It was not exactly red carpet treatment when former Buffalo women's basketball standouts Mari McClure and Kim Boon returned to Alumni Arena last Tuesday.
Instead, Buffalo used a strong second half and a myriad of Colgate turnovers to send the Colgate Raiders, and their assistant coaches McClure (1st year) and Boon (2nd year) home in the wake of a 65-49 defeat.
"Well Buffalo is a heck of a team," said Colgate Head Coach Beth Spycher Combs. "I think their post players had excellent games for them and we weren't able to answer."
The Bulls out-scored the Raiders in the paint, recording 38 points to Colgate's 18. Junior Jessica Kochendorfer and senior Rachel Martin led the way for the UB forwards, each netting ten points. Kochendorfer also had six rebounds and Martin chipped in five. Junior Kim Kilpela added nine points, a team-high seven rebounds, and one block in only 16 minutes of playing time.
"At halftime we talked about going 'high-low,'" said Buffalo Head Coach Cheryl Dozier. "Our post players did a great job at feeding each other and I thought the perimeter players did a really good job of feeding the post too on ball reversal. We felt that there was no way Colgate could stay with us once we got the ball inside."
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, and combined to go 20-65 from the field, 3-15 from beyond the three-point arc. Unlike the Raiders, the Bulls got hot in the second half, hitting 14 of their 33 shots and holding Colgate to 5-20 shooting.
"They were shooting 29 percent in the first half and 42 percent in the second half. They were able to step it up," said Spycher Combs.
Senior guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe led Buffalo with 11 points on 3-8 shooting and was perfect from the free throw line, hitting all five of her attempts. She also had four rebounds.
Hollie Cook, a freshman guard, started for the Bulls and had an excellent all-around game with nine points, a team-high seven assists, five steals, four rebounds, and two blocked shots.
"She's a player," said Dozier. "That's all you can say about that. She's got that savvy attitude and she creates a lot of things for us. She gets in passing lanes; she creates a lot of things defensively. We just have to get her running the transition offense a little better."
Colgate led to their own demise by committing 29 turnovers, which Buffalo converted to ten points. Out of all those turnovers, 17 of them were steals by the Bulls.
"I think in the first half we turned the ball over a little too much, and I don't think the intensity for Buffalo's defense was there," said Spycher Combs. "I think in the second half it was all Buffalo."
"I liked that we cut down on our turnovers from Friday night's game and we forced them into 29," Dozier said. "That means our defense is doing some things for us."
The Bulls travel to Durham, N.C. to participate in the prestigious Duke Classic, and face their first opponent, St. Joseph's, on Friday at 6 p.m. Buffalo would then have a chance to play Duke and star Alana Beard on Sunday, depending on Friday's results.
"The quote in ESPN Magazine says, 'When you know she (Beard) is guarding you, you can't sleep the night before.' Well, you know, I'm not sleeping well now," said McMeeken-Ruscoe.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
