BUFFALO — The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team (7-0, 0-0 MAC) used a 27-point fourth quarter to run away from the Hofstra Pride on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Arena as the Bulls earned the 74-50 victory. The win for the Bulls was their seventh straight victory to start the season, the best start to a season since 2000-01 when UB started out 8-0 and was receiving votes in the top-25 polls.
Junior point guard Stephanie Reid was all over the court in the second half on Sunday as she was able to finish off her impressive game with a season-best 16 points, four assists, three steals and one rebound. The junior moved into 11th place on the all-time assists charts with her final assist of the game as she now has 275 career assists in a Buffalo jersey. JoAnna Smith got back on track offensively as she netted 16 points including a pair of three pointers, moving the senior into fifth place in UB history in three pointers made in a career (133).
Cassie Oursler continued her strong play up front for the Bulls as she was one of three players to score in double figures as she finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks in a season-high 32 minutes of work. Sophomore Gabi Bade made an impact off the UB bench as she finished with seven points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 15 minutes of action.
The two sides struggled to put together consistent offense in the opening quarter as the two sides went back-and-forth for 10 minutes. UB was able to collect their biggest lead of the quarter, 6-2, on a Mariah Suchan jumper before the Pride battled right back and tied the game, 6-6. The two sides saw four ties in the opening quarter while Summer Hemphill grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup with a minute remaining to give UB the 13-11 lead after the first quarter.
The Pride were able to collect their biggest lead of the game, two, midway through the second quarter as they connected on back-to-back three pointers by Krystal Luciano and Olivia Askin to take the 21-19 edge. UB responded quickly however as Bade made a pretty layup after a perfect feed from Ayoleka Sodade, who played key minutes in the opening half, to tie the game back up and helped UB go on a 7-0 run and never look back. Bade capped the 7-0 run with a triple and Courtney Wilkins notched a corner three pointer to end the first half as UB entered the locker room with the 32-25 lead.
Smith opened up the second half with a deep triple off of a Courtney Wilkins assist to extend the UB lead out to 10, 35-25. Hofstra responded with three quick points but wouldn’t get any closer in the third quarter as UB went on a 10-3 run as Reid netted a pair of buckets and Smith had a jumper and a pair of free throws to give UB the 47-33 lead with 2:26 left in the third. Hofstra closed out the third on a 5-0 run to cut the UB lead to 47-38 after three quarters of play.
The Buffalo offense came out in the fourth quarter firing on all cylinders as they were able to score a season-high 27 points in the final 10 minutes of action as they went 8-for-13 from the floor and 10-for-16 from the charity stripe. Reid was the catalyst in the final quarter as she was able to score 10 points, three steals and two assists in just seven minutes of action.
After the Pride cut the UB lead to eight, 51-43, with a three pointer, Buffalo went on a massive 19-4 run to force a Hofstra timeout with two minutes left in the game as the Bulls led 70-47. Reid, Smith and Oursler combined for 17 of the 19 points across the run with Hemphill netting a pair of free throws. UB was able to get the bench players in down the stretch as they cruised to their seventh straight win, 74-50.
For the game, the Bulls offense produced at a high clip as they shot 48.1% from the floor while holding the Pride to just 34.6% shooting. The stingy UB defense forced 26 Hofstra turnovers that they turned into 28 points while holding the Pride to 50 points in the game, helping UB improve to 13-0 over the past two seasons when holding opponents to 50 points of less. UB dominated the paint on Sunday as they outscored the Pride 41-18 while continuing to dominate the fast break category, outscoring Hofstra 13-2 on the break.
The Bulls will hit the road for their next game as they travel to cross-town rival Canisius for a non-conference game on Thursday. Tip is set for 7:00 pm on Thursday at the Koessler Center. Buffalo earned a 54-40 victory in the matchup last season against the Golden Griffins at Alumni Arena.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
