Bulls Fall To Northern Illinois, 58-53

Seven different Bulls record points for UB

Jamie Schiebner

BUFFALO, NY – The visiting Northern Illinois Huskies went on an 11-4 run in the second half, taking its largest lead of the game and holding on to defeat the University at Buffalo, 58-53, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena. The Bulls held NIU without a field goal for the final 4:54 of the game, but the Huskies hit five of their six free throws down the stretch. The loss drops UB to 6-14 and 1-7 in conference play, while Northern Illinois improves to 13-6 and 5-3 in the MAC.

The first half was a series of runs for each team as NIU began with a 9-0 run after the Bulls scored the opening points of the game. The Bulls responded with seven straight to tie the game, but NIU would again improve its lead to seven. The Bulls then ended the half on a 14-5 run as Kourtney Brown (Solon, OH/Solon) hit a layup as time expired in the first half, sending the Bulls into the locker room with the lead for the second straight game.

The Bulls never led by more than three points as they took that advantage with 19:03 remaining in the game. Neither team would lead by more than four points until Northern Illinois took a five-point advantage with 7:45 remaining in the game. That lead would grow to as many as nine with 4:54 left before UB tried to respond. Jamie Schiebner (Saginaw, MI/Heritage) and Brown hit consecutive layups to cut the UB deficit to five. NIU would get the lead back up to seven, but junior Stephanie Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) hit one of her four three pointers and that was followed up by a Brown layup to cut the NIU lead to two. UB got no closer as the Huskies hit three foul shots in the final 17 seconds.

“I thought that Northern Illinois won the game on the foul line today,” said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. “I have to give credit to them because I thought they did a nice job taking advantage of penetration and going hard to the offensive boards and causing us to foul. We have to do a better job boxing out because today it killed us and you can win a game on the foul line.”

Ashley Zuber

Bennett led the Bulls with 12 points as she converted on 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Schiebner and Brown both had 10 points, while Schiebner also pulled in a game-high nine rebounds. Rachelle Matthys (St. Clair, MI/St. Clair) finished with eight points as she went a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Playing one of her best defensive games of the season was freshman Ashley Zuber (Schnecksville, PA/Parkland) who played 23 minutes and held Stephanie Raymond, who is second in the MAC in scoring, to just seven points, with five of those coming at the free throw line. Zuber had two points and three assists, including two in the final 1:20 of play.

The Huskies were led by 18 points from Mary Basic and 12 points from Jessie Wilcox. Whitney Lowe had a team-high seven rebounds off the bench.

The Bulls return home on Saturday as they host Ball State in a doubleheader with the UB men’s team. The women’s contest will begin a half hour after the conclusion of the men’s game which is scheduled for 2:00 pm.

01/27/2007