Sometimes it is hard to tell if players on the court can hear or understand what fans are yelling. This was not one of those nights, as the women's basketball team responded to the chants of, "De-fense! De-fense!" holding the University of Albany to a season-low 35 points.
The Bulls took control from the tip-off, starting the game on a 17-4 run. The Bulls also had a 12-0 run in the second half which pushed their lead to as much as 28 points.
"I think the first four minutes of a first half and second half are absolutely critical," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "I thought the first four minutes of the first half we sort of established ourselves and how we wanted to play the game. It's very important to get off to a good start."
Junior forward Heather Turner put forth her best performance of the season, shooting 90 percent from the field, totaling a team-high 20 points and tying for the team-high in rebounds with freshman forward Kourtney Brown who also had seven.
"I didn't realize it was my night, I knew that my teammates were setting me up for success very well though," Turner said. "We came into the game feeling confident and great coming off the win before, into this win now."
The Bulls held the Great Danes (2-6) to only 22 percent shooting from the field, and 7.7 percent from behind the arc. Conversely, the Bulls made 50 percent of their three-pointers in the first half and shot over 47 percent from the field for the game. Sophomore guard Rachel Matthys made all but one of the Bulls' three-pointers for the game. She shot 3-6 from the land of plenty, and totaled 11 points and five rebounds for the game.
"I'm really pleased with this game," Hill-MacDonald said. "I thought we got contributions from everyone including our bench. The players really followed the game plan and executed exactly what we told them would create success for them."
Freshman guard Ashley Zuber, who came into the game averaging less then one point per game, had her best game of the season as she contributed eight points on 4-6 shooting.
The team is also beginning to heal from early-season injuries, as sophomore forwards Barbora Homolova, Flynn Pyykkonen and Jamie Schiebner all played in the game. Schiebner and Homolova returned to action earlier in the season, but this was Pyykkonen's first game of the year.
"I thought we played pretty well against Niagara but I think we got more contributions from more people tonight so from a team standpoint I would say yes, (it was our best game of the season)," Hill-MacDonald said.
Turner agreed that a lot of the credit for the victory should go to the teamwork that the Bulls displayed.
"I feel great from contributions but it wasn't just me, it was the whole team altogether," Turner said. "A lot of my success I give to my teammates."
The Bulls dominated almost every aspect of the game as they forced the Great Danes into 20 turnovers, and only allowed four assists. The Bulls totaled 15 assists as a team, seven of which came from point guard Ashley Bennett and only turned the ball over 11 times.
"I think we made lay-ups, and I think we defended the heck out of this team," Hill-MacDonald said. "Those two factors are the most important things. We've really been working on improving on our ability to make lay-ups and take care of the ball. We took care of the basketball really well tonight, it's the best game we've had in terms of being able to hold on to the ball and not make careless turnovers."
The Bulls will continue their four-game home stand on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Massachusetts.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
