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Bulls Roll Past Akron, 68-54

Jessica Fortman

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team picked up its second straight victory, using a strong defensive performance to defeat Akron, 68-54, Wednesday night at Alumni Arena. The Bulls trailed just once in the game as they improved their record to 14-13 on the season and 7-7 in MAC play.

"I think the thing that was most pleasing to our staff tonight was the defensive effort,” said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. “I thought we played hard defensively. In the first half Akron had a hard time getting into their sets and even when they tried to modify them, I thought our players on the floor did a good job communicating to each other the changes that Akron was trying to make. It is all about defense, and our players are finally getting it.”

Stephanie Bennett

The Bulls led for the majority of the first half as Akron managed to take one-point leads on two separate occasions. With the Bulls down 11-10, UB went on an 8-0 run to take a seven-point lead, which was capped off on a layup from Jessica Fortman (Ashland, KY/Russell). The Bulls built their lead to as many as eight in the first half on a layup from Jamie Schiebner (Saginaw, MI/Heritage), which gave UB a 22-14 lead with 4:52 left in the half. The Zips would manage to cut into the lead, but the Bulls managed to take a 25-22 lead into the half.

The Bulls scored the first four points of the second half and built a double-digit lead for the first time on a pair of free throws from senior Heather Turner (West Seneca, NY/Mount Mercy Academy). Akron cut the lead down to eight with 16:37 left in the half, but senior Stephanie Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) scored the next five points, including her first triple of the game to put UB up 13. The Zips cut the UB lead to nine on several occasions, but never got any closer. The Bulls took their largest lead of the game at 61-44 on a Bennett three-pointer with 4:04 left in the game.

UB had four players in double figures as Bennett had a team-high 15 points. Bennett hit three three-pointers and had three rebounds and four assists. Fortman had 14 points and seven rebounds, despite playing just 23 minutes due to foul trouble. Fortman also added three assists, two steals and a block. Turner had 13 points and eight rebounds, while Schiebner added 12 points and eight boards. Junior Dortae Freeman (Detroit, MI/Cass Technical) came off the bench and added four points, four rebounds and four assists.

Jamie Schiebner

As a team, UB shot 46.7 percent from the floor, including 54.8 percent in the second half. UB hit on 3-of-6 from behind the arc, all coming from Bennett. The Bulls also managed to dish out 17 assists on the evening and turned the ball over just 13 times, one off their season low. Defensively, the Bulls managed to let Akron shoot just 28.8 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from three.

Akron was led by a game-high 16 points from Keyla Snowden and 13 points from Riana Miller. Miller also had nine rebounds on the night.

The Bulls will hit the road this weekend as they head to Bowling Green for their final regular season road game. Tip off against the Falcons is set for 4:00 pm.