Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball destroys Akron again, this time in an 81-55 effort. Smith ties career high 31 points

Less than two weeks ago, Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball eviscerated the Akron Zips and allowed only 13 first half points. The Bulls practically cloned that effort when they went on the road to face the Zips for the second time this season. With dominating efforts from both JoAnna Smith and Stephanie Reid, Buffalo gets the sweep on Akron after an 81-55 win.

Like their last game with the Zips, Buffalo jumped out of the gate in full force and piled on an early 11-2 lead. However, it was short-lived as Akron leading scorer Hannah Plybon was able to put up consecutive threes. UB kept rolling from there while Akron’s offense sputtered to get a 17-10 advantage in the first quarter.

Akron’s night was as good as done when the second quarter arrived. Mariah Suchan sunk a jumper that would ultimately cap off a 15-0 run for Buffalo with three minutes left in the quarter. Akron’s Hannah Plybon was able to end the drought with a layup, but shortly thereafter Cassie Oursler followed suit.

The closest Akron would be able to chip at the UB deficit from there was after an Alex Ricketts bucket to bring it to a 13 point gap. UB then saw Smith and Reid light up again along with a trio off of the bench in Courtney Wilkins, Brittany Morrison, and Gabi Bade.

Buffalo managed to out-rebound the Zips in this contest, but only by a 41-37 gap—which is concerning for when the Bulls face a tougher opponent this Saturday. But, what made up for this was UB’s on-ball defense. Akron was only able to shoot 30% on the night.

The Bulls move to 10-7 in conference play with the victory but they won’t be able to get a quarterfinal bye to the MAC tournament. All the Bulls can do now is play for as best of a seed as possible for their home campus round game. UB is back in action for their final regular season game this Saturday, when they visit the M.A.C. Center in Kent, Ohio to take on the Golden Flashes. That game will tip-off at 2:00PM and will air on ESPN3.