As the UB women's basketball team heads home from a disappointing loss at the hands of the Kent State Golden Flashes, they must be feeling quite a sense of d?(c)ja vu.
It was just two weeks ago when the Kent State women came into UB's Alumni Arena and stomped the Bulls by almost 20 points.
Wednesday night the outcome was nearly identical, except this time without the home court advantage, the Bulls' losing margin increased to 27, in the 80-53 loss to the Flashes.
From the start of the game KSU was in charge of the struggling UB team. By the time the first half was over the Bulls were trailing 42-19.
"Defense is what it's all about for me, and with young kids you have got to get them to understand how important that is, especially when you're not hitting your shots," said UB head coach Cheryl Dozier.
The second half was no different and the Golden Flashes led by as many as 33 early in the second period. However the Bulls continued to fight and were only outscored by a total of four points in the second half.
"The high point for us was that we continued to play hard," said Dozier. "They played hard, but as far as playing well, we didn't."
With the win Kent State improved to 17-8 (10-4 Mid-American Conference) and extended their winning streak to six games, while the 80-53 loss dropped the Bulls to 6-18 (4-10 MAC).
Kent State's tenacious defense, which is atop the MAC, was the real deciding factor in Wednesday night's game. Backing up their sound defense was an impressive offensive explosion, which had five Golden Flash players in double digits. Leading the way was guard Malik Willoughby who put up 17 points, 12 coming in the first half.
Allison Bennett led UB with 10 points, while Kelly Calderone, Brooke Meunier, and Jessica Kochendorfer each added nine points for the visiting Bulls.
The one statistical bright spot for the blue and white was Kochendorfer's rebounding. Kochendorfer led all players pulling in nine boards for the Bulls.
UB was unable to get the performance they needed from some of their supporting cast, and the lately hot Kim Kilpela. Kilpela chipped in an inadequate eight points and five rebounds.
Kilpela who has been hot since her benching during the Akron game by Dozier is not the only Bull player that struggled. The Bulls team as a whole shot a measly 32 percent from the field and gave up 21 turnovers, making victory completely out of the question.
"Kim played extremely hard, her shots just didn't fall," said Dozier "The last couple of weeks I've been extremely proud of the way that she has responded, as far as in her effort"
UB will be traveling to Miami, Ohio this Saturday to face the Miami of Ohio RedHawks who gave the Bulls a thrashing earlier this year.
The RedHawks are carrying an overall record of 19-6 (11-1 MAC) and they are currently riding an 11-game winning streak.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
