Bulls Look For Their Third Straight Win Wednesday Hosting Toledo
2/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team will host Mid-American Conference opponent Toledo Wednesday evening. The Bulls (11-8, 4-4 MAC) & the Rockets (12-7, 5-3 MAC) will meet for the 22nd time, and second time this season, with a 7 pm contest in Alumni Arena.
The teams have met 21 times beginning with the inaugural game during 1998-99. Toledo dominates the series, 18-3, but the Bulls snapped a six-game UT winning streak claiming a 51-46 victory on Jan. 15, 2014. Most recently, Toledo outlasted UB, 75-63, in their fourth overtime contest on Jan. 21, 2015.
Looking for their third straight win, the Bulls have a field goal percentage of 35.8 and a free throw percentage of 66.5. UB, who leads the MAC in three-point field goal defense, offensive rebounds per game, rebounding offense and steals, is averaging 63.9 points and 44.1 boards per game. Senior Kristen Sharkey paces UB with 14.1 points per game to go with 8.2 boards and 33 steals, while shooting a team-best 79.8 from the charity stripe. Junior Mackenzie Loesing is averaging 13.2 points per game and has 27 threes on the year. Sophomore Alexus Malone is posting 11.4 points and 8.5 rebounds a contest. She has seven double-doubles and leads UB with 37 assists and 35 steals. Senior Christa Baccas is contributing 7.9 points per game to help guide the balanced UB offense. She pulls down a Bull-best 8.6 boards per contest, highlighted by a MAC-high 4.0 offensive boards per game. Ranking second all-time at UB and 13th nationally among active Division I student-athletes with 222 blocks, Baccas has 34 to lead the conference this season. She and junior Karin Moss have each dished out 33 assists.
The Rockets have won three of their last four, including an overtime win against the Bulls. Like UB in the East, Toledo sits third in the West Division with a 5-3 conference record. The Rockets are connecting 39.9 percent of their shots from the floor, 31.3 percent from the arc and 74.5 percent from the line. They are outrebounding opponents, 38.7-36.3, and outscoring opponents, 67.3-63.1. For conference games only, UT leads the MAC with a three-point percentage of 36.6.
The game will air on ESPN 1520 AM with Sloane Martin on the call, while a live ESPN3 broadcast will be available. Fans can also follow along with live stats or live tweets.
ESPN3 is available at no additional cost to fans who receive ESPN as part of their TV subscription through participating TV providers. ESPN3 is also available at no cost to US college students and US-based military personnel on computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.
