5-3
St. Bonaventure
7-3
Stout Defense Leads UB to 51-44 Big 4 Victory Over Bonaventure
12/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team snapped St. Bonaventure's 22-game winning streak against Big 4 opponents Monday night at Alumni Arena. UB (5-3) capitalized on the Bonnies' (7-3) season-high 27 turnovers to earn the 51-44 victory.
The Bulls picked up their first win over the Bonnies since 2006-07, ending their six-game run. The 69-57 UB win doubled as the last time St. Bonaventure fell to a Big 4 opponent.
Despite a lethargic start in which the Bulls trailed 13-0 eight minutes into the game, UB and SBU were knotted 18-18 at intermission. Sophomore Alexus Malone got UB on the board, scoring her first of seven straight at 11:50. UB pieced together an 18-5 run to deadlock the game for the first of five times with 1:43 lingering in the half. The Bulls held the Bonnies scoreless, while forcing eight turnovers, during the final 5:33 of action.
"Our defense really sustained us – we knew that our offense was going to come eventually," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack of the win. "We knew that if we held them under a certain number of points, we could continue to chip away."
UB's first lead of the game came on a pair of Malone free throws 11 seconds into the second stint – the Bulls' first foul shots of the game. SBU's Katie Healy answered with four of her game-best 21 points to put the Bonnies back in front for more than eight minutes. Bona led by as many as seven, 32-25, at the 15-minute mark, but UB surged to edge SBU, 35-34, on a 10-2 run. The lead bounced back-and-forth twice more before senior Kristen Sharkey cracked a 40-40 stalemate with two at the charity stripe. The ensuing play, Malone snagged a defensive rebound and drained a deep three on a Christa Baccas assist that energized the arena.
Held without a field goal for the final seven minutes of the game, the Bonnies snuck within 45-42 at 2:16, but the Bulls scored six of the game's final eight points to earn their third consecutive win.
Malone, who picked up her fifth double-double of the season in just 25 minutes of play, posted team-bests of 15 points and 10 boards. Baccas and redshirt-sophomore Rachael Gregory added 10 points each. Junior Karin Moss dished out a career-high five assists, while Baccas added a season-best four steals and three blocks. Baccas surpassed a pair of career milestones during the win to tallying 201 blocks (second all-time) and 702 rebounds (11th all-time).
Healy also picked up a double-double. She grabbed 10 rebounds to go with her 21 points and four steals. Gabby Richmond had a contest-best 11 boards and Hannah Little added 10 points for SBU.
SBU shot marginally better than the Bulls, converting 34.0 percent to UB's 30.8 percent from the floor. UB made good on 14-of-21 second-half free throws, a 66.7 percent conversion rate. Bonaventure hit a season-low 62.5 percent (10-of-16). SBU led the rebound count, 43-33.
The Bulls, who played their lone home game of December tonight, will again hit the road for back-to-back games in New York City. UB will face Manhattan Friday at 7 pm and travel to LIU-Brooklyn Sunday at 1 pm.
