Bulls Advance To MAC Tournament Quarterfinals with 57-52 Victory Over Northern Illinois

Kourtney Brown finishes with 17 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks

Kourtney Brown

CLEVELAND, OH – The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team used a 13-3 run over the final seven minutes of action on Wednesday as the Bulls advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament with a 57-52 victory over Northern Illinois at the Quicken Loans Arena. The win was Buffalo’s first MAC Tournament victory since the 2002-03 season.

Despite trailing or being tied for the first 37 minutes of the game, the Bulls finally broke a 50-50 tie on a layup from Jessica Fortman with 2:49 left in the game. That was part of an 11-1 Buffalo run. The Bulls continued to build their late second half lead on a layup from Jamie Schiebner with 43 seconds left. After a Fortman free throw, Kourtney Brown added two from the charity stripe as the Bulls took their largest lead of the game at seven with 24 seconds left. The Huskies would hit a layup for the final margin.

Jessica Fortman

Most of UB’s success could be attributed to the fact that the Bulls did not allow the Huskies to convert on a field goal for nearly 11 and a half minutes in the second half. When NIU did get a good look, Brown was swatting one of her career-high seven shots. In all, the Bulls held NIU to just 28.8 percent from the field in the game, including just 22.2 percent in the second half. Following a first half where the Huskies hit four threes, NIU went just 1-for-10 in the second half from behind the arc.

The Huskies never led by more than seven points which they had with 3:07 left in the first half, however the Bulls ended the half on a 6-1 run, including two points on a tip in from Brittany Hedderson as time expired in the half.

“I thought we played really well in the last four minutes of the basketball game,” said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. “We got the stops defensively when we needed to and we got the defensive rebounds when we needed them. It has been a long season for us, so this win feels especially good.”

Brittany Hedderson

Brown led the way with a game-high 17 points, 13 rebounds and career best seven blocks. The seven blocked shots are second most in a single game in MAC Tournament history. Brown also became the first player in school history to record 200 field goals in a season as she now has 205 for the year. Fortman added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Hedderson rounded out the double figure scorers with 11 points. The freshman also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Freshman Beth Christensen added four rebounds for the Bulls off the bench.

The Huskies were led by 13 points from Marke Freeman and 12 points from Jessie Wilcox. Ebony Ellis added 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The Bulls advance to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals where they will face the Kent State Golden Flashes on Friday at 3:00 pm.