Women's Basketball Falls in First Round of NCAAs; Handful of Bengals Compete at ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championship



WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (25-4/15-1) - Bengals Fall in First Round of NCAAs



Buffalo State's (25-4) women's basketball team watched its season come to an end on its home court with a 71-61 loss to Ohio Wesleyan (20-7) in the first round of the NCAA Division III East Regional on Wednesday.



Buffalo State opened the game on a 14-0 run, as the Battling Bishops went 0-for-13 from the field out of the gates. OWU battled back and closed the half on a 12-0 run of its own, including hitting two three-pointers in the final 34 seconds to take a 26-24 lead at halftime. The Bengals took a 28-26 lead at 17:59 of the second half, and led again by one point at 14:56. OWU took control from there, however, and never looked back as they went on to the 10-point victory.



OWU shot 20-of-50 from the field for 40 percent, and 25-of-31 from the free throw line for 80.6 percent. By comparison, the Bengals hit on 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) from the field, but just 9-of-18 (50 percent) from the charity stripe.



Senior Monica Polka (Youngstown/Lewiston-Porter) led Buffalo State, scoring 23 points, one shy of a career-high, and grabbing nine rebounds. Sophomore Monique Hanks (Liverpool/Liverpool) recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Abby Kochan (Newport/West Canada) added nine points and six rebounds.



The Battling Bishops advanced to the second round at Ithaca on Saturday, and defeated the Bombers 73-67. They will travel to Springfield for the sectionals where they will face St. Lawrence.



Season of Celebration?



Buffalo State matched its most wins in a season (25), and won its first SUNYAC Championship since 1994. The 2001-02 season also marked the first time the Bengals qualified for the NCAA playoffs since 1995. All of this happened in head coach Fred Batchelor's second season on the bench.



Successful Seniors?



Buffalo State said goodbye to four seniors who closed out their careers in style. Chrissy Milleville (Niagara Falls/Niagara-Wheatfield) finished as Buffalo State's fifth leading scorer all-time with 1,107 career points in 104 games (10.6 ppg). Monica Polka (Youngstown/Lewiston-Porter) wrapped up her three-year career with the Bengals as the school's ninth leading scorer with 926 points in just 79 career games (11.7 ppg). Polka also finished second on Buffalo State's all-time rebounding list with 648 (8.2 rpg). Julie Jackson (Syracuse/Bishop Ludden) finished in the top-20 in scoring with 636 career points in 107 games. She also recorded 286 assists and 175 steals. Cora Humphreys (New York/Grace H. Dodge) played in 104 career games and finished her career with 542 rebounds, good for sixth on Buffalo State's all-time list.



INDOOR TRACK & FIELD - Handful of Bengals Compete at ECAC Championship



The Buffalo State men placed 17th of 45 teams in the ECAC Championships at Tufts University. A remarkable result considering the Bengals only entered seven individual athletes for the championships and two of Buffalo State's star competitors were injured during competition. The Bengal squad consisting of Markus Allen (Commack/St. John's the Baptist), Aaron Kinard (Queens/Springfield Gardens), Dan Conti (West Seneca/Maryvale), and Eugene Overton (Syracuse/Corcoran) sprinted to a second place finish with a time of 1:31.37 and broke the school record of 1:31.87. The second-place finish was not earned without consequences as both Allen and Kinard were hampered with leg injuries during the race. Allen was able to compete in the preliminary rounds of the 55-meter dash and recorded a time of 6.59 to qualify for the final round, but he re-aggravated the injury and was unable to finish the day. Neither Allen nor Kinard were able to compete in the 200-meterof 6.97 meters in the long jump and claimed second place with his first attempt in the competition. Lesure also competed in the triple jump and placed 17th with a distance of 12.97 meters. Luis Espinosa (Medina/Medina) performed admirably in the shot put as he achieved a distance mark of 13.52 meters and placed 19th in his event.



What's Next?



The Bengals now begin preparation for the outdoor track and field season. The University of Rochester Invitational held on April 6 is the next scheduled competition for the Bengals, but tentative plans are being made for possible earlier events.