It's simple: when the Buffalo Bulls trail at half time, they lose.
But not Tuesday night.
UB (5-13, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) came out of the locker room after being outscored, but not outplayed, by Toledo in the first half, 33-31.
Things quickly changed however, as Buffalo went on a 12-3 run to start the second half en route to a 65-61 victory over MAC rival, the Toledo Rockets (10-10, 6-3 MAC).
The game was close throughout the night, and the second half saw quite a few lead changes, but the play of the game came with just under a minute remaining in the second half.
On an inbound play, UB's Brooke Meunier received the ball from Jessica Kochendorfer and let fly with a beautiful mid-range jumper that hit nothing but net.
"I love having the ball in pressure situations," said Meunier. "I want to be the one to shoot it."
And shoot it she did, draining that jumper, and following a missed three-point attempt by Toledo, Meunier got intentionally fouled, but missed the first free throw.
"The second one was more important anyway," said Meunier.
And with the game on the line, Meunier pulled through, hitting the second free throw and icing the game for the Bulls.
Normally, when the Bulls trail at halftime, the game is over, but the story of this first half was not the score.
The story of the first half was turnovers.
"We were only down two at the end of the half, what happened in the first half is that we turned the ball over 13 times," said Bulls' head coach Cheryl Dozier. "We only had 17 for the game."
Buffalo gave up nine points on turnovers in the first half alone, and scored none for themselves.
UB's second half was much more impressive in terms of turnovers, coughing the ball up only four more times for the game.
Dozier was also impressed with the team's defense on this night, forcing the Rockets to shoot only 35.8 percent from the field for the game.
"I really can't say enough about the way they went out there and played today," said Dozier.
Meunier's clutch shooting was matched, for the Bulls, by Talia Merlino's career day as she scored 12 points for the first time in her career.
"I just came out and played confident, I wasn't scared, and I just stepped up," Merlino said of her career day. "I hope I do it again."
The Bulls have been playing with a short bench all year long, but they were able to stay energized throughout this entire game, with senior Kochendorfer ending it with an emphatic swat of a Toledo three-point attempt.
"The seven kids who were on that floor tonight, they just would not allow even the thought of getting tired tonight," said Dozier.
Even with four players with 30 or more minutes, Buffalo was able to stay out of foul trouble, and remain in their man-to-man defense.
The Bulls next play at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Ohio against the Bobcats.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
