ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Junior Brittany Patenaude scored a team-high 14 points and junior Brittany Wilson added 12 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds to lead host Nazareth to a 67-52 victory over Buffalo State in a non-conference women's basketball game Tuesday evening.
With the victory, the Golden Flyers improve to 2-2 overall. The Bengals suffer their first loss of the season and fall to 3-1 overall.
Nazareth surged to a 12-2 lead in the first 3:33 of the game as senior Mary Holland had eight of the Golden Flyers' first 12 points. Wilson added Nazareth's other four points during the opening scoring run. The Golden Flyers extended their lead to a game-high 21 points, 34-13, with 2:17 to play in the first half following a two-point jumper from junior Erica Shaw.
The Bengals opened the second half with a 12-2 scoring run to cut the Golden Flyers' lead to 38-27 3:58 into the second half. Nazareth's Brittany Tallchief connected on back-to-back baskets to increase the Golden Flyers' lead to 15 points. The Golden Flyers increased their advantage to 21 points following a three-point basket by Patenaude with 6:50 to play in regulation.
Following Patenaude's basket, Buffalo State put together a 13-3 scoring run over the next 2:25 to cut its deficit to 11 points with just over two minutes to play. Nazareth sealed the victory by hitting six of eight foul shots in the final two minutes. Junior Katie Kollar added a layup in the final seconds to give the Golden Flyers the 67-52 victory.
In addition to the points from Patenaude and Wilson, Holland finished with 13 points while Shaw finished with nine points for Nazareth. Junior Brittany TallChief also recorded nine rebounds and seven points. The Golden Flyers connected on 50 percent (15-30) of their shots in the first half to build their advantage.
Staci McElroy finished with a game-high 19 points for the Bengals and added seven rebounds. Devine Sebuharara also tallied nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Buffalo State forced Nazareth into 19 turnovers as the Bengals attempted to rally.