As of late, the themes that plague the women's basketball team have been pretty common: commendable efforts from underclassmen, minimal to no bench production, a poor three-point shooting percentage and additions to the loss column.
After the game at Western Michigan on Monday night, Bulls' head coach Cheryl Dozier commented on minimal contributions from the bench and applauded the efforts of freshman Heather Turner after a loss to the Broncos, during which the team shot 7.7 percent from the perimeter.
Dozier also made a point that her team must stay focused to win in the conference and that the road ahead, at Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan, isn't going to get any easier.
She was right. When UB traveled to Ypsilanti, Mich. Wednesday night to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles, the outcome and hindsight mimicked that of Monday night. The Bulls (4-17 overall, 2-8 Mid-American Conference) left the Convocation Center on the losing side, as the Eagles (17-4 overall, 7-3 MAC) soared to their third straight win by a score of 71-51.
Wednesday night's loss is the 10th time this season that Buffalo has lost by 20 or more points. It was also Dozier's 100th career loss in her seven years at UB.
While the outcome was grim, the Bulls were able to keep up with the Eagles for the first half and some of the second half, managing to reform an EMU seven point lead into a tie at 16:16 in the second half, at a score of 36-36.
The teams also met in a tie just over three minutes later but the Eagles dominated thereafter, capitalizing on an 18-0 run to distance themselves from the Bulls. EMU would go on to lead UB by as many as 22 points.
"We showed that we can play with one of the top teams in the conference for the first 27 minutes tonight, but 27 minutes isn't an entire game and it's not going to get you a win," said Dozier.
For the third game in a row, freshman forward Turner showed up big for the Bulls, netting a team high 13 points. Turner currently leads the MAC in field goal percentage at 58.6 percent.
"Heather Turner is leading the MAC in field goal percentage, and she should be shooting the ball more than anyone else on this team," said Dozier. "We had opportunities, but we didn't get her the ball in the second half, and that really hurt us."
Along with Turner, sophomore Belinda Gibb reached a team-high 13 points while junior Brooke Meunier contributed 12.
Another factor that hurt the Bulls for yet another game was lack of bench production. Bench players for Buffalo were in the game for a combined total of 40 minutes but only added four points and five boards to the effort.
"We held their starters below average, but they got 31 points from their bench kids," said Dozier. "In order for us to be successful, two things need to happen. We need to get Heather the ball more and we need to get more production out of our bench. We need every player on our team."
Coming off the EMU bench, Kristen Kilgore was the game's high scorer with 14 points. Two members of the Eagles' starting lineup, Nikki Knapp and Ryan Coleman, posted 12 points apiece to round out Eastern Michigan's double digit scoring. Knapp grabbed the game high in rebounds, with 11, posting a double-double.
While the Bulls' record did not show any improvement since Monday's loss, the team's free throw percentage was much higher Wednesday night. After shooting a lackluster 33.3 percent from the line, 77.8 percent of UB's free throws were successful on Monday, as the team went 7-for-9.
Considering the team shot 7.7 percent from beyond the arc Monday night, the Bulls couldn't do much worse against the Eagles and would only float to 25 percent from beyond the arc, not their best, although much improved from the previous game.
The Bulls look to improve statistically this Saturday at Central Michigan at 2 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
