University at Buffalo
0-1
Canisius
1-0
Bulls Drop Season-Opener at Canisius, 73-57
11/9/2012 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team dropped a 73-57 decision to Canisius in the first game of the Felisha Legette-Jack era at the Koessler Center on Friday night.
Canisius used a 20-1 second-half scoring run to turn a 44-42 lead into a 64-43 advantage with 4:40 left in the game.
Kristen Sharkey registered her first career double-double, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds – both career highs. Sharkey missed all of last season recovering from knee surgery.
Legette-Jack had three freshmen in the starting lineup and all three fared well. Rachel Gregory finished with 11 points, Mackenzie Loesing had eight points and Karin Moss had five points.
Buffalo jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead on a layup by Rachel Bantelman and a three-pointer by Moss. But the Griffs responded with an 8-0 scoring run to take an 8-5 lead. The Bulls battled back and tied the contest at 17. But a Canisius three-pointer regained the lead for the Griffs. They held a 31-24 advantage at halftime.
The Bulls dialed up the aggressiveness early in the second half, taking the ball hard to the basket. Gregory and Nytor Longar each showed strong moves on the paint. UB managed to cut the lead to two points on several occasions, but couldn't get over the hump.
"This is the first day of a long journey with this young group," Legette-Jack said. "I'm not waiting until next year to try to coach these guys up. We're going to coach them every single minute, every possession, every practice. We believe in these young ladies. Once you give them enough love and enough confidence one day it's going to snap in. We just have to keep fighting to push them to that place, but we will get them there."
Buffalo will next host Youngstown State at Alumni Arena on Tuesday afternoon at noon.
