???After a senior day victory at Alumni Arena on Saturday, the women's basketball team sought its second win in eight games as it traveled to Kent, Ohio on Wednesday.
???The Golden Flashes had other plans in mind.
???Kent State (18-9, 7-8 Mid-American Conference), with the MAC Tournament in its sight, dismantled the Bulls (6-22, 2-13 MAC) at the M.A.C. Center. After falling behind early, Kent State ran away with the game, culminating in a 72-53 victory.???
???Leading 9-7 shortly after tip off, Buffalo was unable to hang tight with its MAC East division foe. Kent State's high-octane offense, averaging 72 points per game this season, proved to be too much for Buffalo.
???The Bulls started off shooting 3-for-6 from the floor, but scored only five points in the final 15:16 of the first half. Buffalo committed 15 turnovers to Kent State's pressure defense, an unacceptable number for head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald.
???"We turned the ball over, we took uncharacteristic shots and we made uncharacteristic moves," Hill-MacDonald said. "They folded under the pressure, especially on the wings, on the guards. We didn't handle the pressure at all. We didn't counter it effectively."
??? Buffalo's offensive woes didn't stop there. The Bulls went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes in the first half. In that time, the team dug itself into a deep hole as Kent State went on a 16-0 run behind a barrage of 3-pointers.
???Coming into the contest, the Golden Flashes ranked second in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage. The first half was an open opportunity to better that statistic.
???The Bulls found themselves giving Kent State shooters open looks from beyond the arc. The Golden Flashes put on a shooting clinic, shooting 7-for-11 beyond the arc in the first half alone.
???Early foul trouble led to the Bulls' first half blunders. With sophomore guard Kourtney Brown and sophomore forward Jessica Fortman on the bench for most of the half, Kent State was able to capitalize on the loss of two key Buffalo starters. Without their leading scorer in Brown, the Bulls looked lost in the offensive end of the court.
???Going into the locker room down 34-14, Buffalo looked to reclaim the spark that they had been riding on coming into the night. After coming back from a 20-point deficit against Ohio earlier in the season, Hill-MacDonald thought that her team had what it took to battle back.
???A fast-paced second half gave Buffalo an early 10-2 run, cutting the Golden Flashes' lead to 14. That's as close as the Bulls would get.
???Every time Buffalo seemed to close the gap, Kent State hit another 3-pointer, extending it yet again. Behind the shooting of sophomore forward Chenel Harris and junior guard Rachel Bennett, the Golden Flashes finished 12 of 21 from 3-point territory. Despite outscoring Kent State 39-38 in the second half, their precision shooting was too much to handle, according to Hill-MacDonald.
???"They shot the ball extremely well tonight," Hill-MacDonald said. "I don't know if it's customary for them to take 21 3-point attempts, but they had wide open shots almost every time. That's frustrating."
???With the victory, Kent State improved to 10-1 at home this season, while Buffalo was handed its 10th loss on the road.
???In spite of a dreary offensive showing by the Bulls, Brown continued to make her case for MAC Player of the Year. In just 25 minutes of action, Brown tallied her eighth double-double of the season. She led the team with 19 points and 13 rebounds, scoring 15 points and adding ten rebounds in the second half alone.
???Buffalo hit just 6 of 22 from beyond the arc, but was led by two from freshman forward Beth Christensen, who finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Hill-MacDonald knew that Christensen could produce from behind the arc.
???"She did play guard in high school. That one bank shot almost broke the backboard," Hill-MacDonald said. "She did a great job rebounding the basketball and running the court. She's doing a nice job for us as a freshman."
???Productive play from senior forward Jamie Schiebner also landed her in double figures with 12 points, while Fortman added eight points and seven rebounds.
???The Bulls conclude their regular season when they visit the Miami (OH) RedHawks on Saturday for Buffalo's last game of the regular season. Tip off is at 2 p.m.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
