KENT, OH - The Kent State Golden Flashes got a career day from Melissa DeGrate and clinched a share of the Mid-American Conference's East Division regular season title with an 87-33 win over the University at Buffalo women's basketball team tonight in front of 918 fans at the M.A.C. Center in Kent, OH. With the loss, Buffalo ends the 2004-05 regular season with a 4-23 overall record and a 2-14 mark in the MAC.

DeGrate opened the scoring with a three-pointer on the first possession of the game and later added a layup for five of Kent State's (19-8, 12-4 MAC) first 10 points during a 10-0 KSU run to start the game before the Bulls got on the board with a free throw by freshman Flynn Pyykkonen (Clarkston, MI/Birmingham Marian) at the 14:54 mark. The Golden Flashes built an even bigger cushion with a 20-4 run in the final 7:20 of the first half, with two three-pointers by DeGrate with under a minute to play sending them to the lockerroom with a 40-14 halftime lead.

Diana Orozco Gollaz

DeGrate scored 21 of her game-high 30 points in the first half on 8-for-14 shooting, including 5-for-7 from long range. The Golden Flashes shot 43.8 percent from the floor (14-for-32) while the Bulls shot just 25.0 percent (5-for-20). Kent State's tight defense forced the Bulls into 15 first-half turnovers that the Golden Flashes turned into 21 points.

The Golden Flashes started the second half with an 8-0 run, and they later blew the game open during a seven-minute stretch with a 22-0 run to take a 73-23 lead with 5:27 on the clock. They went on to win their 15th straight game in the all-time series against the Bulls, and the 54 points marks the Golden Flashes' largest margin of victory in those 15 contests.

Kent State finished the game shooting 53.4 percent from the floor (31-for-58) and 64.3 percent from three-point range (9-for-14). DeGrate had six of the three-pointers, and she also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and had four steals. Lindsay Shearer was the only other player to reach double figures in scoring with 13 points. Kerrie James had nine points, including two threes, five assists and four steals.

The Bulls were led by junior Brooke Meunier (Saginaw, MI/Heritage) and freshman Diana Orozco Gollaz (León Guanajuato, Mexico/Monterrey-León) with seven points apiece and freshman Heather Turner (West Seneca, NY/Mount Mercy Academy) with six points, seven rebounds and three steals. The Bulls shot 26.7 percent from the floor for the game (12-for-45).

The Golden Flashes outrebounded the Bulls by a 47-23 margin. They scored 38 points in the paint, 18 second-chance points and 36 points off of 29 Buffalo turnovers.

"There really are no excuses,"said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier. "Kent State physically beat us. They took us completely out of our game with their physical play. The only thing to do now is go into practice tomorrow and figure out how to get a win on the road at Eastern Michigan because that's all we have left."

The Bulls are the 13th seed in the 2005 Kraft MAC Tournament. They will travel to No. 4 Eastern Michigan (21-6, 11-5 MAC), the defending MAC Tournament champion, for a first-round game on Saturday, March 5. Game time is 4 pm. The winner will advance to the quarterfinal game against either No. 5 Ball State or No. 12 Akron at 3 pm on Wednesday, March 9 in Gund Arena in Cleveland, OH. EMU defeated Buffalo by a 71-51 score on February 9 in Ypsilanti in the only regular season meeting between the two teams.