Bulls Look to Buck Broncos Thursday in MAC Quarterfinals
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UB's Postseason MAC Tournament Guide
CLEVELAND, OH – The fourth-seeded University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team will face fifth-seeded Western Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Thursday at noon at Quicken Loans Arena.
The game will air live on ESPN 1520 AM with Sloane Martin on the call and Jon Fuller providing color commentary. A live webstream will be available on the MAC website. Fans can also follow along with live stats or live tweets.
For the second straight season, the Bulls locked in the four seed, their highest in program history. UB is looking for its second-ever trip to the MAC semifinals, after doing so in 2008-09, and its first appearance in the title game. The Bulls are 7-16 in the MAC Tournament since entering the conference in 1998-99.
The Broncos have won two of the last three contests to snap an 8-8 tie in the series history dating back to the 1998-99 season. WMU improved to 10-8 with a three-point victory on Jan. 13 at Alumni Arena, though UB answered with a 54-44 victory at Kalamazoo on Feb. 14 to pull within 10-9. Western won three straight from 2003-04 to 2005-06, while the Bulls picked up a trio of victories from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
The Bulls (18-11), who won three straight to close out the regular season, are shooting 37.3 percent from the field, have a three-point showing of 25.4 and a free throw percentage of 66.6. Leading the MAC in steals (11.0), offensive rebounds (15.9) and blocks (4.0) per game, UB leads its opponents averaging 64.8 points and 42.0 boards per game.
Monday, senior Christa Baccas was named MAC Defensive Player of the Year and junior Mackenzie Loesing MAC Sixth Player of the Year, while senior Kristen Sharkey was named to the All-MAC Second Team. Loesing also earned third-team nods and Baccas was named an honorable mention.
Sharkey paces UB with 14.3 points and 8.0 boards per outing to go with and 45 steals, while shooting a team-best 78.1 percent at the line. Loesing is averaging 13.7 points per game and has 40 threes on the year. Sophomore Alexus Malone is posting 11.0 points and 7.9 rebounds a contest. She has seven double-doubles and chips in 42 assists and a team-best 49 steals. Baccas is contributing 8.1 points per game to help guide the balanced UB offense, and pulls down 7.9 boards per contest. Ranking second all-time at UB and 13th nationally among active Division I student-athletes with 423 blocks, Baccas has 55 to lead the conference this season. Freshman Stephanie Reid has a Bull-best 55 assists in 16 games played. Sharkey adds 49 and junior Karin Moss 47.
The Broncos (20-11) earned their first 20-win season since 2003, and fourth in program history, with an 81-68 second-round win Wednesday against Central Michigan. Monday they defeated Bowling Green en route to their first back-to-back MAC Tournament victories since 2003. It is just the fourth 20-win season in school history as they sit one win shy of tying the school record of 21 set in 1978. The Broncos, who rank second in the MAC with a field goal percentage defense of 36.7, are shooting 40.6 percent from the floor, 29.1 percent from the arc and 69.3 percent at the charity stripe. They are outscoring opponents, 61.3-56.7, and narrowly outrebounding them, 37.6-36.8.
The winner will play top-seeded Ohio in the semifinals on Friday at noon.
For ticket, hotel and additional information, please visit UB's ticket central website.
