The women's basketball team limped into Muncie, Indiana with few reasons to smile. It had had an abysmal defensive showing on Thursday against Western Michigan (6-17, 3-7 Mid American Conference), even though its offense had kept the team in the thrilling 102-92 loss.
None of that mattered on Saturday, as the Bulls (7-17, 2-8 MAC) picked up just their second conference win of the season with a dominant defensive performance in a 61-37 win at Ball State (8-15, 3-7 MAC).
The game was close early on. But, with the game tied at 10, the Bulls went on a 20-5 run in the final 11:20 of the first half to take a 30-15 lead into halftime. Ball State would cut the Bulls lead to 10 points in the second half, but that was as close as it got as Buffalo strung together a few offensive rallies and put the game out of reach.
Senior guard Brittney Hedderson continued her star-role for the Bulls. She led Buffalo with a game-high 17 points and added eight rebounds.
Other standouts for Buffalo included sophomore forward Nytor Longar, who finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, and senior forward Beth Christensen who had a game-high 12 rebounds.
After being our-rebounded by the Broncos on Thursday, the Bulls' dominated the glass against the Cardinals, coming away with 50 rebounds while Ball State could only snatch 32.
Buffalo's offense carried momentum over from its 92-point performance against Western Michigan into Saturday, shooting 44.4 percent overall and 54.2 percent in the first half. The Bulls' hot scoring slowed in the second half but the defense picked up.
"We didn't shoot the ball well [in the second half], but they really struggled to score," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "I attribute that to our defensive effort."
The Bulls proved that they are capable of playing well defensively, an area of concern throughout the season. The 37 points scored by the Cardinals was the least allowed by Buffalo since 2006, when it held Albany to only 35 points.
The Bulls get a short respite in their schedule this week, as they have no scheduled games until next weekend. The long layoff gives coach Linda Hill-MacDonald some time to work on things that have been plaguing the team this season.
"We are going to continue to work on defense, definitely," Hill-MacDonald said. "I think rebounding is another one [of the things we need to work on] and we are going to take a ton of free throws. Our free-throw percentage has to improve. Fifty-seven percent from the free throw line is not going to win close games."
The Bulls return home next Saturday at 3 p.m. to take on Central Michigan (12-11, 4-5 MAC).
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Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
