Cold Play

Prior to Saturday's game against the Ball State Cardinals, the UB women's basketball team was on fire for the first time this season, winning three of their previous four games.

The flame was burning, and the Bulls finally looked hot.

All that went straight out the window however, as the Bulls shooting percentage dipped below the freezing point on the Fahrenheit scale against BSU.

The Cardinals (10-8, 5-2 Mid-American Conference) shifted into cruise control as they led wire-to-wire en route to a 73-49 victory in which they out rebounded the Bulls (4-11, 2-3 MAC) 50 to 34 earning head coach Tracy Roller her 55th career win.

Fifty-five is the most victories for a head coach in the history of the BSU program.

"It's really an honor to get the record at a place that I love as much as Ball State," stated Roller in a press release.

"The outcome started with our defense. We came out with a great deal of intensity and just went from there," she stated.

UB's 49-point output was a season low for a Cardinal opponent.

The amalgam of 29 percent shooting from the field and the Cardinals tough-as-nails defense was a deadly concoction for the Bulls to ingest and led directly to the disheartening loss.

Buffalo also suffered the embarrassment of registering a goose egg in the 3-point department, shooting 0-8 from downtown.

UB head coach Cheryl Dozier credited Ball State's defense in rebounding from their previous game where they were lit up by the Eastern Michigan Eagles and their 100-point performance.

With that said, as tough as the BSU defense was, the Bulls did not help themselves at all with their icy touch.

"We really struggled offensively today, and you aren't going to win in this league when you shoot 29 percent from the floor on the road," said Dozier.

"We don't have too much time to focus on this loss, though, because we have another game in two days," she added.

It's only fitting Ball State scored the game's first points on free throws. Buffalo fouled rampantly, and by game's end had only six players available for play, although only eight suited up, and Kelly Calderone did not play the second half after being kicked in the face during a scramble.

Brooke Meunier led the Bulls in points with 19 - 18 in the second half - while Jessica Kochendorfer did the same in rebounds, snatching 11.

On the other side for Ball State, Kate Endress had a game-high 20 points with Johna Goff complimenting with eight assists.

Despite the negative energy, Buffalo is still within the thick of things in the MAC East Division, only two games behind leader Miami (4-1), although at times they look greatly over matched against other MAC teams, especially in rebounds and scoring.

They will have to show more offensive firepower though, as they are third to last in scoring, averaging 60.4 points per game.

The women's squad resumes play tonight at Northern Illinois (3-3 MAC) with a scheduled start time of 8:05 p.m.