12-8, 5-4MAC
Bowling Green
9-12, 2-8MAC
Season-Best Shooting Leads UB Past Bowling Green, 66-45
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team shot a season-best 49.2 percent from the floor en route to picking up its fourth straight win. The Bulls (13-8, 6-4 MAC) upended visiting Bowling Green (9-13, 2-9 MAC), 66-45, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena.
UB led by as many as 29, its largest lead of the season, with 6:50 left in the game. The 21-point gap was the Bulls' third 20-point Mid-American Conference win of the season and second in three games.
"What a great team win," praised third-year head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "These young ladies are locked in for each other. They love each other. They're playing for each other. They're playing with each other. It's really neat to see other kids get in the game and to see energy on the bench from the starters. We're coming together."
The Bulls won the tip and 13 seconds later senior Christa Baccas found sophomore Alexus Malone for the first two points of the game. UB never looked back. The Blue & White powered ahead to lead by as many as 15 in the first. They held a 35-21 gap at the break.
The Falcons pulled within 12 at 16:41 of the second, but UB outscored BGSU 21-4 over the next 10 minutes to power to victory.
UB posted a 40-4 advantage in points in the paint as senior Kristen Sharkey led the game with 18 to go with a career-best five assists. Junior Mackenzie Loesing added 13 points and Malone 12 on 6-for-7 shooting. Malone had a game-high eight rebounds and Sharkey grabbed seven to help UB lead the category, 37-25. The Bulls recorded 17 second-chance points to the Falcons' zero.
Freshman Stephanie Reid chipped in seven points and four assists, while sophomore Joanna Smith made a trio of steals. Senior Ayana Bradley had four points and four rebounds in 12 minutes of play.
Leading the Falcons was Rachel Myers with 12 points. Miriam Justinger tallied nine and Deborah Hoekstra and Kennedy Kirkpatrick each chipped in eight. Hoekstra had a team-best six boards and Rachel Konieczki made four steals. The Falcons committed 23 turnovers to the Bulls' 16, while shooting 30.6 percent from the floor.
With the win UB snapped a 20-game losing skid to the Falcons dating back to 2002-03.
The Bulls hit the road for a pair of games. UB has a 7 pm contest Wednesday at Akron followed by a 2 pm game Saturday at Western Michigan.
