BUFFALO — Spread out scoring leads the University at Buffalo women’s basketball team to a 65-45 exhibition opening win over the Bloomsburg Huskies on Friday night at Alumni Arena. Senior guard JoAnna Smith led all UB players with 14 points on 4-for-6 from deep.
The UB offense saw 11 players score at least two points led by Smith who netted 14 to go along with three rebounds and two steals over 20 minutes of action. Mariah Suchan finished off her strong game with nine points and five rebounds off the bench while freshman Summer Hemphill finished off her first collegiate game with five points, eight rebounds and two assists. Brittany Morrison led all players with nine rebounds while Katherine Ups finished with five points and six steals.
The Bulls raced out to a quick 11-0 lead in the first four minutes of action as Smith opened up the game with back-to-back three-pointers. Suchan then drilled a three and freshman Theresa Onwuka made an acrobatic layup before Bloomsburg netted their first basket of the game with five minutes left in the quarter. A Liisa Ups layup with two minutes left gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game, 20-6, before the Huskies netted the final shot of the quarter to make the score 22-9 in favor of the Bulls.
The Bulls leaned on their strong defense in the second quarter as the Huskies were only able to score eight points while turning the ball over 10 times in 10 minutes. After Courtney Wilkins drilled a three-pointer to start the second, Brittany Morrison netted a jumper to give UB an 18-point edge. Over the next five minutes, Buffalo went on a 12-3 run to give the Bulls the 26-point lead, 39-13. The Huskies ended the half on a 4-0 run to cut the Bulls lead to 22, 39-17.
The two teams exchanged buckets in the third quarter as the Bulls were able to outscore the Huskies 16-13 in the quarter. Ayoleka Sodade was able to provide a spark off the Buffalo bench in the third as she netted a pair of free throws to give UB their biggest lead of the game, 55-26.
The Huskies didn’t get any closer than 19 points in the final quarter as the Bulls were able to hold onto the 65-45 win in their exhibition opener.
For the game, the Buffalo defense forced 26 Bloomsburg turnovers while scoring 36 points off of those turnovers. The Bulls held the 26-12 edge in points in the paint while the UB bench finished with 33 points in the win.
The Bulls will return to Alumni Arena on Nov. 11 as they welcome the UMass Minutewomen to Buffalo for their home opener at 7 p.m. UB will unveil their 2016 MAC Championship banner prior to the game on Friday.
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