Buffalo State’s women’s basketball (4-15, 1-11 SUNYAC) lost to Brockport (10-10, 6-7 SUNYAC) on Tuesday night at home after they struggled to make shots and had little rhythm on the court.
The Bengals have only one win in the SUNYAC conference and are on a four-game losing streak. Despite taking a lot of shots and being open, Buffalo State couldn’t score points.
“We got to find a way to put the ball in the basket. We’re taking a lot of threes and we’re not making them,” said Head Coach Blair Estarfaa. “We got to find a way to score. We can’t win if we don’t score.”
The Bengals finished the game with an abysmal 20-of-66 from the field and 7-of-28 from beyond the arc but made six free throws on nine attempts.
Emma Cohen led the team with 12 points and one rebound. Adiya Jones led with rebounds as she grabbed 10 and was just shy of a double-double with eight points. Maddy Stearns had nine points and seven boards.
Chloe Hanson scored first for the Bengals. Then they went scoreless for three and a half minutes until Cohen drained a three. During the drought, Brockport went on a 6-0 run.
Carly Atty had a steal and made a jump shot before Grace Carey netted her own to end the first quarter 10-9 in favor of the Golden Eagles.
Jadyn Jones had back-to-back points in the paint after she grabbed a swatted pass to put the Bengals on top, 13-12. Jadyn Jones was arguably the most aggressive and efficient player on the court in the second quarter.
Kirsten Merritt drained a three and Brockport responded with a jumper to tie the match at 16-16 with 6:32 until halftime. The Golden Eagles immediately responded with a 7-0 run, sparked by a free throw, to lead the Bengals 23-16 with three minutes before the break.
Stearns netted a three-pointer and Cohen sank a triple with five seconds left to trail 29-22 at the half.
Stearns pulled down an offensive rebound and netted a layup to cut the deficit to seven, but Brockport went on a 6-0 run to lead by 13. Within the next few minutes, the Golden Eagles had a 24-point advantage with 1:54 left in the third as the Bengals could not net a shot.
Cohen drained back-to-back threes and Adiya Jones hit a jumper to close out the quarter 53-37 in favor of the visitors.
Atty netted a triple and Jadyn Jones had a steal in which she spun around the defender and netted a layup before Brockport went on an 8-4 run to clutch an 18-point lead with 1:55 to play.
Any time the Bengals managed to make a bucket the Golden Eagles responded with their own. Buffalo State scored seven points to close out the game, but it was not nearly enough as they lost 67-53.
“I see growth,” said Estarfaa. “In the past we’ve kind of folded when it got tough. And I think we just stayed committed.”
Buffalo State had 24 points in the paint, 17 second-chance points and was outrebounded 50-43, but Brockport was held to 14 offensive rebounds.
“We’ve been getting killed on the boards the past couple of games. We made it a point to not allow No. 30 [from Brockport] to grab offensive rebounds and we held her to one,” said Estarfaa. “And we held them to 14 as a team.”
The Bengals return to action on Saturday for the “Battle by the Lake” hosted by Fredonia. Buffalo is scheduled to face Fredonia at 2p.m.
