High expectations for women's team entering season

Women’s basketball head coach Felsiha Legette-Jack said her team must have “tunnel vision.”

The expectations for Legette-Jack’s team are the highest they’ve been in her three seasons in Buffalo. The Mid-American Conference preseason coaches poll predicted the Bulls to finish first in the MAC East. Buffalo returns four of five starters from last year’s team that clinched the highest conference tournament seed in program history.

Legette-Jack said she is not thinking about conference championships. She’s thinking about Buffalo’s season opener against Sienna Friday.

“We’re not thinking about MAC Tournament stuff, we’re thinking about how we’re going to keep getting this program better and better means not just being somewhere, but getting some place,” Legette-Jack said.

Buffalo’s season ended in disappointment last year, as the Bulls lost 74-60 to Ball State in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. The Bulls seem poised to make a deeper run this season as after gaining another year of experience and returning almost every key player from last season.

“I think the teams mix well because we have been together for a long time,” said sophomore forward Alexus Malone. “We’ve had enough time to practice and get to know each other from the summer to now.”

Junior guard Mackenzie Loesing headlines the list of returning players. Loesing led the team with 16.3 points per game. She also took 103 more shots than the next closest player on the team.

Loesing wants to facilitate the ball more this season because Buffalo has more playmakers.

“We have more scoring threats than we did in the past,” Loesing said. “Yeah, there will be situations where the pressure [and] the responsibility is on me to perform in those tight games, those tight situations where we need to score. But we also have so many threats on our team.”

Two of those threats are post players Kristen Sharkey and Malone, who Buffalo wants to center its offense around this season.

Sharkey averaged 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in a breakout junior season last year. Malone emerged down the stretch last season as a freshman, scoring at least 10 points in seven of Buffalo’s final nine games.

But Legette-Jack said the Bulls haven’t gotten the ball to Sharkey and Malone enough in the past and need to this season.

“We’re going to play the game from the inside out,” Legette-Jack said. “I’m a post player, I’m a post player coach and I certainly have seen my guards shoot that ball way too fast. We want the game to go through Kristen Sharkey. We want the game to go through [senior forward] Christas Baacas and Alexus Malone. And if it does that, then our game can be a fun thing to watch.”

Junior guard Karin Moss is set to replace former Bull Margeaux Gupilan as the starting point guard. Legette-Jack doesn’t want Moss to overthink her role.

“Karin is doing a good job of just playing basketball. I don’t want her to do anything different,” Legette-Jack said. “We’re going to pass the ball up the floor and then once the ball gets done the floor, we’re going to play basketball.”

The Bulls will also get back sophomore forward/guard Rachel Gregory.

Gregory returns to the lineup this season after a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), lateral meniscus and medical meniscus during her freshman season two years ago. She was Buffalo’s leading scorer at the time of her injury.

The team will also debut twin freshman guards Liisa and Katherine Ups, as well as freshman forward Mariah Suchan. With sophomore guards Camera Miley and Joanna Smith on the roster, the Bulls feature seven underclassmen this year.

Legette-Jack preaches the importance of defense to her players and they seem to be listening.

Sharkey talks about doing “the little things” like diving for loose balls. Buffalo led the conference in blocked shots (135) and defensive field goal percentage (.371). Legette-Jack said the key for Buffalo’s success this season comes down to three factors.

“Consistency. Toughness. Defense,” Legette-Jack said. “The shots will come [and] they’ll go. They’re going to fall; they’re not going to fall. But if we can be consistent with our effort, if we can consistent with our tenacity and stubbornness of our defense, we might have a shot.”

The Bulls defeated Buffalo State 89-54 Nov. 8 in an exhibition matchup. Buffalo’s season officially begins Friday, Nov. 14 when the team hosts Siena at Alumni Arena. The game is scheduled for 5 p.m.

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