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Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball officially has their best start to the season in 16 years. Entering their game with the Hofstra Pride with a 6-0 mark on the season, the Bulls have been playing their best since Felisha Legette-Jack took over as head coach. After struggling in the first quarter, the Bulls rallied from there to take home a convincing 74-50 win over a program that thrashed them a year before.
Hofstra quickly shoed that they were going to give the Bulls a tough fight right out of the gate in the first quarter. The Pride may not have shot the ball all that well but they did something that most teams haven’t been able to do over Buffalo: win the rebounding battle.
Shooting consistently around 35% from the field, Hofstra also kept themselves in it by neutralizing a lot of chances for UB outside of the post. UB’s star during these first ten minutes was Mariah Suchan, putting in crucial back to back layups well executing sound interior defense on Hofstra’s Durant.
The second quarter saw much of the same for Buffalo until the final minute and a half. The Bulls were consistently trying to do much in the post while also failing to make quality passes around the perimeter. UB saw strong play from Gabi Bade and Ayoleka Sodade in these ten minutes, helping keep the score even.
In the final minute and a half, the Bulls rallied out of a time out. The Bulls saw a ton of offense from Courtney Wilkins as she dropped a three and found ways to draw fouls and get to the line. Buffalo went into the half with a 32-25 lead.
UB proved to find effective halftime adjustments as Hofstra started off cold. The Pride’s dominance on the boards had been relinquished and they were shooting a meager 25% with seven minutes in the half.
On offense, the third quarter was one for the Power Trio. JoAnna Smith, Stephanie Reid, and Cassie Oursler all found ways to the basket to keep a sizable lead to UB’s advantage. The trio accounted for all of UB’s points in the quarter.
The beginning of the fourth quarter is where UB needed to show that they were going to put Hofstra away for good with their defense. That they did, as Hofstra’s only double-digit scorer only had a single field goal three minutes. Buffalo also kept upping the ante with their power trio. The momentum looked to bee too much for Hofstra to come back. It was over.
Leading Buffalo in a crucial game to show what they have for the future, UB was lead by the big three that we have come to know since last year. After turning it around in the second half, JoAnna Smith had 16 points on the night. Stephanie Reid had her best offensive outing of the season thus far with 16 points. Finally, Cassie Oursler scored the sneakiest 14 points and also brought in 6 boards.
The Bulls move to a perfect 7-0 with the win and are only one game away for tying the school record for best start in a season. They are back in action this Thursday on a road trip to a lagging Canisius team. Tip-off will be at 7:00PM.