University at Buffalo
11-9 (3-6MAC)
Ohio
17-4 (9-1MAC)
Women's Hoops Stuns First-Place Ohio, 51-43; Coach Jack Collects 200th Career Victory
2/3/2016 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – Behind a stingy defense that held Ohio to a season-low 43 points and 27.8% shooting from the floor, the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York women's basketball team (11-9, 3-6 MAC) stunned the first-place Bobcats on Wednesday night at Alumni Arena, 51-43. With the win, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack earned her 200th career victory as a head coach while snapping a five-game losing streak in the process.
The difference in the game all night long for the Bulls was the play of their defense. The Bulls defense had their best game of the season against the second highest scoring offense in Mid-American Conference games, holding them to a season-low 43 points. This marked the sixth time this season the UB defense held an opponent to under 50 points, winning all six games in which they did so.
"I thought we kept getting better as the game progressed," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "We locked into our defense and we finally realized that if we play together, good things will happen."
The Bulls defense set the tone early on in the first quarter as they allowed just eight points through the opening 10 minutes of play. With the score tied, 4-4, the Bulls went on a 5-0 as Mariah Suchan buried a jumper off a nice pass from Karin Moss and then Joanna Smith netted her first three-pointer of the game to make the score 9-4 in favor of the home team. The Bulls finished off the quarter with three free throws to take the 12-8 lead, the lowest scoring quarter for the Bobcats all season.
Gabi Bade opened the scoring in the second quarter for the Bulls to give them their biggest lead of the first half, 15-10. The Bobcats responded quickly as Kiyanna Black hit a three-pointer to bring them within two. The Bulls kept fighting as Stephanie Reid made a layup and Smith hit back-to-back shots to take the 24-21 lead into the locker room.
UB came out strong in the third quarter as they were able to push their lead out to nine points just over three minutes into play. Moss sparked the Bulls in the quarter as she finished with six points on 3-for-4 from the floor in just five minutes of action. The Bulls outscored the Bobcats 15-11 in the quarter to take the 39-32 lead into the final 10 minutes.
After the Bobcats cut the UB lead down to just five, 41-36, sophomore sharp-shooter Courtney Wilkins came off the bench and drained back-to-back three-pointers to give the Bulls their biggest lead of the game, 47-36. The Buffalo defense took over from there, holding Ohio to just 4-for-13 from the floor in the final 10 minutes to earn their third conference victory of the season.
UB improved to 10-1 on the year when holding the lead entering the final quarter and 8-3 overall when winning the rebounding battle, which they did by the margin of 37-33.
Smith once again led the Bulls in scoring on Wednesday night as she netted 16 points on 7-for-15 from the floor while also grabbing five boards, two assists and two steals. Moss came off the bench and made a huge impact for the Bulls as she finished with 11 points on 4-for-9 from the floor to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 23 minutes of action. Katherine Ups had a quiet game offensively as she finished with just four points but she grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and added two steals in the victory.
The UB defense held the MAC's fourth leading scorer, Kiyanna Black, to a season-worst 4-for-21 shooting night and her lowest scoring effort, 12 points, since January 2. The Buffalo defense also forced 15 turnovers that turned into 11 points. The Bulls improved to 11-0 on the season when shooting a higher percentage from the floor than their opponents as Ohio shot just 27.8% and UB finished shooting 42.6% on the night.
When asked about her 200th career win and doing it with this team, Coach Jack said, "It really is a joy for me to be with this team at this point in my career and I wouldn't trade it for anything."
The Bulls return to Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm as they welcome the Ball State Cardinals. The Bulls will be searching for their second straight conference victory for the second time this season.
