After a loss against Bowling Green only four days earlier, the women's basketball team had an opportunity to bounce back in another critical Mid-American Conference game.
The win, however, went to Toledo (13-6, 2-4 MAC) in the form of a 67-53 victory over the Bulls (9-10, 2-4 MAC).
The game was physical from the opening tip-off. Early in the game, senior guard Ashley Zuber fed a pass to sophomore guard Nicki Hopkins for a 3-pointer to give the Bulls their first and only lead of the game. Less than a minute later, the Rockets hit a triple of their own on a shot by Toledo guard Naama Shafir.
At the end of the first half, the Bulls trailed by 24 points, with the score at 40-16. Head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald didn't know what her team was doing in the opening 20 minutes.
"I don't know where the focus was," Hill-MacDonald said. "We were all out of sorts. We just couldn't get a combination to get going again."
The low scoring in the first was attributed to the strong defense by Toledo. The Rockets limited the Bulls to only six field goals in the first, two of them 3-pointers from Hopkins.
Hill-MacDonald felt her team cowered to the Rockets and let them bull the Bulls all over the court.
"I have to give [Toledo] credit," Hill-MacDonald said. "They really forced us way out, wider than we wanted to go, and were very physical inside and out. We got back on our heels a little bit. Instead of driving to the challenge, we took a step back."
The most prolific scorer of the night was senior forward Kourtney Brown, who netted a game-high 18 points and was active on the glass with 13 rebounds. Hill-MacDonald is used to teams focusing all their attention on the senior standout, who is now only six points away from tying the career points mark at UB (1,703).
"Kourtney had a rough time getting started in the first half," Hill-MacDonald said. "They were sort of double-teaming her, as usual. Players on the perimeter weren't really getting into open spaces for her."
The Bulls came out strong in the second half, working diligently to get back into the game.
With less than two minutes remaining in the contest, the Bulls managed to cut the deficit to 14 points. Buffalo managed to outscore the Rockets 37-27 in the second half but would never get closer than 12 points en route to the defeat.
Hill-MacDonald looks forward to the chance to battle the Rockets again down the line.
"It's a game I hope that we have an opportunity to play again, perhaps in the MAC championship," Hill-MacDonald said. "I think we do match up well [with the Rockets]."
Hopkins played a career-high 37 minutes and tied a career-high in points with 15. Zuber added 10 points and tallied four assists and two steals. Zuber, Brown and Hopkins scored 43 of the 53 Bulls points in the game.
Toledo had three different players rack up double-digits in the contest, led by Shafir with 12 points.
The Bulls will remain on the road as they head to Central Michigan (12-6, 4-2 MAC) for their second outing against a MAC West opponent. Tipoff will be at noon on Wednesday.
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of UB Athletics
