BEREA, OHIO – Brittnee Perry (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) recorded her first double-double as a Bengal with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but Buffalo State (2-1) was handed its first loss of the season, falling 77-68 to Mt. St. Joseph (2-1) in the first round of the Baldwin Wallace Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
The Bengals opened up the game with a quick 5-0 run off a layup from Jordan Yastremski (Bath, NY/Bath-Haverling) and a three pointer from Hillary Kollar (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown), but the Lions came back under a minute later to tie the game up. The remainder of the first half was closely contested throughout the early going, as both teams shared the lead. After an 18-all tie at the 8:59 mark, Buffalo State put together an 8-2 run to take a six-point lead. The Lions battled back in the final minutes, but the Bengals managed to hang on to a one point lead heading into halftime.
In the second half, the Lions hit a three-pointer for the first points of the second half to take a two-point lead. Mt. St. Joseph pushed their lead out to six with 17:36 remaining, but Buffalo State hit two three's to tie the game back up two minutes later. Two more three pointers and a jumper later, the Bengals took a six-point lead, their largest of the half. Once again, the Lions continued to battle and brought the game back to a tie at 48 with just under 11 minutes to go in the game.
Buffalo State led by a point with 3:38 to play, but a layup from the Lions 16 seconds later gave Mt. St. Joseph back the lead that they would manage to hold onto for the remainder of the game. The Lions made seven of eight free throws down the stretch to post the win.
Four Bengals finished the game in double-digits. Perry led the way, while Yastremski also recorded a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Olivia Luciani (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa) tallied 12 points, and Kollar added 10 points.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 34.2 percent (25-73) from the floor and 39.1 percent (9-23) from long range. Buffalo State struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 31 percent (9-29).
Buffalo State returns to action at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon against Baldwin Wallace in the final matchup of the Baldwin Wallace Tournament.
