Bulls capitalize in overtime

If all that matters is the result, then the women's basketball team should be happy to have left Albany with a win.

The Bulls (5-3) took home a 70-69 overtime victory, where senior guard Stephanie Bennett scored the eventual game winning three-pointer with 2:17 left in the extra period.

Buffalo played a superb first half, shooting 58.6 percent from the floor and holding a lead by as many as 16. The Bulls went into the half up 40-32.

However, the Bulls squandered an 11-point lead in the second half when the Great Danes (1-9) hit consecutive three-point shots to tie the game at 59 with 3:17 to go in regulation. Thereafter, Albany then took a two-point lead and it was up to Bulls' senior forward Heather Turner to make two free throw shots with 23 seconds remaining to tie the game. She nailed them both to send the game into overtime with the score deadlocked 63-63.

"We started out like gang busters and then we fizzled," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "I thought the first ten minutes were maybe the best basketball we've played all year. If we can get that effort and that performance for forty minutes I think we're going to be tough to beat. But that was a very good Albany team...if you let them hang around, they will have an opportunity to win the game and that's exactly what they did tonight."

In overtime, Albany struck first. Until Bennett hit the deciding three-pointer, it was a battle of free throws. Bennett finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five steals.

"(Bennett) continues to amaze me because she's just got that iron will," Hill-MacDonald said. "She's got a great confidence in her ability to hit those key shots, and the more of them she hits, the greater her confidence grows."

Throughout the game, the Bulls were led by freshman Jessica Fortman, who scored 16 of her career-high 19 points in the first half and finished the game with seven rebounds. She was a perfect 7-7 from the field and 2-2 from three-point range.

"That was a spectacular performance, particularly in the first half," Hill-MacDonald said. "You can't ask for more than that from your freshmen. That's what we hope to get out of Jess for four years while she's here."

Turner ended up with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but made just four of her fifteen shots in 35 minutes of action. Despite her struggles, the team shot 44.3 percent from the floor and 64.3 percent from beyond the arc.

"You know that your team is making strides when the players who need to step up are able to step up and I think we had a number of those who did that for us today," Hill-MacDonald said.

Albany's leading scorer came off the bench as Christy Iromuanya finished with 20 points. Starting guard Britney McGee finished with 19 points and a team-leading three steals for the Great Danes.

Hill-MacDonald believes that her team's focus and the leadership from her upperclassmen are key the components for the Bulls' current success.

"I think it's a credit to our veteran players who have grown and who have really struggled in their tenure here in learning how to win," Hill-MacDonald said. "Our veteran players are really helping the younger players with their confidence. This is really the first year that we've really had a cast of characters with the amount of experience that we have on the floor. It's certainly a nice place to be."

The Bulls will look to carry their two-game winning streak back home when they take on Cleveland State on Saturday night at Alumni Arena. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.