A fire is beginning to burn in the Buffalo's women's basketball team (14-9, 6-6 MAC), one that cannot be stopped as the team moves closer to the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Wednesday night Buffalo traveled to Athens, Ohio, in a game originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but was postponed due to weather. On a two-game MAC winning streak, UB needed the win to stay in contention for a first round home playoff game or possibly a MAC East title, and simply dominated the Bobcats. Their 76-59 victory against Ohio University (7-17, 3-10 MAC) included three Bulls in double-figures and a career-high 30 points by Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe.
The Bulls now sit in third place in the MAC east division, just two games back of Miami and Kent State, who each hold the top spot with 8-4 records. UB ranks eighth overall in the conference, which, if the playoffs started today, would earn them the last possible seed for a home playoff game.
Buffalo started out strong on a 7-0 run, which was ignited by a McMeeken-Ruscoe 3-pointer on their first possession. At 15:10 in the half, UB was up 16-5, and never again for the remainder of the game was the team less than 10 points ahead of the Bobcats. Ohio turned the ball over five times in the first four minutes of play and with 12:23 remaining in the first half, the Bobcats were down 23-8.
"It crushed us when we turned the ball over early," said Ohio head coach Lynn Bria. "(McMeeken-Ruscoe) killed us. We underestimated her ability to get her shot off."
At the half, McMeeken-Ruscoe had scored 16 points, Jessica Kochendorfer scored 13 of her 15, and Kim Kilpela scored all 10 of her points. Buffalo shot 58.1 percent (18 for 31) from the floor and led by 18, 46-28. The key figure being the 15 points Buffalo scored on Ohio's 14 turnovers.
During the second half, the Bulls were up by 22 points twice and never let the Bobcats back into the game on their way to the 76-59 victory.
For the game, the Bulls scored 32 points in the paint and 20 points off of 22 Ohio turnovers. The Bobcats were out rebounded 37-26.
McMeeken-Ruscoe finished the game with five rebounds, five assists, and five steals to go along with her game-breaking 30 points. Allison Bennett scored all seven of her points in the second half. Brooke Meunier led Buffalo with six rebounds.
"This was a huge win for us on the road," said UB head coach Cheryl Dozier. "It gives us three wins in a row and gets us back at .500 in the conference. Our players knew it was an important game for us, and I thought we really came out strong and did a lot of things well throughout the game. Everything is starting to gel, and that's just what we need entering this final stretch of the regular season."
The Bulls go on the road this Saturday, traveling to Central Michigan (10-12, 4-7 MAC) for a 2 p.m. game.
