11-8 (4-4MAC)
Eastern Michigan
10-9 (3-5MAC)
Bulls Cruise to 75-53 Victory Saturday at Eastern Michigan
1/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
YPSILANTI, MI – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team secured its largest margin of victory this season picking up a 75-53 win at Eastern Michigan Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
The Bulls (11-8, 4-4 MAC) hit six first-half threes and put up a season-best 44 points in the paint en route to evening their conference record. UB held the Eagles (10-9, 3-5 MAC) to 22 second-half points.
Senior captain Kristen Sharkey posted her fourth 20-point game of the season and picked up her 20th career double-double, while sophomore Alexus Malone secured her 10th double-double of her two-year career.
"I love that this is what happens when you don't care who gets the credit. This team played for each other today," praised third-year head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "We knew we were going to face an emotional team and an emotional crowd, and didn't know how the game was going to be played. I love that we locked into each other and decided to play for one another."
Eastern scored the first two points of the game, but UB went on to take an 18-9 gap at 11:16. The Bulls twice extended their lead to 11 before an Eagle buzzer-beater made it a nine-point game at the half, 40-31.
The Eagles scored six straight to open the second and make it a one-possession game, 40-37, at 17:22. Sharkey tallied the Bulls' first points of the second at 16:15, her first of two straight three-point plays, helping UB stay a step ahead of EMU. The Bulls used a 16-4 run to take a 66-48 advantage at the five-minute mark and held Eastern to one field goal down the stretch.
UB had its second-best showing of the season, connecting on 29-of-62 total attempts for a field goal percentage of 46.8. The Bulls owned the boards, 52-37.
"We defended and boxed out and our players were able to shoot the ball with a lot more confidence knowing that we had opportunities to get rebounds – 52 rebounds is a good showing on any given night," concluded Legette-Jack.
Sharkey led the game with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and added 11 boards. Malone had a contest-best 15 boards and chipped in 17 points. Junior Mackenzie Loesing scored 16 points and senior Christa Baccas grabbed nine boards. Junior Karin Moss matched a career-high with five assists, while freshman Stephanie Reid and Baccas added four apiece. Moss also picked up a team-best three steals.
Sasha Dailey and Cha Sweeney scored 12 each for the Eagles. Janay Morton added 11. EMU forced UB to commit 23 turnovers, while the Eagles made 13 steals. The host squad shot 30.4 percent from the floor.
Though EMU leads the all-time series, 13-8, UB has won four of the last five contests.
The Bulls will next host back-to-back MAC games at Alumni Arena taking on Toledo Wednesday and Bowling Green Saturday.
