University at Buffalo
6-1
Hofstra
6-1
Women's Hoops Handed Their First Loss Of The Season At Hofstra, 79-36
12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HEMPSTEAD, NY – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York women's basketball team (6-1, 0-0 MAC) lost their first game of the season on Thursday night on the road at Hofstra by the score of 79-36. The Pride closed the game out on a 23-0 run to secure the victory over the Bulls.
"This just wasn't our game tonight from the beginning to the end," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "We just didn't play the basketball that I thought we could play tonight. I think a lot of it was, the team played hard for me coming back to Hofstra after 10 years but it just didn't work out for us. We just want to play Buffalo basketball again and we are not going to think about this game again."
The Pride took over the game in the third quarter as they hit four three-pointers and outscored the Bulls 22-11 to extend their lead to 26 at the end of the quarter. The Pride used good shooting and hustle to extend their lead to 28 at one point while UB could only produce four field goals. The Pride held the 54-28 lead after the third and cruised to the victory.
The Bulls started out slow in the opening quarter of action as they fell behind 8-0 right out of the gate. Mirte Scheper was able to get UB on the board at the 8:30 mark as she took a Liisa Ups feed and finished off the layup in the lane. The Pride continued to shoot well over the middle of the quarter as Krystal Luciano netted nine points in the quarter to extend the lead to 19-9 at the end of the first. The UB defense held Hofstra to 1-16 from the floor over the final five minutes of action but the offense made only four shots in the quarter.
The second quarter started off better for the Bulls as Brittany Morrison opened the scoring with an assist after a Gabi Bade pass and then she grabbed an offensive board and scored the put back layup to bring UB within 22-13. The Bulls wouldn't get any closer down the stretch of the first half as the Pride closed out the half on a 10-4 run to take the 32-17 lead into the locker room, the Bulls biggest halftime deficit of the season.
Senior captain Karin Moss did her best to rally the troops in the fourth quarter as she had back-to-back three point plays to start the quarter but it wasn't enough as the Pride finished the game on a 23-0 run in the final eight minutes.
Joanna Smith led the Bulls in scoring as she notched nine points and four rebounds while Moss and Morrison came off the bench and scored eight points each in the loss. Moss also grabbed a season-high five boards while Morrison grabbed five boards and two blocks.
Hofstra held the huge advantage on the glass as they grabbed 59 rebounds to the Bulls 42 boards. The Pride shot 37.1% from the floor while knocking down 10 three-pointers compared to 23.4% shooting and one three-pointer for the Bulls.
The Bulls will return home after a three game road swing on Sunday at 2:00 pm as they will take on the Duquesne Dukes at Alumni Arena.
