Steffen’s 14 points pace Bowling Green women in victory at Buffalo

2/8/2013

AMHERST, N.Y. — The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Mid-American Conference’s East Division with a 61-56 win at Buffalo Thursday.

Chrissy Steffen scored 14 points to lead the Falcons, who improved to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in the league with their 17th consecutive victory over the Bulls.

Alexis Rogers and Jill Stein each had nine points while Miriam Justinger added eight.

Mackenzie Loesing finished with 20 points and Cherridy Thornton 14 for Buffalo, which fell to 7-15 and 5-4.

Bowling Green scored nine of the game’s first 11 points in the opening three minutes and held a 21-10 lead with 12:12 left in the first half.

Buffalo came no closer than seven points in that period, and the Falcons led 36-28 at the break.

In the second half the Bulls went on an early run and cut their deficit to 37-36 with 15:10 still to play.

The Falcons scored the game’s next seven points to restore some breathing room until the final minutes.

Buffalo cut BG’s lead to a single point when Thornton’s free throw with 1:13 on the clock made the score 56-53, but the Bulls came no closer the rest of the way.

The Falcons made five-of-six free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Bowling Green made just 36 percent of its shots for the game, compared to 39 percent for Buffalo, while both teams made 11 free throws.

The difference in the game was in the turnovers, as the Falcons forced 20 turnovers thanks to 15 steals while giving up the ball just 15 times.

The Falcons return to action Sunday when they play at Western Michigan starting at 2 p.m.