After going 5-5 over the winter recess, the women's basketball team sought to open up the new semester with an upset over its conference rival. With the score at 18-11 in favor of the Bulls midway through the first half, that outcome seemed like a strong probability.
However, things went downhill from there. The Bulls (9-9, 2-3 Mid-American Conference) ended up losing the welcome back game 72-61 against a solid Bowling Green (16-2, 4-1 MAC) team.
After the promising start, the Bulls attempted to continue capitalizing off of Falcons turnovers. Still, the 15 points off turnovers Buffalo earned could not overcome Bowling Green's outstanding performance at the free throw line. The team shot 92.9 percent from the free throw line, compared to Buffalo's 54.5 percentage.
"We need to be more productive from the foul line," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "The deciding factor of that game was that they were [13-for-14] at the free throw line."
Buffalo also couldn't find an answer for Bowling Green forward Lauren Prochaska. The conference's second-place scorer recorded 30 points and was 50 percent from beyond the arc. Prochaska shot a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line.
"[Prochaska] is a great player," Hill-MacDonald said. "She found her groove in the second half. We lost awareness of where she was on the floor [at times]."
Defensively, the Falcons were able to curb the performances of Buffalo's lethal offensive weapons. Senior guard Ashley Zuber scored a modest six points, though she added eight assists.
Senior forward Kourtney Brown dominated the boards with 10 offensive rebounds, but Bowling Green limited Brown's usually-high scoring to 15 points.
Brown saw the situation as an opportunity to allow her teammates to shine.
"They just focused a lot of their defense [on] double- and triple-teaming me," Brown said. "So it was a lot easier to [pass the ball] out and let my teammates shoot."
Despite the loss, Hill-MacDonald believes that the Bulls are in good shape in the MAC.
The Bulls continue conference play on the road against Toledo on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:20 p.m.
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
Photo: Paul Hokanson / UB Athletics
