UB Has East Division Title in Their Sites After Win Over Akron

For the UB women's basketball team, the magic number is one in terms of a home playoff game in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

The Bulls, however, have loftier goals.

A MAC East Division title is still within reach after the Bulls rebounded from a sloppy first half to beat lowly Akron Wednesday night, 67-51, at Alumni Arena before 708 fans. UB has won five games in a row.

Buffalo (16-9, 8-6 MAC) is in a four-way tie for the No. 4 seed with Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan (who takes on Ball State in a game that will be shown live on the Empire Sports Network at 4 p.m. Sunday), and Kent State. Northern Illinois (7-7) sits in eighth place. Teams seeded No. 4-8 earn a home game in the first round of the MAC Tournament. The first round games will all be played on Saturday, March 8 at times to be determined. The UB men's team is scheduled to play Akron at 7 p.m. that night at Alumni Arena.

The only team that can knock the Bulls out of the top eight is the current No. 9 seed, Marshall (6-8). The Thundering Herd won Wednesday night to keep pace, but would have to win their last two games and hope that UB loses their last two to tie them in the standings. Marshall would hold the tiebreaker based on head-to-head record.

A home playoff game would be nice, but the Bulls still have a shot at the East Division title. UB trails Miami (10-4) and is tied for second with Kent State, but plays those two teams in their final two games of the season. Buffalo would have to win both games and hope Miami loses to Marshall in their final game of the season.

On Wednesday night, senior Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe once again led all scorers with 23 points. Her 3-pointer with 1:44 left in the first half was the biggest shot of the game.

Akron (2-23, 1-13 MAC) had just crawled out of an early hole to tie the game at 24, when McMeeken-Ruscoe was left open on the Bulls' next possesion and drained her three. It seemed like a dagger in the hearts of the frustrated Zips, who have been through quite a long season.

"I felt like her three really gave us a little bit of momentum going into the locker room," said Dozier.

"It's a big shot when you give a very good shooter a standing look at the basket," said Akron head coach Kelly Kennedy. "That's a defensive breakdown that breaks your back. We didn't do a good job locating McMeeken-Ruscoe, she's a very good player and she's going to knock down those shots and you can't give her good looks at the basket like that. It definitely hurt our momentum".

A basket by Jessica Kochendorfer with 56 seconds left closed out the first half, which ended with UB on a 5-0 run and ahead 29-24. Buffalo never trailed the rest of the way.

In the second half the Bulls picked up right where they left off and stretched their five point lead to 12 as they went on a 7-0 run. UB led by as many as 20, with the team committing only five turnovers in the second half compared to 12 in the first.

"When we come out strong and stretch our lead early on it gives us a little bit of a cushion and also deflates the other team's ego a little bit" said McMeeken-Ruscoe.

The Zips were the ones turning the ball over in the second half, committing six in the first eight minutes.

"In the first half we did what we needed to do to stay close and in the second half we seemed to like to play from behind. We had a few key turnovers early and didn't really recover from that" said Kennedy.

The Bulls' defense forced bad shots for Akron all game and the Zips shot only 36 percent on the night compared to Buffalo's 52 percent. UB, who came into the game with the No. 3 defense in the MAC, forced 21 turnovers. "Defensively we are still near the top of the conference and now we're starting to creep up," said Dozier.

For UB, the only lowlight was Akron's 18 offensive rebounds. The Zips won the rebounding battle for the game, 37-28.

In a departure from what UB has done in the past this season, the Bulls primarily used only seven players. Dozier said the team will not be able to do that against their last two opponents.

"Some nights you just go with a short bench because the kids who are playing are playing well," said Dozier. "When they're not playing well, then I think we go with a little bit of a deeper bench. We're going to need a deeper bench at Miami and for Kent (State) coming in here because both those teams play deeper benches."

Buffalo's freshman guard Hollie Cook showed why she is No. 2 in the MAC in assists, recording nine. She also had a career-high six steals.

Rachael Martin came off the bench to play an important role, mainly defensive, with four blocks and four rebounds.

Kim Kilpela led the Bulls with eight rebounds while also pitching in with six points. Jessica Kochendorfer continued to her great play by scoring 14 points.

Dominique Harris led Akron with 19 points. Cassandra Martin was the only other player in double figures with 15 points. Raegan Johnson had 10 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass.

Akron has one more chance Saturday at Marshall to earn their first MAC road win of the season.

Buffalo's game at Miami Saturday is a 2 p.m. tip-off. There will be no radio coverage but fans can listen to the game on the Miami athletics website, http://www.muredhawks.com