University at Buffalo
11-11 (3-8MAC)
Toledo
13-9 (8-3MAC)
Third Quarter Dooms Women's Hoops In Loss At Toledo, 71-60
2/10/2016 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Basketball
TOLEDO, OH – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team was not able to hold onto their one-point halftime lead as they dropped a road MAC game at Toledo on Wednesday night in front of 3,476 fans. With the loss, the Bulls drop to 11-11 overall and 3-8 in MAC play while falling to 0-10 all-time on the road at Savage Arena.
"We had a good game plan against them and I thought we did a superb job defensively in the first half," stated head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "We knew that they were going to overload one side of the court and shoot threes from the corner and we just had a couple of brain lapses and they were able to convert. We are a young team that keeps on fighting and improving and I wouldn't trade them for anyone."
The first quarter was a very tightly contested affair as the Rockets were able to take the 17-14 lead after the opening 10 minutes. UB opened the scoring with back-to-back jumpers from Joanna Smith and Gabi Bade but the Rockets responded with a 9-0 run to take the 9-4 lead. The UB bench then took over from there as Karin Moss finished off a layup and then fed Cassie Oursler for back-to-back layups to make the score 13-12 in favor of the home squad. After a Toledo layup, Moss forced a steal and made a transition layup to make the score 15-14 but the Rockets were able to net a pair of freebies with 0.4 seconds left in the quarter to take the three-point lead, 17-14.
Smith decided that she was going to take over the second quarter for the Bulls and she did just that, scoring UB's first 11 points of the quarter. She notched three straight three-pointers before drilling a pull up jumper to make the score 25-24 in favor of the Bulls. After a Toledo layup, Oursler scored the final four points of the half for UB to give them the three-point lead, 29-26. The Rockets finished off the scoring again in the second as they converted on a layup to make the score 29-28 in favor of the Bulls at half.
The third quarter didn't start out how the Bulls wanted as the Rockets scored the first eight points of the half before Bade drilled a wide open three-pointer to make the score 36-32 in favor of the home team. After a UB timeout, the Rockets used an 8-0 run to take the 44-34 edge before the Bulls finished the quarter on a 6-2 run behind layups from Oursler and Stephanie Reid and a pair of free throws from Smith. The Rockets took the 46-40 lead into the final quarter.
The Rockets wouldn't allow the Bulls to get any closer as UB got as close as seven in the final quarter after a Courtney Wilkins three, but no closer the rest of the way. The Rockets finished off the fourth quarter going 14-for-19 from the charity stripe as they were able to outscore UB 25-20 in the final 10 minutes to collect the 71-60 victory.
Smith didn't have her best game from the floor for the Bulls but she was still able to net 20 points and three rebounds in 35 minutes of action. She has now notched 20+ points in 12 games this season including in 10 of her last 13 games. The junior has made at least one three-pointer in all 22 games this season and at least three in 13 of 22 games.
Reid continued her strong play on Wednesday as she notched 13 points, six assists and five rebounds while going 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in 39 minutes of action. Oursler came off the bench and made an immediate impact as she was able to score 10 points and grab five rebounds in the loss. Bade finished with seven points while Moss came off the bench and scored four points, two rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes of action.
The Bulls lost both the turnover battle, 15-14, and the rebounding battle, 37-33, while falling to 0-10 this season when allowing 68+ points. UB dropped to 0-8 on the year when shooting a lower percentage from the floor than their opponents as the Rockets to shot 44.2% from the floor on the night. The Bulls collected 12 offensive rebounds that turned into only three points while they also earned eight steals in the loss.
The Bulls will remain on the road on Saturday as they travel to Bowling Green to take on the Falcons at 4:00 pm.
