The UB Women’s Basketball team broke open a 62–62 tie after three quarters, led by ten points in the fourth quarter by junior guard Dyaisha Fair, and a defense that didn’t allow a basket for over 6 minutes. The Bulls defeated Central Michigan 82–74 for their third straight victory. Buffalo is now 14–7 and 8–3 in the MAC, good enough for second place in the conference.
Five Buffalo players scored double-digit points, led by Fair, who had 29. Sixth-year senior forward Summer Hemphill had 17 and freshman guard Georgia Woolley had 14, while junior guard Dominique Camp and freshman forward Saniaa Wilson each had 10. This has become a real bright spot for the Bulls, who have shown over many games this year that their offense is not a “one-woman show”, and that there are several players who can step up if one player isn’t having a strong night.
The game began as a weak shooting performance by Fair (which has happened several times in recent games). By midway through the third quarter, she was shooting just 4-for-17, but then she took over the game, shooting 6-for-8 the rest of the way. This happened as the Chippewa’s star Molly Davis had just gone on a big scoring run, picking up 14 points in the third quarter, to keep CMU in the game.
CMU picked up the first basket of the fourth quarter, but then they did not score again for the next 6 minutes and 43 seconds, allowing the Bulls to push the lead to 10, five of the UB points in that time stretch coming from Fair. And after that, the game was effectively over.
Fair added five assists and three steals. Hemphill had 15 rebounds and Wilson had 13. Woolley added five assists.
Buffalo next plays at home versus Western Michigan on Monday, February 7 at 7pm (ESPN3).
Notes:
- Buffalo was called for only 5 fouls during the game. Obviously no one was in foul trouble, and four starters played all 40 minutes (Camp, Woolley, Hemphill and Fair).
- Wilson played 20 minutes off the bench. In just her third game, Wilson has established herself as a strong interior player, shooting 66.7% from the floor and is averaging 8 points and 11.3 rebounds, while playing an average of 22.3 minutes per game. YIKES! (And she has not missed a free throw, going 4-for-4 so far.)
- Buffalo out-rebounded CMU 48–36. The Bulls had 21 offensive rebounds in the game, but was able to turn these into just 10 second chance points.
- Buffalo committed only 10 turnovers, while CMU had just 12.
- Referee Cameron Inouye is also a WNBA referee.
- The headline in this morning’s Buffalo News says “UB Women Snap Losing Streak at Three” which isn’t quite the same as saying the have a 3 game winning streak.