Jan. 12, 2005
Final Stats
BUFFALO, N.Y.--An inspired Buffalo team playing on a week's rest proved too much for a short-handed Miami University women's basketball team Wednesday night at the Bulls' Alumni Arena, as Buffalo ambushed the RedHawks 80-61 to hand Miami (8-6; 2-1 MAC) its first Mid-American Conference loss of the season.
Buffalo, which entered the game averaging 51.2 points per game, came out quickly, scoring 11 points in the first 2:34 of the game and grabbing a six-point edge. Miami rallied behind six straight points from Cindi Merrill (Noblesville, IN/Noblesville) to knot the score, and briefly took its first lead of the game at 14:31 when Nicki Motto (Dayton, OH/Oakwood) tallied her second trey of the night. The RedHawks hovered on the verge of taking the game over during the next several minutes but were unable to find consistency on offense.
With its field goal percentage struggling at just 40.3 percent for the half, Miami slipped over the closing minutes of the first half. UB went back in front, 29-24, with a 6-0 run capped by an Allison Bennett layup. The Bulls, who connected on 46.4 percent of their first-half attempts, finished strong, holding Miami without a bucket over the final 3:53 and taking a game-high 35-27 lead into the halftime lockerroom. Merrill led the RedHawks with 11 points and five rebounds in the half.
Buffalo came out of the lockerroom with five unanswered points, building a 13-point lead with 19:15 to play and forcing a RedHawk timeout. The deficit would reach 15 points before a Kim Smith (Gary, IN/West Side) bucket in the paint ended Miami's more than six-minute scoring drought. Smith provided steals on back-to-back Bull possessions from there, but the RedHawks, who struggled from beyond the arc, came up empty on a pair of 3-point attempts.
After four unanswered 3-point field goals and a three-point play, Buffalo's lead hit an insurmountable 62-37 with only 9:43 to play and there would be no Miami comeback in the cards. Playing without second-leading scorer Amanda Jackson (Springfield, OH/South) for the second straight game, Miami could never get its offense on track, shooting just 36.4 percent from the field and 25.9 from 3-point range. Buffalo, which led by as many as 29 points, scored a season-high 80 points while shooting a smoldering 56.6 percent from the field and 12-of-20 from beyond the arc.
Merrill paced Miami with 14 points, while Amber Miller (Vermilion, OH/Vermilion) and Sarah Hull (Greenfield, OH/McClain) added 10 points apiece.
Miami is off this weekend before returning to the road next week when it travels to Bowling Green for its first bout versus the MAC West Division. The game will be a rematch of last season's dramatic MAC Semifinal contest, in which the Falcons nipped the RedHawks at the buzzer.
