Senior night is always an emotional event, and combining that with scrappy, physical play generally leads to a close, intense game.
The Buffalo Bulls (6-20, 4-12 Mid-American Conference) were pushed around in the paint, but they found a way to hang on long enough to keep the game in reach against the Ohio Bobcats (13-14, 7-9 MAC) on Tuesday night in Alumni Arena.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to win in seniors Jessica Kochendorfer and Kim Kilpela's final home game as Buffalo Bulls.
Ohio closed the game in the final minute with the use of an 11-0 run to escape Alumni Arena with a 62-56 win in a night that was emotional for everyone, not just the seniors.
"It's going to be emotional and there is going to be a lot of adrenaline flowing," said head coach Cheryl Dozier. "They need to channel that on the offensive side of the floor. I felt like the first 20 minutes we did that. We just ran into a spurt in the second half where we struggled."
The Bobcats used their size and strength to push their way inside. Erin Isbell fueled the OU offense as she lit up Buffalo for 21 points.
"Ohio is the most physical team in the MAC, they will come at you with blazing guns," said Dozier. "Their kids do a great job of bumping off screens and making it difficult for you to set screens. They fight and scratch and claw and our kids matched it tonight."
OU exploited UB's inside game but the Bulls found a way to answer each time. They found their rhythm late in the first half as they pulled to within two before halftime.
Nine travel calls in the first half led to some woes for the Bobcats.
After halftime the Bobcats stepped up the intensity, stopped their traveling completely, and consequently Buffalo could not keep pace in the track meet as the Bobcats ran up the score.
"We didn't force as many turnovers," said Dozier. "She went to that zone and it killed us."
Off the hot hand of Kochendorfer (8-18, 16 points, two blocks and seven rebounds), Buffalo started to mount a comeback as they went on an 8-3 run. Kilpela also dug deep to secure a few loose balls in that run. Kilpela finished the night with 13 points and nine rebounds.
"With Jessica we used a high low post defense. They were trying to isolate their post kid so we told Jessica to drop off a little bit," said Dozier. "She is long and lanky. I think they did a good job of being active defensively."
Ohio's Isbell found it easy to maneuver to the basket and found five offensive rebounds (10 total) at her disposal, which she turned into points. Ohio had 12 second chance points on the day.
"She had a monster game against us," Dozier said of Isbell. "I felt like we put everyone else in check but we couldn't keep her off the glass."
Freshman Belinda Gibb played 19 minutes for the Bulls, but was cold, shooting 1-6.
"She creates a lot of problems because of her speed," said Dozier. "She was taking the ball coast to coast. We want Belinda to step up more and get more to the basket. She settled for jump shots tonight."
Coming off this loss, Buffalo now must prepare for Saturday's first-round MAC playoff game at the No. 6 seeded 16-11 (8-8 MAC) Marshall. The winner will play No. 3 seeded Kent State on Wednesday, March 10.
"This team plays hard though and we haven't packed it in yet," said Dozier. "We'll go into the MAC Tournament with confidence, especially since we beat
Marshall during the regular season."
The Bulls manhandled the Herd earlier this year in a 79-60 win.
The playoff game is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday in Huntington, WV.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
