With an early lead and final swing of momentum, the women's basketball squad came away with a victory in their first game of the season.
The Bulls defeated Youngstown State University by a score of 62-53 Sunday afternoon at alumni arena, giving the Bulls a win in their season opener.
"It's nice to start the season with a win," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "To be able to find a way to win when you're not shooting the ball that well, we were unable to do that against Youngstown last year. It's nice to see that growth and maturity."
The Bulls shooting was substandard throughout the game, only shooting 34.8 percent while managing just 15.4 percent from beyond the three-point arc. However, what they lacked in shooting, they made up for in key offensive and defensive boards; the Bulls out rebounded Youngstown State 51-44 and it meant the difference in a tight contest.
"The way we pursued the basketball coming off the backboard was pretty remarkable," Hill-MacDonald said. "That's what I'm talking about: finding a way to win when your not shooting well. You better go get the ball and get that possession back. We did a great job of staying focused of what we needed to do there."
Senior guard Stephanie Bennett also emphasized the importance of rebounding and maintaining possession of the ball.
"It most definitely was a team mentality. We worked on it all practice since day one," Bennett said. "I think that we really wanted to improve on that this year, we took pride in it and we hustled towards the ball and we crashed the boards."
The Bulls got off to a fast start that built to a 10-point lead at halftime. However, in the second half, the momentum wavered and Youngstown State managed to tie the game.
"I thought we allowed them to dictate tempo in the second half which enabled them to really feel comfortable in their offense as they started to hit a couple of shots," Hill-MacDonald said. "We were allowing three point shooters to get wide open looks and it's a lot easier to catch up when you're nailing threes."
With the score tied at 40, Buffalo managed to regain that momentum. The Bulls regained the lead for good with two foul shots by Bennett with 8:30 left to play.
"It was a matter of getting back to dictating tempo," Hill-MacDonald said. "It was what we had to do and is what made the difference, that's what enabled us to take the lead again."
The Bulls' victory was a full team effort at the bench contributed a combined total of 19 points.
"You have to get contributions, whether it's rebounding, whether it's an assist here or there or steal," Hill-MacDonald said. "We had 10 people score which is really excellent. We only had 11 people play. Those are very young players...it bodes well for what's to come later in the season."
With a win in the first game of the young season, the Bulls were able to establish themselves as a contender and gained a good sense of the confidence that will help them the rest of the way.
"This team, this year, has a great determination to just win; everybody's very competitive. We've taken pride in the fact that we all want to be winners so we're going to do whatever it takes to win this year," Bennett said. "It gives us a lot of confidence. We see what we can do and we see things that we need to work on.
The Bulls next hoops battle will take place this Thursday, Nov.15, at Presbyterian College. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
