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Sports Recap
Byron Mulkey of the men's basketball team led the Bulls with a season-high 10 points in UB's game at Florida International. In his 18 minutes off the bench, Mulkey was four of six from the floor while adding a pair of three-pointers. He also had two steals and two rebounds. Mulkey, a sophomore guard, is averaging 6.1 points per game and is tied for second on the team with 21 assists.
Jessica Fortman of the women's basketball team scored a career-high 19 points, while also grabbing a career-high seven rebounds in UB's 70-69 overtime victory at Albany. Fortman was eight of nine from the floor and made all three of her three-point attempts while also leading the Bulls with two blocked shots in her second career start. The freshman forward is averaging 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game thus far this season while playing 17 minutes per game.
Basketball
Men's
Florida International 76, UB 63
The road woes continued for UB last week, as the Bulls fell to a hot-shooting Florida International squad, 76-63, in Pharmed Arena on Dec. 5.
Florida International shot 58.1 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the arc. UB only shot 36.5 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from three-point range. The Bulls especially struggled at the free-throw line, making only 11 of 24 attempts.
Despite its shooting struggles, UB was in the game for most of the night, only trailing 32-29 at the half. An Andy Robinson steal and breakaway dunk gave the Bulls a 35-34 lead. However, the Golden Panthers built a 50-43 advantage with 11:26 left. A Byron Mulkey steal and layup, followed by a Robinson trey, cut the FIU lead to two.
A three-pointer by Andrew Atman sliced the FIU lead to one with 6:21 remaining. But a 10-3 run by the Golden Panthers gave them a 64-56 lead with 3:19 left and put the game on ice.
UB (5-4) was led by Mulkey, who scored a season-high 10 points. Greg Gamble added nine points and had four of the Bulls' nine steals. Atman and Max Boudreau each notched eight points.
One bright spot for the Bulls was a season-low 12 turnovers—their best effort since the Detroit game last season when they had 11.
"We got a lot of point-blank layups and couldn't convert," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We had a total breakdown in concentration and it's a mental thing that we are going through and it is painful."
UB is off until Dec. 21 when it plays Wyoming in the opening game of the State Farm Sun Bowl Classic in El Paso, Texas.
Women's
UB 70, Albany 69 (OT)
UB erased a late two-point deficit to force overtime and walked away with a 70-69 victory over Albany on Dec. 5 in the SEFCU Arena. The victory snapped a streak of five straight overtime losses for the Bulls and was UB's first victory in the extra session since the 2002-03 season. The Bulls improved to 5-3 on the season.
The Bulls came out firing in the first half, shooting 58.6 percent during the opening 20 minutes. Freshman Jessica Fortman scored 16 of her career-high 19 points in the first half, including two of her three three-pointers. The Bulls led by as many as 16 points in the period, opening a 28-12 advantage on a three-pointer by Stephanie Bennett at the 10:53 mark. Albany fought back and cut the UB lead to six before the Bulls took an eight-point lead into the half at 40-32.
UB regained an 11-point advantage in the second half on a three from Fortman at the 10:25 mark. Back-to-back threes from Albany tied the game at 59-59 with 3:17 left, and the Great Danes went on to take a two-point lead. Albany continued to lead by two when senior Heather Turner was fouled and went to the line with 23 seconds left. Turner sank both free throws and Albany managed to get off two shots before the buzzer, but neither fell as the teams went to overtime.
In the extra session, Albany scored the first basket before UB tied it with a jumper from Dortae Freeman. The teams exchanged free throws as the game remained tied at 67-67. From there, Bennett drilled a three-pointer at the 2:17 mark to give the Bulls a lead they would not relinquish. Albany cut the UB lead to one in the closing minutes, but the Bulls' defense did not allow Albany a shot as time expired.
"I thought tonight we really came out firing, but then we fizzled," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "If we can get the effort that we got during the first 10 minutes and do that for 40 minutes every night, we are going to be tough to beat."
In addition to scoring 19 points, Fortman also had a career-best seven rebounds and was credited with two of UB's three blocked shots. Bennett finished the game with 14 points, including four of six from behind the arc, and Turner notched a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Bennett also recorded a game-high five steals. Sophomore Ashley Zuber had eight points and a game-high five assists.
The Bulls wrapped up their three-game road trip with a 2-1 record and will return home for a pair of games, beginning with a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday with Cleveland State.
Men's and Women's Swimming
Bulls earn MAC honors
Three members of UB's men's and women's swimming-and-diving teams earned accolades from the Mid-American Conference following their performances at Akron's Zippy Invitational, held Nov. 30 through Dec. 2.
For the third time this season, the league named sophomore Andrea Lehner the Women's Swimmer of the Week.
Lehner had an impressive performance, scoring three individual wins and two relay victories. She also set two UB records and four meet records.
On the meet's first day, Lehner set a new meet record in winning the 200-yard individual medley in 2:04.37, breaking the mark of 2:04.69 set by Akron's Danielle Beland at the 2005 meet. She also helped the Bulls to a new school and meet record in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:35.33, cutting nearly a second off the previous meet record (1:36.25) and more than a second off the old UB mark (1:36.47, set in 2002). Lehner was followed by Sam Palma, Meghan Lafferty and Jessie Koltz.
On Saturday, she shattered the school mark in winning the 100-yard backstroke in 56.27, eclipsing Inger Rooneem's 1998 UB backstroke mark of 56.83 and the meet record of 57.34. Lehner also led off the Bulls' victorious 200-yard medley relay team, which narrowly missed setting another school record. The foursome finished in 1:46.20, just four-hundredths of a second shy of the UB school record set in 2000. Lehner also took the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle on Sunday in 17:08.78, eight seconds better than Ohio's Stacey Huber (17:16.53).
She set UB and meet records for her 200-yard opening leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay. Lehner went 1:50.90 on her leg of the race, bettering Duquesne senior Melissa Johnson's mark of 1:50.95 in winning the 200-yard freestyle earlier in the night. In relay races, the first swimmer in the relay can have his or her time used for an individual distance. Therefore, in an 800-yard freestyle, Lehner's opening leg of 200 yards can be counted toward her top time in the event, even though she didn't swim in the individual race earlier in the night. The Bulls finished second to Ohio in the relay.
Sophomore diver Michael McDowell was selected as the MAC Men's Swimmer of the Week for the second time this season.
McDowell swept both the one- and three-meter diving events. In Friday's three-meter competition, McDowell broke his own meet mark with 335.65 points for his six dives in the final round to win the event and eclipse the mark of 332.40 he posted at last year's meet for the pool and meet record. It was the third consecutive year that a UB men's diver has set the pool record for the three-meter event. Cassidy Lynch set the record at the 2005 event.
McDowell went on to break Lynch's pool and meet marks in winning the one-meter event with 303.05 points on Saturday. McDowell, the lone entrant to surpass the 300-point barrier, won the competition by 27.25 points over Niagara freshman Ian O'Rourke (275.80).
UB swimmers have picked up the MAC's weekly top swimmer award seven times this season.
In addition, sophomore diver Meili Carpenter was selected as the MAC Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
A chemistry major with a 3.965 grade point average, Carpenter took the women's one-meter diving event with a six-dive total of 283.45 points. She placed second on the three-meter board with 264.45 points in her six dives, second to Akron's Kathryn Carter (319.60).
The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher and performs well during that week's competition. The winners are selected by a group of the conference's faculty athletic representatives.