BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo women's basketball team held on to a 23-point halftime lead to earn its third Mid-American Conference win of the season, 72-59 over the visiting Ohio Bobcats in front of 890 fans in Alumni Arena.

Hollie Cook

The Bulls had three players finish in double figures in scoring, led by senior Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe (Nelson, New Zealand/Hawaii) with 17 points, and freshman Hollie Cook (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) dished a career-high 11 of the Bulls' 22 assists in the game. The Bulls (11-7, 3-4 MAC) dominated the Bobcats (5-14, 1-7 MAC) offensively, shooting 60.4 percent from the floor in the game (29-for-48) and scoring 42 of their 72 points in the paint.

Ohio's Andrea Gay opened the scoring with a three-pointer just over two minutes into the game, but it didn't take long for the Bulls to grab the lead. With the score tied 9-9 at the 15:28 mark of the first half, Buffalo embarked on an 18-4 run over the next eight minutes and 15 seconds to break the game open. Freshman Brooke Meunier (Saginaw, MI/Heritage) scored nine of Buffalo's points during the run while Cook recorded assists on five of Buffalo's eight buckets, and the Bulls held the Bobcats without a point for the final five minutes and 26 seconds of that stretch.

Brooke Meunier

Meunier scored all of her career-high 13 points in the first half, including a jumper at the buzzer to send the Bulls to the lockerroom with a 43-20 lead. Buffalo shot 62.1 percent from the floor (18-for-29) in the first half compared to Ohio's 28.0 percent (7-for-25).

The Bobcats outscored the Bulls by a 39-29 margin in the second half, led by the play of Latreece Bagley who scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the final 20 minutes of play, but it would prove to be too little too late. Ohio cut Buffalo's lead to 13 on two occasions, 50-37 at the 13:08 mark and 54-41 at the 9:29 mark, but never really threatened to take the lead. McMeeken-Ruscoe scored 13 of her team-high 17 points in the second half to help keep the Bulls on top. She finished the night shooting 7-of-10 from the floor while also grabbing six rebounds and recording three steals.

In addition to McMeeken-Ruscoe's 17 points and Meunier's 13 points, sophomore Allison Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) also finished in double figures in scoring with 12 points while grabbing a career-high seven rebounds. Juniors Jessica Kochendorfer (Allen, MI/Quincy) and Kim Kilpela (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) added nine and eight points, respectively, to the Bulls' effort.

Bagley's 18 points for the Bobcats came on perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the floor and two free throws, and Gay was the only other player to finish in double digits with 11 points. Ohio finished the night shooting 36.7 percent from the floor (22-for-60). Erin Isbell grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

"This was a great team win for us tonight," said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier. "I'm excited about the way we came out in the first half. I thought our guards did a great job of penetrating and we looked for good shots and knocked them down. We didn't take care of the ball as well in the second half, but we're a young team and we're going to make those mistakes at times. We continued to battle and fight through, and we got some great performances out of our young players, especially Hollie Cook and Brooke Meunier."

The Bulls are on the road next week to face Kent State on Wednesday, February 5 at 7 pm in Kent, OH. They then return to Alumni Arena for a three-game homestand, beginning with a televised game against Northern Illinois on Sunday, February 9 at 4 pm.