UB Wraps Up Two-Game Road Trip Saturday at WMU
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UB at Western Michigan Game Notes
KALAMAZOO, MI – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team travels to Western Michigan for a Mid-American Conference contest Saturday. The Bulls (13-9, 6-5 MAC) and the Broncos (16-7, 9-3 MAC) will meet for the 19th time with a 2 pm game at University Arena.
With Western Michigan's 10-point victory on Jan. 7, 2014, the Broncos took a 9-8 edge in the series history dating back to the 1998-99 season. It improved to 10-8 with a three-point victory over the Bulls on Jan. 13 at Alumni Arena. WMU won three straight from 2003-04 to 2005-06, while UB picked up a trio of victories from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Having won four of their last five, the Bulls have a field goal percentage of 36.8 and a free throw percentage of 66.4. UB, who leads the MAC in offensive rebounds (16.0), rebounding offense (42.9) and steals per game (11.2), is averaging 64.5 points and 42.9 boards per game. Senior Kristen Sharkey paces UB with 15.1 points per outing to go with 7.9 boards and 37 steals, while shooting a team-best 78.8 percent from the charity stripe. Junior Mackenzie Loesing is averaging 12.9 points per game and has 30 threes on the year. Sophomore Alexus Malone is posting 11.0 points and 8.1 rebounds a contest. She has seven double-doubles and chips in 38 assists and a Bull-best 39 steals. Senior Christa Baccas is contributing 8.3 points per game to help guide the balanced UB offense. She pulls down a Bull-best 8.4 boards per contest, highlighted by a MAC-high 4.1 offensive boards per game. Ranking second all-time at UB and 14th nationally among active Division I student-athletes with 225 blocks, Baccas has 37 to sit second in the conference this season. Junior Karin Moss has dished out a Bull-best 39 assists.
The Broncos, who have played three of their last four on the road, have won 10 of their last 13 games dating back to 2014. WMU is 9-3 in MAC play having suffered losses to Ball State, Toledo and Akron. Western defeated UB, 62-59, on Jan. 13 at Alumni Arena. It is 9-1 at University Arena is outscoring opponents, 63.3-56.8, and grabbing 37.4 rebounds to opponents' 36.2. The Broncos are hitting 41.6 percent from the field, 71.6 percent from the line and 29.5 percent from the three.
The game will air on ESPN 1520 AM with Sloane Martin on the call, while a live webcast will be available. Fans can also follow along with live stats or live tweets.
