Jessica Kochendorfer

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo women's basketball team saw its two-game winning streak come to an end, dropping a 71-59 decision to the visiting Holy Cross Crusaders tonight in Alumni Arena. The Crusaders (7-9 overall) won the game on the glass, outrebounding the Bulls by a 48-27 margin, including 24 offensive boards. The Bulls were led by senior Jessica Kochendorfer (Allen, MI/Quincy), who had a game-high 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and six blocks. Sophomore Brooke Meunier (Saginaw, MI/Heritage) reached double figures for the fourth straight game, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. With the loss, Buffalo fell to 3-10 overall on the season.

The Crusaders opened the scoring on a jumper by Lisa Andrews, and they never gave up the lead for the remainder of the game. Holy Cross drained seven three-point shots in the first 20 minutes of play, and it led by as many as 12 points on two occasions in the first half. A three-pointer by Meunier and a late jumper by Kochendorfer cut the Crusaders' lead to seven at halftime, 33-26.

Andrews scored Holy Cross' first 10 points in the second half to get the Crusaders out to a 13-point lead, 43-30, with 15:23 left to play. The Bulls later used a 14-7 run to get within six, 53-47, with 5:59 on the clock, but that was as close as Holy Cross would allow. The Crusaders led by as many as 14 points down the stretch of the 12-point victory.

Sarah Placek led Holy Cross with 20 points, five assists and three steals, while Andrews finished with 18 points, 14 in the second half. The Crusaders shot 40.0 percent from the floor (26-for-65) and 29.4 percent from three-point range (10-for-34) in the game.

The Bulls shot 41.8 percent from the floor (23-for-55) in the game, but Kochendorfer and Meunier were the only two players to reach double figures in scoring. Senior Kim Kilpela (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) added eight points, junior Allison Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) finished with seven and freshman Belinda Gibb (Denmark, Western Australia/Willetton) added six.

"You can't expect to win games when you give up 24 offensive rebounds," said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier. "I thought Jessica and Brooke did a nice job offensively again, which we need, but rebounding really cost us the game. We know that, and now we have to make sure it doesn't happen again from here on out."

With the non-conference season now complete, the Bulls (3-10 overall, 1-2 MAC) will now get back to Mid-American Conference play by hosting Central Michigan on Wednesday, January 21 at 7 pm in Alumni Arena.