UB BULLS WBB HOSTS CLEVELAND STATE IN WNIT FAB FOUR TONIGHT
Well it’s officially April and the UB women’s basketball team is still playing games, a first for their program. The Bulls host Cleveland State in the WNIT Fab Four tonight at 6pm in Alumni Arena.
In another come-from-behind effort, the Bulls took down Rutgers, 71-64, on Sunday in front of a packed house in Amherst. It took a standout performance from Chellia Watson, who tied her season high output of 28 points for the Bulls. Gowanda native Noelani Cornfield contributed with seven points, seven assists, and six rebounds to help lift UB to victory.
Tonight, they welcome in a top team from the Horizon League, the Cleveland State Vikings. On Monday night, the Vikings pulled off a road win at Purdue Fort Wayne in the fourth meeting between the conference foes on the season. Cleveland State, led by five graduating seniors, took down the Mastodons 76-65 thanks to a +6 scoring third quarter. Three Vikings combined for 62 of the team’s total points, all three graduate students.
It should be a defensive battle tonight, with both Buffalo and Cleveland State holding opponents to an average of 60 points per game all season.
The host site for the WNIT Championship game is determined in part by attendance, so a full house tonight could help boost Buffalo’s chances at having the title game in Western New York on Saturday night. Tip-off from Alumni Arena tonight is at 6PM, with general admission tickets available for $14 each.
SABRES BEAT OTTAWA, SWEEP SEASON SERIES OVER SENATORS
The Buffalo Sabres dragged themselves out of last place in the Eastern Conference last night with a 5-2 win over the Senators in Ottawa.
James Reimer has been terrific for the Sabres in late March. (That’s a sentence I never thought would be spoken, but here we are.) In his last five starts, Reimer is 5-0 with a .911 save percentage. Last night, he lifted Buffalo to victory as the first star of the game with 33 saves on 35 shots faced.
Offensively, Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin beat former-Sabre goalie Linus Ullmark twice in the opening period, and with a Tage Thompson tally to open the second, Buffalo was out to a 3-0 lead. Poor defense on an Ottawa fast break led to the Sens’ first tally, halfway through the game. Fast forward into the third, and former-Sabre Dylan Cozens may have thought he was still playing for Buffalo when he sent a pass across the neutral zone directly onto the tape of Peyton Krebs, who broke free for his ninth goal of the year. An empty net goal from Ryan McLeod negated a late comeback attempt from Ottawa, closing the game with a 5-2 win.
Thanks to a nine-game losing streak for the Boston Bruins and the recent marginal success from Buffalo, the Sabres leapfrog one of the seven teams that separate them from the final playoff spot. Still, if the Sabres are to win all of their nine remaining games, they need so much help that they would still have less than a 30% chance of making the postseason. Still, miracles in sports have happened before. Who knows? Maybe the Sabres can erase their 13-game losing streak from December with a ridiculous, 10-game win streak to end the regular season.
The Sabres return home Saturday night for a meeting with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
MIKE MACDONALD NAMED DII NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR
After a never-before-seen season for the Daemen Men’s Basketball team, Head Coach Mike MacDonald has been honored with the Clarence Gaines Award as the DII National Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com.
MacDonald is the first Daemen coach of any sport to receive national Coach of the Year honors.
BISONS BEGIN SIX GAME SERIES AT MEMPHIS WITH A LOSS
The Buffalo Bisons opened up a six game road series in Memphis with a 13-7 loss to the Redbirds, the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
High scoring from the start, Buffalo trailed 6-5 after three innings. Heading into the bottom of the eighth, Buffalo trailed 8-7, with the heart of the lineup due up in the 9th. However, the Bisons and veteran pitcher Tommy Nance got lit up for five runs in the bottom of the 8th, blowing the doors open for the 13-7 final score.
First pitch for game two of the series is at 1:00 this afternoon.
The Scoreboard is presented by Zenner and Ritter Heating and Cooling’
