Bulls Weak Shooting Leads to Loss to Ball State

The Buffalo women’s basketball team’s offense struggled during the first half, and could not catch the hot shooting Ball State Cardinals. Buffalo never led in the 76–63 loss. Buffalo is now 11–7 and 8–5 in the MAC.

The Bulls could only manage 21 points in the first half, and shot just 21%, as they fell behind 33–21. No UB player had more than 4 points. Buffalo front line was weakened as sophomore center Elea Gaba picked up her second foul just 2:28 into the game, then junior forward Ade Adeyeye also got into foul trouble, and junior center Zena Elias appeared to injure her ankle and had to leave the game. Elias would return to the game briefly in the second half.

But Buffalo got hot in the third quarter and scored 26 points but they gave up 25 points to Ball State, who didn’t cool off at all. And so the Bulls still trailed by 11. Gaba picked up three baskets in the quarter, and sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair had 11 points in the quarter.

The Bulls would go on a 10–0 run in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 3, 64–61, in which freshman guard Cheyenne McEvans scored three baskets. Ball State responded with an 8–0 run of their own to put the game out of reach.

Fair led the Bulls with 22 point, but as in previous games, her shooting percentage was low (7-for -27 and 2-for-13 from beyond the arc). Fair also had 6 assists. McEvans had 13 points, Gaba had 10 and junior guard Jazmine Young had 10. Junior forward Keowa Walters led the team with 7 rebounds, while McEvans had 6.

Overall, Buffalo shot just 30% for the game, while Ball State hit 51% of their shots. Ball State out-rebounded Buffalo 38–32 (not counting “team rebounds”).

Notes:

• Elias and freshman guard Casey Valenti-Paea made their first career starts. It was just the third appaerance for Valenti-Paea since joining the team the day after Christmas. She was on the court for 22 minutes.
• Referee Chris Minor had to leave the game in the third quarter due to an injury, and the rest of the game was officiated by two referees.
• Buffalo will face Ball State again on Saturday, February 20 at 1pm in Muncie, IN (ESPN3)