Bulls Fall to Temple in Home Opener 65-55

Hold Owls to 34.9 percent shooting on the day

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team battled Temple University from start to finish, falling to the Owls, 65-55 on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena. In the Bulls' home opener, junior Kourtney Brown led the Bulls offensive efforts with 16 points as fellow junior Bridgette Kendricks provided the Bulls with a defensive presence, collecting four steals.

Bridgette Kendricks

To start the first half, the Bulls went on an 8-0 run in the first six minutes before Temple would land their first field goal of the contest. The next four minutes belonged to the Owls, as they erased the Bulls’ lead to tie the contest at 10-10. With each team battling for the lead, freshman Nicki Hopkins nailed a three-pointer to give the Bulls a 16-14 lead with 8:02 remaining. Temple recaptured the lead, 24-18 off an 8-0 run including a pair of three-pointers by BJ Williams. The Owls walked into the half with a 29-24 lead.

Following a first half with three lead changes, Temple managed to hold the lead for the entire second half for the win. In the first ten minutes, the Owls shot 5-for-8 behind the arc to contain their lead. With 17:39 remaining, the Bulls pulled within three off a pair of converted free throws by Jessica Fortman followed by a Temple turnover and a quick layup by Brown. The Owls managed to rebuild their lead to 13 with 10:24 on the clock. In the final 10 minutes, the Bulls came within five points of the Owls twice but in the end Temple contained their lead for the victory.

Kourtney Brown

The Bulls were led by Brown with 16 points followed by Fortman, who recorded 12 points while going 8-for-8 from the line. Fortman, Brown and Kendricks tied for a team-high seven rebounds. Kendricks made her presence felt on defense, tying her career-high of four steals for the third time. Freshman Abby Dowd tallied a career-high five rebounds.

The Bulls played strong in the paint, outscoring the Owls, 28-16. "I thought we did a much better job of boxing out and not letting them get easy second shots today," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald.

Entering the contest, the Owls shot 43.5 percent from the field. The Bulls managed to hold Temple's offensive attack to 34.9 percent for the day. "I feel for the most part we followed the game plan. I was really proud of the effort particularly defensively to hold Temple," commented Hill-MacDonald.

Jessica Fortman

Hill-MacDonald continued, "We are going to learn from this game. That is a great opponent we just played. I thought we played them beginning tap to the final buzzer."

Leading scorer Shaqwedia Wallace led Temple’s offensive attack with 22 points as forward Kristen McCarthy led on the boards with 11 rebounds. McCarthy recorded her first double-double of the season, adding 10 points to her totals. The Owls' bench contributed 17 points.

The Bulls (1-2, 0-0 MAC) will hit the road for the Dead River Company Classic at the University of Maine, which begins Friday, November 27 against Penn State at 4:00 pm. The tournament will conclude on Saturday, November 28 when the Bulls will either play host Maine or Holy Cross.