Sunday's Scoreboard
Ohio 70, Chattanooga 58
Buffalo 73, Dartmouth 49
Toledo 83, Canisius 65
Drake 73, Northern Illinois 49
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Ohio 70, Chattanooga 58
Box Score
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Ohio women's basketball (7-4, 0-0 MAC) team wrapped up non-conference play with a win over Chattanooga (1-13, 0-0 SOCON), 70-58, on Sunday evening at the McKenzie Center.
"It was nice to get on the road in someone else's arena after losing a couple on the road to bounce back and get a win," head coach Bob Boldon said. "Especially heading into conference play. We weathered a little bit of a storm there in the second half, but I thought our kids did a good job of creating some separation. We certainly were challenged in non-conference play. We won some games and we lost some games, but I thought we played well in most games. Maybe one game in particular stands out, but in totality of that and playing bigger schools and traveling to New York, Texas, Florida and others, hopefully all of that prepares us for what's to come in conference play."
The Bobcats had four in double figures, with junior guard Cece Hooks (Dayton, Ohio) leading the way with 21 points. Hooks was 8-of-12 from the field and knocked down five free throws. Hooks added four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Redshirt sophomore guard Erica Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) produced 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and was 3-of-5 from behind the three-point line. Ten of Johnson's 18 came in the fourth quarter. Johnson had her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds and added a season-high five steals and five assists.
"It was nice to have Erica back," Boldon added. "I think she deserves a lot of credit for the way she integrated herself back into the system. Sometimes that can be hard when the team is playing a few games without you. I thought her shot selection was good and based on her five assists she was able to get others involved too. I thought her and Cece were efficient tonight. 15-22 shooting is pretty efficient."
Buffalo 73, Dartmouth 49
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team closed out the year and the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 73-49 win over Dartmouth at Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon to extend their win streak to five games.
Freshman Dyaisha Fair led Buffalo flirted with a triple double as she poured in a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Junior Hanna Hall scored 13 points, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, and Elea Gaba also got into double figures with 12 points. Freshman Jessika Schiffer tied a career-high with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from deep.
It was a slow start for UB as the Bulls would trail 11-6 at the first media timeout. Buffalo would heat up from long range out of the media, as Hall drilled a three to cut the lead to three and later would convert another triple off the assist from Onwuka to cut the lead to two. The three's would continue to drop as Schiffer drained a three at the buzzer to give UB a 16-15 lead after one quarter of play.
The Big Green opened the second quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. Fair ended the three plus minute UB scoring drought by draining a triple to tie the game at 19 and Schiffer buried a three to give UB a 22-19 lead at the media timeout. The Bulls would extend their lead as Gaba knocked down a baseline jumper and got fouled to put UB up 30-23. Dartmouth would answer with a mini 4-0 run to cut the UB lead to 30-27 but Gaba would knock down a mid-range jumper to stop the bleeding and Buffalo would lead 32-29 at the half.
Offense would be a premium for both teams in the early going of the third quarter before Fair knocked down a three to give UB a 35-29 lead at the 8:36 mark. Asha Taylor ended a three minute Big Green scoring drought with a three to cut the lead back to two but Onwuka would answer with a mid-range jumper in the paint to give UB a 37-35 lead at the media timeout. The two teams would trade baskets the rest of the quarter and Buffalo would lead 46-40 at the end of the third.
Hall gave the Bulls a spark early in the fourth quarter as she drained a three in transition off the assist from Fair to give UB a 49-40 lead at the 8:42 mark. Later Fair would find Adebola Adeyeye under the basket for a bucket and Fair would drill a step back three to give UB a 54-42 lead at the final media timeout. The offense would continue to click as Fair found Marissa Hamilton on the block for the easy lay in and Onwuka converted a transition bucket to give UB its largest lead of the game, 61-42, with four minutes to go and that would be all Buffalo would need as the Bulls outscored the Big Green 27-9 in the final quarter to seal the victory.
Buffalo outshot the Big Green from the field and won the battle of the boards 50-37, while turning 19 Dartmouth turnovers into 14 points. The Bulls also dominated the fastbreak category 19-2. Buffalo has now held five straight opponents under 59 points are a perfect 46-0 over the last three seasons when hitting that mark.
"We say we have four seasons and we just got through our second season which is non-conference play," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "Now we are entering our third season, conference play, and our goal is to get to our fourth season which is postseason play."
The Bulls open Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, January 4, as they travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on the Miami (OH) RedHawks in a 2pm contest.
Toledo 83, Canisius 65
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo took advantage of a strong fourth quarter to pull away from Canisius, 83-65, in Sunday's non-conference finale before 3,379 fans in Savage Arena. With the double-digit win, the Rockets improve to 5-6 on the season.
