Heather Turner

BUFFALO, NY - The Bulls scored 22 points in the paint, 14 by freshman Heather Turner (West Seneca, NY/Mount Mercy Academy), and they made six free throws in the final 29 seconds of the game to spoil Akron's comeback attempt in a 55-49 win tonight in Alumni Arena. Turner posted her fourth double-double of the season with game highs of 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Bulls' attack. With the win, Buffalo snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 4-15 overall and 2-6 in the Mid-American Conference. Akron, which had won two straight and three of its last four games, fell to 3-17 overall and 3-6 in the MAC.

The Bulls made five of their first eight shots in the game to jump out to an early 11-4 lead, and they led by as many as eight points in the first half before Akron closed the gap and finally tied the score at 24-24 with a 6-0 run to end the half. The Bulls shot 45.5 percent from the floor in the half (10-for-22) while Akron shot just 29.6 percent (8-for-27).

Akron scored the first bucket of the second half to break the 24-24 tie, but the Zips then hit just one of their next six shots, a three-pointer by Jessie Crooks, while the Bulls went 5-for-9 for an 11-3 run that put them back up by six, 35-29, with 13:08 remaining in the game. Akron, however, capitalized on six Buffalo turnovers over the next three minutes to put together a 9-0 run and take a three-point lead, 38-35, with 9:38 on the clock. Buffalo answered with an 8-0 run of its own, highlighted by a three-point play by Turner and a three-pointer by freshman Stephanie Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge), and the Bulls later led by six, 49-43, with 1:52 to play.

Akron's Lindsay Hemmelgarn came off the bench and scored all seven points of her points in the final two minutes of the game to give the Zips a chance. She made one of two free throws with 1:58 on the clock, hit a layup at the 1:06 mark, made one of two free throws with 30 seconds to go and then knocked down a three-pointer with 21 seconds remaining that got the Zips within two, 51-49. The Bulls held on for the win by going 6-for-7 from the free throw line in the final 29 seconds of the game to quiet the Zips' comeback attempt.

Akron shot 39.1 percent from the floor in the second half (9-for-23) and 34.0 percent for the game (17-for-50), while the Bulls shot 38.5 percent in the second half (10-for-26) and 41.7 percent for the game (20-for-48). The Bulls outrebounded the Zips by a 37-30 margin.

Turner was 7-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the free throw line for her game-high 18 points, and she also finished with a team-high six steals, marking the most steals by a UB player since the 2002-03 season. Sophomore Belinda Gibb (Denmark, Western Australia/Willetton) reached double digits in scoring for the third straight game with 10 points while also adding six assists, and Bennett finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

Crooks led the Zips with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block, and Courtney Stewart added 10 points, four rebounds and a game-high nine steals.

"We needed this win," said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier. "We battled at Ohio on Saturday and I give our kids a lot of credit to come out and battle again tonight, especially since this was our third game in the last seven days. Turnovers are still a problem for us, but we got out of the gate well both offensively and defensively tonight. We had three freshmen on the floor for a lot of the game, so we're still getting better. This was a good win for us."

The Bulls are now off until Monday, February 7 when they host Western Michigan at 7 pm.