December was memorable for all the wrong reasons as the women's basketball team continued to search for its first win in over a month.
The Bulls (4-11, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) lost all eight games over winter break including an 81-57 loss versus St. John's (13-2) and an 80-62 loss versus Houston (9-5), both games played at the St. John's-Chartwells Holiday Classic in Queens, N.Y.
Not since the 2004-05 season has the women's basketball team lost all of the games played in the month of December.
Buffalo's non-conference schedule over the break included big name schools such as Hofstra (9-5), Providence (7-9), Cleveland State (8-8), and Bucknell (9-5). In an interview with Bullseye, head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald believed that these non-conference games would be beneficial to her team.
"It matches us up against some very, very good basketball teams with basketball history, and it gives us the opportunity to look at where we are and where we need to be," Hill-MacDonald said.
In addition to the six non-conference games, the Bulls also kicked-off their Mid-American Conference schedule with a loss in their home opener against Ohio (5-9, 1-1 MAC) and road loss versus Akron (6-9, 1-1 MAC).
The zeros in the win column leave the false impression that the Bulls were not competitive in their matches. However, in the eight Bulls losses over the break, four of them were very close with the opponents' margin of victory being no greater than seven points, including two overtime games between Hofstra (80-73) and an 84-81 point loss to MAC opponent Ohio.
In spite of the teams overall poor performance, many of the Bulls players achieved personal accolades, proving that this group women is talented enough to compete at this level.
Against St. John's, freshmen Brittany Hedderson and Ephesia Holmes recorded career highs in points as Hedderson scored 14 and Holmes recorded 16 points. Holmes performance over the two-game tournament earned her a place on the all-tournament team for that weekend.
Junior Dayna Smith and sophomore Bridgette Kendricks also recorded personal bets. In the game versus Providence, Kendricks' 10 points and 10 rebounds was her first double-double in a collegiate game while Smith's 17 points against Ohio was also her highest.
Even with opponents' double and triple teaming of redshirt sophomore Kourtney Brown, she continues to play hard, and she leads the team in points with 14.8 points per game. Against Hofstra, Brown recorded a career-high 29 points and added 12 rebounds.
Hill-MacDonald is proud of these accomplishments, however she realizes that it takes more than a few players doing their part to win a game, rather it takes everyone playing together to win.
"We had individual and personal best, but we need to come together as a team now and we need to be executing some things, and getting some team records, not just individual records," she said.
Luckily for Buffalo, it's not how a team starts, but how it finishes. The beginning of a new semester provides the team with the opportunity to erase the disappointment of the past few games and spring them right into MAC play, which is undoubtedly the most intense and important part of the season.
With that being said, the Bulls approach going into the remainder of the season is to simply get better.
"We're just working away, getting it done everyday and try to come on the floor at practice and make ourselves a little better each time," Hill-MacDonald said.
The women look to win their first conference game at home on Wednesday, as they host the Kent State Golden Flashes. Kent State is coming off their first road loss of the year after falling at Miami (OH) on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
