Chippewas clobber Bulls on the road

Though Brooke Meunier scored the first basket of the day, en route to a team-high 13 points for the game, the Bulls fell victim to a Central Michigan 16-4 run for the next eight minutes.

From that point on, the Chippewas (9-11 overall, 3-8 Mid-American Conference) did not look back, and went on to defeat the Bulls (4-18 overall, 2-9 MAC) by a final score of 69-45.

"Give Central Michigan a lot of credit," stated Bulls' head coach Cheryl Dozier in a press release. "They took away our post play and we couldn't get open on the wings."

The Bulls' post play fizzled early in the game, and the rest of the team was not able to pick up the slack. For the first time in four games, dating all the way back to Jan 26th, Heather Turner did not reach double digits in scoring. Turner ended the game with just nine points, but was able to add seven rebounds in 38 minutes.

Though UB was unable to find their spots inside, the Bulls did not resort to taking poor shots from the perimeter. Buffalo took only seven three-pointers on the day, with Brooke Meunier hitting a perfect three of three from the land of plenty.

Central Michigan was able to keep the defensive clamp closed down on the Bulls' offense, keeping UB's field goal percentage for the first half at an anemic 25 percent.

UB was able to improve on its poor shooting in the second half, but it proved to be too little too late, as Buffalo never again saw the lead of this game.

"We really struggled to score in the first half," stated Dozier.

Meunier's jumper just 30 seconds into the game was the Bulls' only field goal for the first eight and a half minutes of the game. UB had nine turnovers in that same stretch of time, with Turner breaking the drought with a jumper at the 11:28 mark in the first half.

The themes of this game were very familiar for the Bulls. UB enjoyed a solid performance from the standout freshman Turner, they had two made field goals from their bench, and their starters continue to play entirely too many minutes.

Three UB starters had 34 minutes or more of playing time, with the other two starters both topping 25 minutes each.

Another factor for the Bulls' poor offense in this game was their assist to turnover ratio. UB turned the ball over 23 times as opposed to only six assists on the game.

Conversely, the Chippewas had a good, well-balanced game offensively committing only 10 turnovers, topped by 20 assists.

Central Michigan did a good job of taking what the Bulls' defense gave them, as they shot 51 percent from the field, including 66.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Casey Manning led all scorers with 17 points and was the only Chippewa in double digits.

As opposed to other games, the Bulls did a good job of limiting Central Michigan's offensive rebounds, as the Chippewas pulled down only eight offensive boards on the game.

"I don't think we played all that bad defensively," stated Dozier. "But your defense can only sustain you for so long when you aren't scoring."

Keeping Central Michigan's players fresh, the Chippewas were able to have nine players play for more than 10 minutes. Additionally, the Chippewas scored 31 points off the bench, compared to the Bulls' seven.

The Bulls will be in action again on Wednesday, Feb. 16 when they host to Golden Flashes of Kent State.