One Good Half Not Good Enough For Bulls

"We didn't come prepared to play in the first 20 minutes of the game today," said Buffalo Bulls' women's basketball head coach Cheryl Dozier.

A correct statement if there ever was one.

Despite outscoring the Akron Zips (7-14 overall, 2-8 Mid-American Conference) 40-38 in the second half, the Bulls (5-16 overall, 3-8 MAC) lost handily on Saturday at Alumni Arena to the tune of 71-59.

The Zips shot expertly in the first half, draining 55 percent of their shots from the floor while the Bulls managed a meager 29 percent.

The victory was Akron's first road conference win since Feb. 6, 2001 against the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Akron's Lori Krezeczowski accounted for 12 of her game-high 21 points via three-pointers, and the Zips' Cydney Overton added 12 points and seven rebounds to steer the good ship Zip into victory.

Brooke Meunier scored 16 points to lead the Bulls and Allison Bennett added twelve. Another bright spot was the strong debut of sophomore Lauren Burd, who had eight points and eight rebounds in her first action this season.

Meunier also chipped in nine rebounds.

Buffalo led 15-14 at the 10:12 mark of the first half, but Akron used a 10-0 run to seize the lead for good.

Trailing 58-33, Buffalo freshman Dina Atanas hit a three to ignite a 16-2 Bulls run that would see the team claw to within 11 points.

That was as close as they would get.

"I thought we had a nice spurt in the second half to climb back in it, and we have to just continue to keep battling like that," Dozier said. "The rest of the regular season is now about fine tuning for our first round MAC Tournament game."

The Bulls return to action Wednesday evening at Alumni Arena against Eastern Michigan.