DeKALB, IL - The University at Buffalo women's basketball team snapped a pair of important streaks on Wednesday night with a come-from-behind 50-39 win at Northern Illinois University in a Mid-American Conference battle.

Buffalo broke a three-game losing streak in the MAC and also scored its first win over the Huskies in four meetings since joining the conference in the 1998-99 season. The Bulls (8-10, 3-4 in the MAC) went back to the defense that had landed them in the Top 20 nationally in both opponent scoring and shooting percentage to overcome a 17-15 halftime deficit to NIU (9-9, 4-3). The win was head coach Cheryl Dozier's 60th career victory, and the 39 points are the fewest the Bulls have allowed in a game since a 68-27 win over Oral Roberts during the 1997-98 season.

The game turned in the second half when, trailing 23-22, the Bulls went on a 19-2 run over the next eight minutes to take a 41-25 lead with 7:28 remaining. Buffalo's defense made the lead stand up and UB got a

Erin Lawrenson

career-high tying 15 points from freshman Erin Lawrenson (Elkland, PA/Elkland) in the victory. Lawrenson tallied seven of her points at the free throw line and the Bulls hit 15-of-20 foul shots in the second half to secure the victory.

"I knew it would be a battle of the defenses with us and NIU being the top two defensive teams in the conference," said Dozier. "I'm pleased that we came out and executed our game plan, and I hope this propels our players into the next few games."

Sophomore Jessica Kochendorfer (Allen, MI/Quincy) had another strong game for Buffalo with 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots while fellow sophomore Kim Kilpela (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) added nine rebounds, seven points and four blocks. The Bulls had 10 blocks in the game as a team and they forced the Huskies to shoot 22.7 percent from the floor (15-for-66). The Bulls shot 31.3 percent in the game (15-for-48).

Buffalo will host MAC East rival Akron on Saturday night at Alumni Arena at 5:00 pm. The Buffalo men will host Northwestern in the second half of the doubleheader at 7:15 pm.