Brooke Meunier

BUFFALO, NY - A three-pointer by junior Brooke Meunier (Saginaw, MI/Heritage) with 1:16 left on the clock broke a 47-47 tie, and the University at Buffalo women's basketball team was able to hang on for a 50-48 win over the visiting East Carolina Pirates this afternoon in Alumni Arena. Meunier led three Buffalo scorers in double figures with a game-high 17 points. The win moved the Bulls to 2-9 overall while East Carolina fell to 3-9 on the season.

The Bulls held a 14-point lead at halftime, 30-16, and then went up by 17, 33-16, at the 17:15 mark of the second half. Freshman Stephanie Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) hit a three-pointer at the 14:49 mark to make the score 39-24, but the Bulls' offense then went cold, allowing East Carolina to crawl back into the game. Buffalo went 0-for-15 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the foul line over the next 12:40, and the Pirates used runs of 12-0 and 9-0 during the stretch, eventually taking a 47-45 lead on a three-pointer by Viola Cooper with 2:37 on the clock.

Following a Buffalo timeout, Meunier hit a driving layup at the 2:09 mark to tie the score at 47-47, and East Carolina then missed two shots before turning the ball over with 1:33 to play. Meunier's three-pointer gave Buffalo a three-point lead, leaving the door open for the Pirates in the closing minute of the game. Jennifer Jackson missed back-to-back three-pointers before being fouled on her third attempt with four seconds to play. She missed the first shot, made the second and missed the third, setting the Pirates up for a final shot. ECU's Shanita Sutton grabbed the offensive rebound, but missed a layup under the basket as time expired, giving the Bulls the 50-48 win.

East Carolina took to a 6-0 lead early in the first half before a layup by sophomore Belinda Gibb (Denmark, Western Australia/Willetton) got Buffalo on the board at the 15:40 mark. Trailing 9-4 at the 13:54 mark, the Bulls went on a 10-0 run to take over the lead, and they closed the first half with a 10-3 run to take the 30-16 advantage into the lockerroom at halftime.

The Bulls shot 30.5 percent from the floor in the game (18-for-59), but just 17.9 percent in the second half (5-for-28). Bennett (12) and Gibb (10) also finished in double figures in scoring, and Gibb dished a career-high six assists. The Bulls committed less turnovers (14) than their opponent (23) for just the second time this season, and they scored 20 points off of ECU turnovers.

Jackson led East Carolina with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Ebonee Downey finished with eight points and 10 boards and Shanita Sutton had eight points and nine rebounds. The Pirates outrebounded the Bulls by a 50-35 margin in the game. East Carolina finished the game shooting 31.0 percent from the floor (18-for-58).

"This is the way we wanted to start the new year," said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier. "During the timeout after East Carolina went up by two, there wasn't a look in any of our players' eyes that said we weren't going to win this game. We were up by 17 and we could have folded when they came back to take the lead, but we didn't. We've been working really hard since we got back from break, and it's great to have some momentum going into the conference season."

The Bulls continue their four-game homestand on Wednesday night, hosting Bowling Green at 7 pm in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.