The women's basketball team will travel to Connecticut this Friday night to face the defending national champion Huskies in a game that will serve as the season opener for both teams.
Despite the daunting challenge of playing UConn, the Bulls say they are not fazed by the task ahead of them.
"There's a lot of buzz around Buffalo right now about (the game)," said UB head coach Cheryl Dozier. "The only thing we can control is how we come out and how we control ourselves and how we play on Friday and that's just talking to the kids a lot about being able to channel their energy."
Dozier will look to senior guard Allison Bennett to lead the way for the Bulls, who finished last season with a 6-21 record and a 4-12 conference record.
A three-year starter, Bennett was the only player to start all 27 games for the Bulls last season. She averaged 6.6 rebounds per game and 3.3 rebounds per game in the 2003-2004 season.
After losing two starting players to graduation at the end of last season, Bennett said she is excited about the opportunity that this game will present to the young Bulls.
"We're just going into this game, we're the underdogs, we have nothing to lose," said Bennett. "It's the opportunity of a lifetime for us to be able to play the defending national champions."
Senior Talia Merlino and sophomore Belinda Gibb will join Bennett in the backcourt.
Merlino, who will join Bennett as a team captain, started 21 games at point guard and led the Bulls in three-point field goal percentage last year (.421).
Gibb, tabbed the team's Top Newcomer last season, averaged 5.1 points and 2.5 rebounds mainly off the bench for the Bulls.
To round out the starting five for the Bulls, Dozier will look to Amy Kucheran, a junior who sat out last season as a medical redshirt and either sophomore Viorica Badinici, a 6-3 sophomore who played her freshman season at Central Florida Community College, or Heather Turner, a 6-0 freshman from West Seneca.
The UConn Huskies women's basketball team is arguably one of the most successful programs in the history of women's college basketball.
Led by Geno Auriemma in his 20th season as the Huskies' head coach, UConn is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation according to the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Top 25 polls.
During his tenure at UConn, Auriemma has compiled a 532-103 overall record, while being named Big East Coach of the Year six times. He has led the Huskies to three consecutive national titles and five consecutive Final Four appearances.
"When I first came here, I asked Coach Dozier if she would schedule UConn and she said she would try as hard as she could," said Bennett. "It's like a dream come true for me because ever since I was little, I have always looked up to UConn, and now to get an opportunity to play against them is just unbelievable."
The Huskies also feature three preseason Naismith Trophy candidates in senior Jessica Moore and juniors Barbara Turner and Ann Strother. The Naismith Trophy is an award given to the best women's college basketball player in the nation at the conclusion of the season.
As a sophomore, Turner led the Huskies in scoring last season, averaging 13.7 points per game. En route to leading the Huskies to the national championship, Strother was named to the All-Final Four Team for the second consecutive year after averaging 11.0 points per game on the season.
Moore, a dominant force in the post, led UConn in rebounding last season with 7.1 rebounds per game while throwing down 9.5 points per game.
"We just have to go in there thinking, 'match up, play your girl like it's any other game,'" said Bennett. "You have to go in there thinking you have to stop your person no matter who they are."
Auriemma will also look to freshman Charde Houston to handle the basketball at point guard for the Huskies. Houston, a San Diego native, was recently named the 2004-2005 Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year following a stellar high school career as the all-time leading scorer in California high school history.
Tip-off is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
