Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball Recap: Bulls demolish St. Bonaventure 68-47 for the best start in program history

Get out the confetti because UB Women’s Basketball has broken a 16 year old program record this afternoon. With a 68-47 demolition of St. Bonaventure, the Bulls now have the best start in program history at 9-0. Ten UB players found a way to score the ball in the occasion.

UB didn’t want to waste any time when they opened up the first quarter as Cassie Oursler threw up a layup to give the Bulls the lead. St. Bonaventure tried to keep up as they tied the Bulls back up at four but it didn’t look good from there. JoAnna Smith and Gabi Bade soon took over and dropped shots from beyond the arc and found ways inside the lane. As the quarter ended, both players lead the team with 5 points each and UB had a 20-12 lead.

St. Bonaventure continued to make some costly mistakes in the beginning of the second quarter Buffalo capitalized. The Bulls stretched out a 29-16 as they found ways into the lane and drew fouls to get to the free throw line. By the midway point of the quarter, Bona couldn’t figure out a way to find an edge over UB’s defense as they were held scoreless for 5:27 of play.

UB soon found themselves in their own offensive struggles as the team’s three point shooting tanked. The Bulls were becoming too reliant on the three ball and needed to find ways into the lane. With the offense looking shaky, Coach Jack was forced to bring Stephanie Reid back out from the bench instead of continuing to rest her. Just like that, the offense had direction again.

Reid soon found passing lanes in the post to dish to both Brittany Morrison and Summer Hemphill to help salvage the lead UB had. Heading into the half, the Bulls were up 36-27.

The Bulls definitely figured out their offensive problems at the break because they started running away with the game as the third quarter started. As soon as Buffalo got the ball, Cassie Oursler opened the floodgates with a layup and St. Bonaventure’s hopes of winning this game were all but diminished.

Not only did the Bulls get it done offensively, their defense was smothering. St. Bonaventure could not find a way to score for six straight minutes in the quarter. A St. Bonaventure timeout only proved to hurt the Bonnies as extra time to re-focus helped the Bulls tremendously. Heading into the final ten minutes, Buffalo had a dominating 59-35 lead.

With the entire starting five subbed out in the fourth quarter, UB had no problem cruising to another easy victory. For the first time ever in program history, UB will begin the season on a 9-0 streak as they finished this one 68-47.

UB’s power trio lead the way as Cassie Oursler, JoAnna Smith, and Stephanie Reid had 12, 11, and 10 points a piece. Reid also brought in an impressive 8 assists as well.

Buffalo will now go on the road to finish up non-conference play as they’ll play in the Fordham Holiday Classic on December 29. Tip-off will be at 12:00PM and the game will be streamed on the Atlantic-10 Digital Network.