???Hoping to build off last year's successful campaign, the women's basketball team went into their first two games against Big Four competition with high hopes.
???Unfortunately, two second-half droughts resulted in two Buffalo losses to start the season.
???Against Canisius (1-0) Friday night, Buffalo (0-2) battled throughout the game, but a late 18-5 Griffins run in the last six minutes sent the Bulls off with a 69-56 season-opening loss.
???Buffalo looked to earn their first win against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (2-0) at Alumni Arena. Up 38-36 with 15 minutes left, the Bonnies outscored the Bulls 39-22 from that point on, disappointing the home crowd and coming away with a 77-58 victory.
???The Bulls were backed into a corner early at Canisius as the Griffins opened the game, scoring the first 11 points. Sophomore forward Kourtney Brown finally got the Bulls' first points with a layup at the 16:53 mark.
???The layup sparked the Bulls' first run of the game. They would score 11 of the next 15 points. Both teams would then start to exchange baskets.
???Buffalo took their first lead near halftime with a Brown basket, but Canisius quickly scored the last four points of the half to head into the locker room up 32-30.
???The Griffins started the second half on a hot hand, scoring the first four points. From that point, Buffalo junior guard Rachelle Matthy caught fire. She scored eight of the next 12 points, putting the Bulls up by three with 15:07 left to play.
???The Griffins and Bulls continued to battle for the lead until the score was tied, 51-51, with 6:05 to play.
???The Griffins imposed their strength and started to pull away, scoring the next nine of 11 points to take a 60-53 lead. The Bulls, over the foul limit, put the Griffins on the line, where Canisius hit four free throws to add to their lead and knock off the Bulls.
???"I think having to make that comeback early really took a toll on us late in the game," said Bulls head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "It was the first five minutes and the last five minutes that killed us."
???Buffalo opened their home schedule with another Big Four contest, this time against St. Bonaventure. The Bulls came out with a more competitive drive to start the game as both teams traded baskets for much of the first half; the game was tied at 12 after 10 minutes of play.
???The Bonnies took the lead and extended it to as many as eight points, but Buffalo kept battling. A jumper by sophomore forward Jessica Fortman before the halftime buzzer brought the Bulls' deficit to five points.
???Buffalo would come out strong in the first four minutes of the second half. Freshman guard Brittany Hedderson nailed a jumper with 16:04 left to get the Bulls within two points at 38-36.
???That would be the closest Buffalo would get. A 19-4 Bonnies run over the next six minutes put the Bulls down 57-40. The Bulls then enforced a full-court press hoping to cause turnovers, but St. Bonaventure was able to take advantage and make open shots the rest of the game.
???The Bonnies also took advantage of Buffalo's aggressiveness on defense. They took 31 free throws during the game, making 25 of them. On the other end, Buffalo only shot 56 percent from the line, going 14-25.
???"All of our fouls were when they were shooting and it killed us," Hill-MacDonald said. "...And we didn't perform well on our foul line when we had the opportunity."
???The Bonnies defense forced 10 Buffalo turnovers in the half, resulting in 16 points on the other end and limiting the Bulls' scoring chances.
???"They were very physical. They were doubling and tripling down on our post players, who had a difficult time with the physicality of their defense," Hill-MacDonald said. "They're a veteran team that plays very well together, and that was the key to their defense."
???The Bulls look to grab their first win when they travel to Youngstown State to take on the Penguins on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
