Many turnovers and second-chance opportunities haunted the Falcons womens basketball team as they fell to the Buffalo Bulls at home by a score of 61-50. The Falcons are now 1-5 in Mid-American Conference play. They have yet to win a conference game at the Stroh Center this year.
Leading the way for the Falcons was sophomore guard Sydney Lambert with 10 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Also standing out was sophomore forward Maddie Cole, who provided a spark off the bench with seven points.
“It was a tale of two halves; we started off the game poorly,” said Falcons head coach Jennifer Roos. “We gave up a number of offensive rebounds early and had five turnovers in our first 15 possessions. You can’t dig yourself a hole against Buffalo, or anybody for that matter, in conference play.”
In the first quarter, neither team would shoot the ball well until Buffalo’s JoAnna Smith would hit a three point shot from the left corner to give Buffalo a narrow 7-3 lead with five minutes left in the quarter. Two minutes later, Cole would knock down a three of her own to cut the deficit to one. Great defensive play on both sides prevented any easy baskets, but it was Buffalo with the 14-8 lead after the first, following a poor shooting display by both teams.
Second chance points and turnovers really presented a problem for the Falcons in the second quarter, as they were unable to keep up with the pressure and hustle Buffalo displayed against them. Buffalo would lead 23-11 with five minutes remaining. The Falcons would respond with a couple of baskets down the stretch, trying to cut the deficit into single digits, but Smith would knock down huge shots for the Bulls as they led 33-18 at the half.
“We struggled a bit on defense, but turnovers killed us big time on offense,” said Cole. “The defensive pressure by Buffalo really killed us, and that’s one thing we got to work on which is handling the pressure.”
In the third, neither team could make a basket in the first three minutes. The Falcons would hit the first two baskets, but Buffalo responded quickly with baskets of their own. It was back and forth mostly throughout until the 2:11 mark where junior guard Rachel Myers would hit a layup underneath the basket to cut the deficit into single digits by a score of 40-32. However, Buffalo made huge baskets under two minutes to keep the deficit into double digits and Buffalo led 47-33 going into the final quarter.
In the final quarter, the Falcons struggled to make shots and sloppy turnovers helped Buffalo get easy fast break layups down the stretch. The game was out of reach for the Falcons with two minutes left as Buffalo led 59-42. Coach Roos cleared her bench in the final minute and Buffalo got the road win.
Buffalo dominated the Falcons with 34 points in the paint, as well as 16 second chance points, and 15 points off turnovers. BG would turn the ball over 19 times and 25 points where scored off the bench.
“I knew it would be a physical game from the start,” said Roos. “But we have to do a better job in executing and prevent turnovers because they did a great job in being aggressive and hustling to get the ball.”
The team’s next game will once again be at home as they will take on the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday with tipoff beginning at noon.
