After a tumultuous season last year, the UB women's basketball team knew they had to get off on the right foot in their 2002-03 campaign.
It would be no easy feat, however, as they would have to travel to the heart of New York City to take on the St. John's Red Storm for their season-opening contest.
But they got it done anyway.
Buffalo had a great opening night, traveling to Jamaica, N.Y., to take on St. Johns University in front of a packed house of 4,043 screaming Red Storm fans. It was the first game of the season for both teams, and both came out hungry with something to prove. Through a tightly contested battle Buffalo played a better, smarter game, coming out on top 63-56.
"Our mentality is us against everyone else. We went into a building with 20 people on our side and 4,000 on the other, and we came out with a victory," said UB Head Coach Cheryl Dozier.
Buffalo started the game with a quick run, scoring the first five points and dominating for most of the half. The Red Storm were down by as many as nine points at times but refused to let UB get an edge. Neither team was allowed to get too comfortable, and the two young teams gave up an astounding 31 turnovers in the first half alone.
Over the last 10 minutes of the first half, St. Johns went on a 16-8 run, led by senior Danielle Rainey, who had 11 points at half-time. They cut Buffalo's lead down to one point at the half, making the score 29-28.
St. Johns started the second half on fire, scoring 10 unanswered points in the first three minutes to go up by nine with 16:56 remaining.
To combat the Red Storm's overpowering offense, the Bulls switched their defensive gameplan from man-to-man to zone. The effects were immediate and gave UB the momentum needed to win. Suddenly Buffalo had the edge in this back-and-forth contest, getting seven unanswered points, including four from Jessica Koendorfer.
" We led in leadership over St. Johns, it gave us the stops on defense when we needed them most," said Dozier.
St John's junior Shemika Stevens stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer that put the Red Storm up 47-44 with 9:51 left to play. After a UB basket, Buffalo sophomore Erin Lawrenson answered right back with a clutch three-pointer that gave the Bulls a 49-47 lead they would never give up.
"Erin was our best performer, shot the ball real well and handled a lot of the pressure down the stretch," said Dozier.
UB won because of strong defense during the second half, holding Rainey to just five of her game-high 16 points.
The comeback was orchestrated by freshman Hollie Cook, who had four steals during the run and finished the game with six points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists. Buffalo got points from all nine active players, including Jessica Kochendorfer (eight points, six rebounds) and Kim Kilpela (seven points, seven rebounds). Erin Lawrenson finished with a team-high 13 points.
Over the course of the game St. John's out-rebounded UB 34-31 but failed to make the most of their opportunities, shooting at just 35.1 percent (20 for 57) from the field compared to the Bulls 47.6 percent (20 for 42).
" I was proud they didn't wait for someone to give them the game, they came our hard and took the game. ... Anytime you're in a hostile environment like St. Johns, none of the games are gonna be a gimme," said Dozier.
The Bulls (1-0) come home this Tuesday, Nov. 26 to face Colgate. Game time is 7 p.m. in Alumni Arena.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
