Hindered by inconsistency and youth, the University at Buffalo women's basketball team fell victim to the Northeastern Huskies on the road Wednesday night, 71-44.
"We're a young team trying to find ourselves and it showed tonight," said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier in a press release.
The Bulls shot 55 percent (11-20) from the floor in the first half but experienced difficulty finding an offensive rhythm in the second half, shooting a lackluster 29.2 percent (7-24).
Turnovers also proved to be costly for the Bulls (1-3 overall, 0-0 Mid-American Conference), as the Huskies (2-3 overall, 0-0 America East) converted 25 UB turnovers into 26 points.
"We just came out flat in the second half and we let the game get away from us. We had a strong first half, shooting 55 percent from the floor, but we struggled offensively in the second half and we hurt ourselves with too many turnovers," said Dozier. "We need to be able to take some of the positives from the first half and carry them over into the second so we can put together a good 40 minutes of basketball."
The Bulls, who have yet to play a game within the confines of Alumni Arena, got off to a satisfactory start on the road against the Huskies in a close first half highlighted by four lead changes. Amy Kucheran and Brooke Meunier each scored four points and Belinda Gibb threw in a basket from long range to give the Bulls an 11-6 lead with 14:57 left to play in the half.
Northeastern hung tough, however, sparked by a basket from India Thomas with 5:54 left in the first half to take a one point lead. The ensuing offensive pressure applied by Northeastern on UB ultimately led to the Huskies finishing the half with a 34-27 advantage over the Bulls.
Emerging from the locker room, Northeastern kicked off the second half with a 4-0 run to extend its lead to 11 points. The Huskies led by as many as 29 points in the final three minutes of action en route to their lopsided 27-point victory over the Bulls.
Three Northeastern players finished the contest with double figures in scoring, while Allison Bennett led the Bulls with 11 second-half points.
Northeastern's Maralene Zwarich led all scorers with 21 points on the night. Zwarich also finished the game with 12 boards, also a game high. Francesca Vanin scored 16 points for the Huskies while Shaleyse Smallwood finished with 13 points, including a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line.
Heather Turner came off the bench to score eight points for the Bulls, while Kucheran scored a career-high seven points on 3-5 shooting.
UB will play its first game in Alumni Arena this Saturday against the University of Maine. The non-league contest is set to begin at 5 p.m.
