BUFFALO, NY - Junior forward Yashico Stevens scored a career-best 28 points and visiting Marshall shot a blistering 58% from the field to defeat the University at Buffalo, 89-78, in a Mid-American Conference women's basketball game at Alumni Arena.

Stevens scored 16 of her points in the first half as the Thundering Herd (8-18, 2-13) raced to a 38-35 halftime lead over the Bulls and scored five more as the Herd stretched the lead to 51-43 with 14:33 remaining.

Buffalo (17-8, 7-7) rallied behind the tremendous inside play of freshman Kim Kilpela (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) and junior Tiffany Bell (Alexandria, VA/Hayfield). Kilpela scored a career-best 33 points -23 in the second half -and sparked the Bulls on a 15-6 run to cut the lead to 59-56 with 10:36 remaining. Kilpela hit 12-of-19 shots from the field and added 11 rebounds while Bell had the 17th double-double of her career with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulls would eventually tie the game 65-65 on a jumper by Kilpela with 7:17 left. However, Marisa Williams (17 points) scored the next four points as Marshall bounced back to take control down the stretch by hitting eight straight free throws in the final minutes.

Junior Mari McClure (Rochester Hills, MI/Adams) connected for a season-high 20 points for Buffalo who travels to Kent on Wednesday to play the East Division leading Golden Flashes.

"We didn't play defense the way we're capable of tonight," said Buffalo coach Cheryl Dozier, "but I think we played tentative because of our lack of depth. Our game plan was to get the ball in the paint tonight but our depth is really killing us. We played defense tonight like we were afraid of getting in foul trouble."