A 30 second stretch in which BG scored seven points and strong play inside the paint lifted the Falcons to a 78-60 win against Buffalo last night.
Having trailed most of the game’s first 17 minutes, senior center Tara Breske tied the game at 27 with 2:41 left in the first half.
But it was what happened after that which really mattered for the Falcons, as junior guard Tracy Pontius helped force three straight Buffalo turnovers, which resulted in seven BG points and gave the team momentum right before halftime.
“That swing was huge. Basketball is a game of runs,” Breske said. “Once you get that momentum up, that helps you so much confidence-wise.”
And the Falcons (13-4, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) didn’t look back, outscoring the Bulls (4-12, 0-3 MAC) 43-32 in the second half while cruising to a victory.
Twenty-four of those second-half points were scored in the paint. BG is generally a team that takes outside shots (they had attempted 341 3-pointers going into the game), but Buffalo defended that well, forcing the Falcons to switch their game plan.
“Our team did a great job executing against the switching man-to-man defense tonight,” Miller said. “They guarded the arc really well, and we had to take our opportunities inside and win some of the matchup advantages we had because of the way they defended us.”
In total, BG scored 46 points in the paint, and Miller said he couldn’t remember the last time one of his teams scored that many points in the paint.
The best the team had done this season was 34 against Akron and St. Francis (Pa.).
But with all that, the Falcons didn’t have the best individual performer from the game, as Buffalo’s junior forward Kourtney Brown recorded a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
“A lot of her points came off offensive rebounds,” Breske said. “It was offensive rebounds that killed us.”
The Bulls had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and 17 in the game, which resulted in 12 second chance points.
Miller said coming into the game that Brown and the team’s other junior forward – Jessica Fortman – were his two biggest concerns since they have scored more than 40 percent of UB’s points this season.
He used a rotation of players to guard them, but they still combined for 33 points and 19 rebounds, which was considered a success at game’s end.
“We knew they were the go-to players; we were going to try to contain them and knew we couldn’t totally shut them down,” Miller said. “We didn’t want anyone else to have a big night, and I thought we accomplished that goal.”
Freshman guard Chrissy Cooper and sophomore guard Brittany Hedderson were the Bulls’ next leading scorers with eight points each, and no other Buffalo player had more than four rebounds.
The win is BG’s 11th straight against the Bulls, not having lost a game since Feb. 2, 2003. In addition, it gives the team at least a 3-0 start to MAC play for the fifth straight season.
The Falcons will look to continue that conference winning streak Saturday when they travel to Kent State for a 2 p.m. game against the Flashes.
