Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
Women's Basketball Falls At Buffalo, 76-66
February 24, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2001
BUFFALO, N.Y. - University at Buffalo seniors Mari McClure and Tiffany Bell combined for 52 points to lead the host Bulls to a 76-66 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday (Feb. 24). The Mid-American Conference game was held at UB's Alumni Arena.
With the win, the Bulls improve to 19-7 overall and 10-5 in MAC play. The Falcons drop to 10-16 and 6-9, respectively.
On UB's "Senior Day," the Bulls' four seniors had 56 of the team's 76 points. McClure had a game-high 31 points, and also had eight rebounds and seven assists. Bell scored 21 points and tied McClure for team honors with eight boards.
For the Falcons, junior Francine Miller led the way with 14 points, including 12 in the second half. Senior Angie Farmer added 12 points, while classmate Afra Smith also hit double digits with 10 points in the game.
Redshirt freshman Pam Brown had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, as the Falcons held a 39-38 advantage on the boards.
The teams traded baskets in the early going, before the host Bulls went on an 11-0 run to take an 18-7 lead with six minutes gone. UB led by as many as 17 points (39-22) late in the first half, before the Falcons rallied to within 11 points at the break.
In the second stanza, the Falcons got within eight points, at 50-42, but an 8-0 UB run, capped by a McClure hoop, gave UB a 16-point margin with just 8:02 remaining.
Farmer got hot at that point, however, converting a conventional three-point play to start a 12-2 BG run over the next 4:30. Farmer scored seven of the Falcons' 12 points during that stretch, and the UB lead was just six points with 3:32 left. BG could get no closer than that margin, however.
The Bulls went back up by nine as McClure tallied a three-point play, but Miller hit a jumper. After McClure answered, Miller went beyond the arc for a triple to cut the lead to six once again, at 65-59 with 2:12 left.
UB went 11-of-14 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes, with Bell and McClure combining for all of those tosses. For the game, the Bulls shot 40 free throws to the Falcons' 16.
BGSU shot .391 for the game, making 25-of-64 shots, and the Falcons were held to a 4-of-14 performance from three-point range. UB shot .449 from the field (22-of-49) and 3-of-4 from long range, with McClure making all three of her triple tries.
Rachel Martin joined McClure and Bell in double figures, scoring 10 points off the bench for the Bulls.
"We have been two different teams," said BGSU coach Dee Knoblauch. "We have been good at home, and very bad on the road.
"I was pleased with our competitiveness, we really battled today.
"Those three seniors (McClure, Bell and Sonia Ortega) form one of the best trios in the MAC.
"We got in that 18-6 hole, and we just couldn't get out. We battled them pretty even after that. We never held our heads, and we kept competing, but we just couldn't get all the way back."
Buffalo is the only MAC school to lead BGSU in the all-time series between the schools, and the Bulls now hold a 4-2 advantage in the series.
The Falcons return home to close the regular season with a Wednesday (Feb. 28) game with Miami University. Start time for that game is set for 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
Through Saturday's action, the Falcons still hold a magic number of one over Western Michigan in the race for the eighth seed, and the final homecourt berth, for the MAC Tournament. A BGSU win over Miami, or a WMU loss against Eastern Michigan, would give the Falcons that eighth seed and put BG at home for the first round of the league tourney March 3.
BGSU is a game ahead of both WMU and Ohio University (5-10 each), but the Falcons hold the tiebreaker over OU by virtue of a sweep in the two-game season series. WMU holds the tiebreaker over BG due to the Broncos' 86-70 win in the teams' lone 2000-01 meeting, in Kalamazoo (Jan. 31).
