Buffalo Bulls Women's Basketball Recap: Takeaways from the crucial win over Bowling Green

Another win. That's three in four games. We're not going to learn anything radically new about the team at this point, but wins are always nice.

Robby's Takes

1. The poor shooting strikes again

It bewilders me that a team can shoot for 33% from the field and still win the game. That is how atrocious that full court press can be on opposing teams. The utter domination on the boards helps a lot too. Anyway, the point here is that this can't be a thing when we face Ohio on Saturday. The offense needs to be way more productive than that. 15% three point shooting off of 19 shots isn't going to pull the upset.

2. Getting burned when in a 3-2 zone

I'm going to pay attention to it more in coming games but it seemed like BG really started picking up momentum when the full court press isn't in use. I'm also going to see if this is just a problem when matching up with Bowling Green or in general as of late. In my opinion, I'd rather see more press especially during an entire quarter as it seems to run teams down but I do feel sprinkling in that 3-2 is necessary.

3. The next game's impact on my confidence in the team

Win or lose, if UB holds Ohio under 60 points I will feel much better about our tournament chances. It seems like we're finally getting back to first third of the season UB and a third straight game of holding a team under 60 is promising.

Matt's Takes

1. They did enough to win in the final two minutes

I've since watched the game, but in real time I was only in and out of checking it on my phone. I knew that Lauren Tibbs was having a day and that it was close. I booted up ESPN3 after Cassie Oursler's offensive rebound just around two minutes to play.

UB would get points there, and then in the final four possessions over 1:55, hold Bowling Green scoreless. The Falcons' final stretch there featured three turnovers and a blocked three-pointer in four attempts. None were particularly pretty - it was an ugly two minutes for sure - UB did enough to win late, something no one was taking for granted in this one.

2. They won despite Joanna Smith's worst game since December ...

'Worst' is a tricky word here, but I wouldn't call 10 points on 15 shots good, even if they did come with 6 rebounds. UB did well to get extra scoring out of Cassie Oursler and Katherine Ups, as Smith had her lowest point total since scoring 5 against St. Bonaventure back on 9 December.

This was in fact the first time all season Smith was held without a three-point shot.

3. ... and another one may be on the horizon

I can only call this one the worst game since December because Smith was a hair better in the first matchup against the Falcons: 11 points on 4-12 shooting. Basically the difference is she hit a three two weeks ago, but she's 1-14 from distance against BG this year.

It's clear that something about Bowling Green has Smith's number. They have some particular length that can come out to the perimeter, and even if UB has a few wins with strong showings, shutting down Smith is still the best way to beat this group. With a MAC Tournament rematch looking probable, the coaching staff needs to find a solution.

4. UB again won the rebounding battle by a hilarious margin

Once again, the Bulls really only outplayed Bowling Green in one stat, and this time the Falcons definitely outperformed UB on the offensive end, but Buffalo once again enjoyed a huge rebounding advantage, pulling down 43 to BG's 27, including a 26-2 margin on the visitors' offensive glass. This is after a 50-26 advantage in the first game.

If I'm previewing a rematch in three weeks' time, you can bet I'll be talking Joanna Smith's struggles for UB versus rebounding struggles for Bowling Green.