BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Big Red women's basketball team suffered its worst shooting performance of the season and was unable to hand Buffalo its first loss, falling to the undefeated Bulls, 59-41, this afternoon at Alumni Arena. With the loss, Cornell slips to 3-2 overall, while Buffalo improves to 4-0 on the year.
 
Nia Marshall and Christine Ehland led the Big Red with nine points apiece, while Caroline Shelquist finished with eight points. Nicholle Aston grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and chipped in six points and two assists in just 20 minutes of action. Megan LeDuc and Kerri Moran combined for seven points and five of the team's nine assists, with LeDuc also drawing three charges defensively.
 
Cornell continually found open looks with its half-court offense but could not get its shots to fall, and the visitors were unable to run its typical up-tempo transition offense against a quick and scrappy Bulls team that leads the NCAA in scoring defense (41.8 points per game). As a result, the Big Red shot just .261 percent overall, done in by a mark of .143 in the critical second half. Cornell held Buffalo to a .368 shooting performance from the floor, but the Bulls held the significant edge in rebounds (47-30).
 
Buffalo was led by Joana Smith with 17 points, while Katherine Ups came one rebound shy of a double-double (10 points, 9 rebounds). Mariah Suchan also had nine boards for the home team.  
 
Cornell jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a trey from Moran and a driving layup from Marshall, but the home team responded with 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the court to open up a 10-0 run. Aston used a foul line jumper to end the run with less than five minutes to play in the opening period.
 
Smith had the answer with an elbow jumper out of the media time out and then extended Buffalo's lead to 15-7 on a trey off a Big Red miss. The Big Red continued to struggle from the floor before a trey from Shelquist and a baseline jumper from Ehland in the final 35 seconds of the period cut the Bulls lead to 17-13 at the first break.
 
After a single made free throw from Ehland started the second period, Buffalo pushed its lead back to seven points (21-14). Cornell continued to get good looks that refused to fall until Shelquist nailed a trey at the 5:35 mark. Seconds later, LeDuc drew a charge that was compounded by a Bulls technical foul. Shelquist hit 1-of-2 free throws and then Aston hit a jumper from the top of the key to make it a 23-20 game at the 5:30 mark.
 
Brittany Morrison ended the Cornell run when she ripped the ball away from Aston at the top of the key and then drove the distance to put the home team up, 25-20.
 
The Big Red got six straight points, with a pair of free throws form Marshall, and buckets from Maddie Campbell and Ehland, to go up, 26-25, with 2:35 remaining in the second quarter, its first lead since the opening moments of the contest. The Bulls responded once again with a 7-0 run to take the 32-26 lead into half time.
 
Aston came to work in the third quarter, pulling down a pair of defensive rebounds on the Bulls first two possessions and then getting the Big Red's first bucket on a tough layup to make it a 32-29 contest at the 8:20 mark. A single made free throw by Marshall cut the Buffalo lead to two points (32-30) but an 11-1 run put the home team up by double-digits with just less than two minutes to play in the third quarter (43-31).
 
The Bulls extended its lead to 13 points early in the fourth period on a layup from Karin Moss, but a jumper in transition from Moran and a pair of made free throws from Ehland got Cornell back within single digits (46-37) with 4:42 to play. A tough layup from Marshall on an inbounds play made it a seven point game once again, but that was as good as it got as three consecutive Bulls' buckets put the home team back up by double figures with 2:30 remaining in the contest.
 
Buffalo managed to maintain the double digit lead the rest of the way en route to the 59-41 final.
 
The Big Red is back in action on Friday, Nov. 27 when it travels to Marshall for a contest at 4 p.m., before opening December with three consecutive home games, starting with a contest vs. Towson on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.