The Midnight Blue & Gold outscored the Golden Griffins 24-13 in the final 10 minutes to win back-to-back games for the first time this year. Toledo also secured a thrilling 66-65 come-from-behind behind victory against Pacific on Dec. 20 in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas.
The Rockets shot a sensational 75.0 percent (9-of-12) from the field in the fourth stanza against Canisius (1-8), including 3-of-4 from three-point range, and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to surpass the 80-point mark for the second time this year.
For the game, junior Nakiah Black led a balanced Toledo attack with 17 points, to go along with a career-high eight assists and five rebounds. Black's previous-best effort was five helpers on three occasions, most recently against Valparaiso on Nov. 27.
Joining Black in double figures were classmate Tatyana Davis with 15 points off the bench and senior Mariella Santucci had 10. Santucci also finished with a team-high seven rebounds and six assists.
The victorious Rockets also benefited from eight points by both freshman Quinesha Lockett and senior transfer Arianne Whitaker and seven from junior Tanaya Beacham to help them improve to 13-0 all time against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schools.
Whitaker played a huge role in Toledo's pivotal fourth quarter onslaught with a team-high six points, followed closely by Davis with five.
For the contest, Toledo shot a season-high 61.1 percent (33-of-54) from the floor, including a season-best 52.0 percent (season-high 13-of-25) from beyond the arc, and 66.7 percent (4-of-6) from the free throw line.
In addition, the Rockets dished out a season-best 24 assists and had three players with at least five dimes, sparked by Black's career-high eight.
D'Jhai Patterson-Ricks led Canisius with a game-high 18 points, while Tiana Pugh had 13 and Danielle Sanderlin and Anna Sweny had 12 each, respectively.
?Drake 73, Northern Illinois 49
Box Score
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team was held to 28.4 percent shooting from the field Sunday afternoon in a 73-49 loss to the Drake Bulldogs at the NIU Convocation Center.
"Sometimes when you play a basketball game you look at the stat sheet and it doesn't necessarily tell the whole picture," said head coach Lisa Carlsen. "I think we're going to look at the stat sheet and it's really going to tell the picture. When you play a team as good as Drake, you can't give them second chance opportunities. We didn't do a good enough job on the glass and we didn't shoot the ball well enough to keep ourselves in the ballgame."
The Huskies shot over 30 percent from the field in just one quarter on Sunday and was held to 5-of-31 from the three-point line. Drake outrebounded NIU 57-42 in the game and turned 19 offensive rebounds into 10 second chance points.
For the second straight game, senior guard Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) led NIU in scoring. The Huskies' point guard had nine points and tied a career-high with six steals. Ally May (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) added seven points and five rebounds. Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) and Abby Woollacott (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) each led NIU with seven rebounds and Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) tied a season-high with five assists.
NIU (4-7) took its only lead of the game 14 seconds in on a Blackwell jumper. Drake responded with a 13-2 run over the next 4:27, with six points from leading scorer Sara Rhine, to take a 13-4 lead at the 5:06 mark. The Huskies defense held Drake to one field goal over the final five minutes, going on an 8-2 run that included five points from May to close within three points of the Bulldogs, 15-12, at the end of the quarter.
Drake (8-4) opened the second quarter on an 11-2 run as threes by Maggie Negaard, Brenni Rose, and Becca Hittner put Drake up 26-14 with 7:46 to go. A Woollacott layup started a 6-0 run for NIU to get the Huskies within six, but the Bulldogs went on a 12-2 run with nine points from Rhine to take a 38-22 lead with 0:30 left in the first half. The Huskies scored the last basket of the half on a Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) layup to get within 14 at the break.
"We did have strings where we were pretty good defensively, but shooting the ball the way we did and giving possessions away is not what you want to do against a team like Drake," Carlsen said.
The Huskies closed the gap to 10 early in the third quarter. NIU got back-to-back threes from Starks and Grace Hunter (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) to cap an 8-0 run that made the score 42-32 with 7:38 to go. Drake then held NIU scoreless for over six minutes to build a 50-32 lead before a Starks steal and layup with 1:22 left in the third made the score 50-34. The Huskies got as close as 13 points in the fourth quarter as a Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) layup made the score 57-44 with 6:40 to play. Drake then went on a 15-3 run over 3:06 to take a 72-47 lead with under three minutes to play.
"We just need to continue to stick together and rally when things aren't going our way," said May with conference play on the horizon for the Huskies.
Drake shot 40.6 percent from the field and scored 29 points off 20 NIU turnovers. The Huskies forced 23 turnovers but scored only 13 points off of those Bulldogs miscues. Rhine led all scorers with 18 points. Rose had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
NIU opens Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, January 4 at Ohio. Tip-off is at 1 p.m.
