The women’s basketball team lost its top-two scorers from this past season due to injury and graduation.
Now the team has lost its third-leading scorer due to a transfer.
Sophomore forward Alexus Malone announced on Friday she is transferring to Louisiana Tech – ending her two-year stint with the Bulls. She will have to sit out the 2015-16 season due to NCAA eligibility rules.
Malone is a native of Oxford, Mississippi, which is roughly 300 miles from the Louisiana Tech campus. Malone was pondering transferring when the team was still in the midst of conference play, but decided to finish out the season with Buffalo.
It was the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio that made her decide to officially transfer.
“When we went to the MAC Tournament, my family was there,” Malone said. “They’ve been really supportive and I really missed them being at my games and them cheering me on.”
Malone’s family did not attend Buffalo home games, but attended the conference tournament in Cleveland, where the Bulls lost in the semifinals against No. 1 seed Ohio. During the tournament, Malone realized she wanted to have her family “physically” root her on, not “emotionally.”
“The main thing was I wanted to be closer to home,” Malone said. “My family could come watch me play and be there physically … I’m very family-oriented. We all do sports stuff. My mom and dad were really good in sports and were really involved.”
Malone told head coach Felisha Legette-Jack about her decision last Friday. Malone said Legette-Jack told her she supported her decision to leave the program, but wished she would stay for her final college seasons. Malone also told her teammates about the decision and said they were accepting about her choice to leave UB.
“I know when you transfer from a program, it’s very touchy,” Malone said. “You don’t want to keep getting reminders about leaving a program that you’ve been at for more than a year. You’re so much in the program.”
Malone is the second player to transfer from the program in the past four months, as sophomore forward/guard Rachel Gregory left the team in the middle of the season. She later transferred to Coastal Carolina.
Buffalo has now lost its five-leading scorers from this past season including Malone and Gregory. Senior forwards Kristen Sharkey and Christa Baccas graduated and junior guard Mackenzie Loesing announced last week she will sit out the entirety of her senior season due to a chronic ankle injury.
Malone finished her sophomore season with 10.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 28 minutes played per game and was an integral part of the teams’ late-season success. She made the All-MAC Freshman team in 2014.
Malone thanked the Buffalo community for her two years as a Bull.
“Thank you for all of the support and the encouragement in my seasons here at Buffalo,” Malone said.
This article originally stated the women's basketball team fell in the MAC quarterfinals to Ohio. This is incorrect. The team lost in the MAC semifinals to Ohio.
Jordan Grossman is a senior sports editor and can be contacted at jordan.grossman@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
Photo: Paul Hokanson / UB Athletics
