UB women win MAC tourney opener
CLEVELAND — After trailing most of the way, the University at Buffalo seized the lead for good on Jessica Fortman's layup with 2:49 left and went on to a 57-52 upset over Northern Illinois in the first round of the Mid-American Conference women's basketball championship Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena.
UB never led until Fortman's basket. It was 50-all, the fourth tie of the game, when Fortman scored the go-ahead basket. Another layup by Jamie Schiebner — her only points in the game — a free throw by Fortman and two more foul shots by Kourtney Brown pushed the lead to 57-50 before Ebony Ellis scored for the Huskies with just 2 seconds left.
"I thought we played really well in the last four minutes of the basketball game," UB coach Linda Hill-MacDonald said. "We got the stops defensively when we needed to and we got the defensive rebounds when we needed them. It has been a long season for us, so this win feels especially good."
It was UB's first victory in the MAC Tournament since 2003.
The Bulls got a dominating performance from Brown, an All-MAC second team selection. She finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Her second-half line was 10 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.
Fortman had 16 points and Brittany Hedderson 11 for UB.
The Bulls (7-23) seemed headed home, their season over, trailing 49-44 with 7:01 left to play. However, they outscored the Huskies 13-3 the rest of the way to advance to a quarterfinal matchup against Kent State (19-8) on Friday at 3 p.m.
UB shot 42.6 percent (23 of 54) to 28.6 (19-66) for NIU.
The Bulls attempted only five three-point shots, making two. The Huskies, on the other hand, fired away from long range, attempting 20 and making only five. Northern Illinois went nearly 11 1/2 minutes in the second half without scoring a field goal. The Huskies made just 8 of 36 shots in the second half (22.2 percent) and only 1 of 10 from three-point range.
The difference in shot selection more than made up for NIU's 44-41 rebounding advantage and 11 steals by the Huskies. UB had 16 turnovers to Northern's 11.
The UB men's team takes on Kent State at 2:30 p.m. today.
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