UB In The Hunt For Its First MAC Win Saturday at Miami (OH)
1/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
OXFORD, OH – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team will take on Miami University Saturday at 3 pm in Mid-American Conference action. The Bulls (7-6, 0-2 MAC) and the RedHawks (3-10, 0-2 MAC) are each looking to pick up their first league victory.
The RedHawks lead the Bulls, 18-12, in the all-time series. UB, who has won three straight and four of the last five, claimed an 87-81 overtime victory in the inaugural matchup in 1998-99. Miami won eight of nine games from 2007-08 to 2011-12.
UB is leading the MAC in three team categories: three-point field goal defense (overall: 54-208, .260), blocks (overall: 4.5/g, 58; MAC: 5.0/g, 10) and steals (11.9/g, 155). Its 11.9 steals rank 20th in the country and its three-point field goal defense 26th.
The Bulls have a field goal percentage of .359 and a free throw percentage of .672. UB is averaging 65.2 points and 42.6 boards per game. Junior Mackenzie Loesing, who met the 1,000-point milestone against Central Michigan on Wednesday, leads UB with 12.9 points per game and 21 threes on the year. Named MAC East Player of the Week on Monday, senior captain Kristen Sharkey is averaging 12.7 points a game to go with 7.2 boards and a team-high 26 steals. Sophomore Alexus Malone is posting 11.7 points and 8.2 rebounds a contest. She has six double-doubles to rank second in the MAC and joins junior Karin Moss in leading UB with 27 assists. Redshirt-sophomore Rachael Gregory is contributing 8.2 points per game, while senior captain Christa Baccas is chipping in 8.1 points to help guide the balanced UB offense. Sophomore Camera Miley has dished out 22 assists. Ranking second all-time at UB and ninth nationally among active Division I student-athletes with 214 blocks, Baccas has 26 in nine games of play. She pulls down 8.0 boards per contest.
The 3-10 RedHawks have suffered losses in seven of their last eight contests. Their trio of victories came against NAIA Cincinnati Christian, Valparaiso and most recently, Davidson. Since picking up a 59-58 victory over the Wildcats in the Cavalier Classic, Miami dropped MAC games at Toledo, 63-53, and at Ball State, 72-41. Miami is hitting .357 percent of its field goals and .710 percent at the free throw line. It is outrebounding opponents 40.9-37.8 a game, though being outscored 67.4-55.8. The RedHawks are leading the league by allowing opponents just 35.1 boards a game.
The game will be the Bulls' 10th away game of the season, while UB checks off its sixth state of competition in 2014-15.
The game will air on ESPN 1520 AM with Sloane Martin on the call, while a live webcast is available for a fee. Fans can also follow along with live stats or live tweets.
