with seven points, while Ephesia Holmes has six points off the bench. Beth Christensen finished with a season-high 12 rebounds, adding four assists, three steals and five points. Sophomore Rachel Bantelman, who was making her first career start, finished with five points, six rebounds and two assists.
Wright State (4-1) was led by 15 points from Kayla Lamotte and 12 points from Molly Fox and KC Elkins. As a team, the Raiders shot 14-of-30 from three point range and outrebounded the Bulls, 49 to 41.
The Bulls will have a week off before they host Canisius next Wednesday night at 7:00 pm.
