Reality Check

Just when the Buffalo Bulls thought they had all the answers, the Holy Cross Crusaders came to Alumni Arena and brought them back down to earth.

Buffalo (3-10, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) hoped a zone defense would be able to confuse the Crusaders, but Holy Cross (7-9) quickly cracked UB's defense and nailed seven 3-pointers in the first half.

The Bulls never recovered from the first half onslaught en route to a 71-59 defeat Monday night.

Buffalo's defense was able to shut down the inside game of Holy Cross, but the inside pressure opened up the perimeter game for the Crusaders.

"They were packing it in against our big kids," said Crusader head coach Bill Gibbons. "If the defense is giving you a three, take it. We don't plan to take a lot of threes."

The Bulls flirted with several comebacks late in the game, but the only problem was that their rebounding sunk to new depths. Holy Cross snagged 48 rebounds, 24 of which were offensive, to UB's 27 total, ultimately unraveling the Bulls.

"I guess my only comment could be rebounding, rebounding, rebounding," said Bulls head coach Cheryl Dozier. "Too many second and third shot opportunities killed us tonight."

Holy Cross also brought height to the table, showcasing nine players that were at least 5-11. Buffalo only has three players that are able to match up size wise.

Oddly enough however, the player who had the largest impact was none other than Sarah Placek, coming in at a diminutive 5-3. Placek was sensational at the point for the Crusaders, dropping in 20 points (including four 3-pointers), coupled with three steals, five assists, and two rebounds.

"This isn't rocket science," said Gibbons. "In college basketball your point guard is the key position. She got us into offense and hit some huge shots."

The two bright spots for UB came in Brooke Meunier and Jessica Kochendorfer. The pair also shined in the Bulls victory over Marshall Saturday night. Kochendorfer scored 20 points, blocked six shots, pulled down five boards and dished out four assists. Meunier added 17 points.

The Bulls will look ahead to Wednesday's home game against Central Michigan in hope to complete their three game home stand on a high note.

According to Dozier however, Buffalo will need to get more out of it's players, particularly center Kim Kilpela.

"We have got to get more out of (Kim), she's got to be able to put up more numbers than what she's putting up right now," said Dozier. "For a kid her size to have two rebounds, it can't happen."

Tip off for the CMU game is tonight at 7 p.m.

Role Reversal

Something was different Saturday night at Alumni Arena. Maybe it was the water or perhaps it was the shoes.

In any case, whatever it was, Marshall had fallen victim to it.

Buffalo did everything right on way to a 79-60 drubbing of the Herd. Led by Kochendorfer (24 points) and Meunier's (20 points) hot hand the Bulls were able to silence the critics and give UB fans something to cheer about.

Before the match up, Marshall was giving up an average of 58.7 points per game, while they were scoring 70.4. The tables were turned Saturday night, as Marshall just scored over that 58.7 average while Buffalo put up a season high 79 points.

"I thought Buffalo played exceptionally well, they shot the ball very well," said Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick. "I thought our defense was suspect all night long. They pointed out every flaw in our defense and had us scouted to the tee and took away the things we like to do offensively."

And shoot the ball well they did. Buffalo shot a sizzling 54.5 percent from the floor and, according to Dozier; UB's ability to knock down the shots really put Marshall out of sync.

"When you shoot 54 percent from the floor you don't give them many opportunities to get out and break on you," said Dozier. "By knocking shots down we didn't allow them to get out in transition and that's what that team wants to do."

In contrast, Marshall shot 37 percent from the floor and heaved up 36 3-pointers while only knocking down seven (19.4 percent).

The first half brought several lead changes, but with the score tied at 23 and with only 4:30 left, the Bulls went on a 14-4 run to pull ahead 37-27. Kochendorfer and Meunier scored twelve of those 14 points, while Allison Bennett added a spark to the offense by scoring the other two points during that run.

Bennett finished the game 8-10 from the floor, with a career high 17 points.

With just under four minutes left in the game, Marshall, who was led by Pat Statler with 19 points, made the score 66-57, cutting the UB lead to nine. The Herd, however, could not capitalize on the offensive end and they played sloppy defense at the other end.

UB out-rebounded Marshall 39-32 in the game as Kochendorfer's 13 boards led the Bulls. For Kochendorfer, this was her second straight double-double, as she out-smarted the Marshall defense.

"I thought I got a lot of my points after offensive rebounds," said Kochendorfer. "I just tried to remember to go after all of the offensive rebounds and they didn't really do a very good job of boxing out...I took advantage of that."

If anything, this win could not have come at a better time for the Bulls. With a season full of turmoil and a bench smaller than a Honda Civic, the Bulls pulled through all the off the court issues for the win.

"It's been a year full of adversity and to see these kids tonight come out and play as hard as they play together as a team-that's where the excitement is for me and to see the looks on their faces after the game, that's what this is all about," said Dozier.

For the game, the Bulls shot 80 percent from downtown, led by Meunier's 4-5 performance.

"In warm-ups I was hitting pretty much everything I was shooting...they kept leaving me (open) and I kept making them," said Meunier.