Moore proves to be too much

The women's basketball team hadn't allowed an opposing player to score 25 points since the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament last season.

Duquesne's Raegan Moore changed this on Wednesday.

The Bulls (2-2) lost 78-55 on the road to the Dukes (3-2) on Wednesday afternoon. Junior forward Kristen Sharkey was Buffalo's leading scorer for the second straight game with 16 points.

Moore entered the game as the Dukes' leading scorer and dropped a game-high 25 points against the Bulls - just six days removed from a 35-point outburst against Kent State.

Moore's 25 points came on 9-of-15 shooting. She also recorded four rebounds, five assists and two steals in the victory.

"This is a kid that we assured them can score the basketball," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "She scored 35 points two games ago, and if you leave her open, she's going to hurt you."

The Bulls trailed 37-23 at halftime as Sharkey, junior forward Christa Baccas and sophomore forward Mackenzie Loesing were the only Bulls to score.

The Dukes expanded their lead to as big as 24 in the second half. Duquesne's 23-14 run midway through the second half put the game out of reach for Buffalo, and Moore accounted for 12 of those 23 points.

Buffalo was unable to pull the game within 10 points at any point in the second half, mostly due to turnovers. The Bulls' 21 turnovers marked the second consecutive game they turned the ball over at least 20 times.

"Duquesne's a great team and they are going to do well in the Atlantic 10, but quite honestly, the turnovers [were on] us," Legette-Jack said. "We turned the ball over without even making eye contact with the teammates; probably like seven or eight turnovers were just misreads."

Despite Sharkey's 16-point performance, Legette-Jack believes the forward could have asserted herself even more in the early portion of the game.

"She's doing good, but we certainly want a lot more from her," Legette-Jack said. "I thought she could have done more in the first four minutes of the game to impose herself."

Buffalo shot just 33.9 percent from the field, compared to Duquesne's 45.3 percent. It was the Bulls' worst shooting performance of the season.

The Bulls won the rebounding battle for the second straight game, and 18 of their 43 rebounds were offensive.

The boards helped create opportunities and extra possessions for the offense, but the Bulls were unable to capitalize.

"We had wide-open layups and wide-open shots," Legette-Jack said. "I just think we were surprised by how great our offense was and we bobbled the ball because we were so wide open."

Buffalo did a much better job of staying out of foul trouble Wednesday. For the first time all season, no player had over three fouls. It was the second time this season the squad didn't have a player foul out.

The Bulls recorded assists on only half of their field goals - after assisting on over 66 percent of their field goals in their previous two contests.

Baccas filled the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Freshman guard Camera Miley had all 10 of her points in the second half.

The Bulls return to Alumni Arena for a Big Four rivalry game with Canisius (3-1) Wednesday.

"I think this instate rivalry bodes for itself," Legette-Jack said. "I think that we have to be ready to own our state."

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

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