Bulls Dominate The Glass, Defeat St. Bonaventure 71-52 on Saturday

Saturday, December 19

Buffalo, NY

12:00 PM

4-2,1-0MAC

St. Bonaventure

1-2,0-1Atlantic 10

St. Bonaventure

Buffalo

Bulls Dominate The Glass, Defeat St. Bonaventure 71-52 on Saturday

12/19/2020 3:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team pulled down a season-high 60 rebounds in a 71-52 win over Big 4 rival St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena.

The 60 total rebounds is the most for the Bulls since UB had 69 at Saint Francis (Pa) on November 18, 2014. The 27 offensive boards is the most since Buffalo had 30 against Eastern Michigan on February 17, 2016.

Sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair led the way for the Bulls with a game-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Freshman Cheyenne McEvans scored 14 points to go with eight rebounds and Jazmine Young, playing in her first game as a Bull, scored 10 points while adding three assists and two rebounds. Sophomore Loren Christie recorded a career-high 17 rebounds and scored seven points on the day.

Elea Gaba got off to a hot start scoring two straight buckets to give UB an early 4-0 lead. The Bonnies responded with a 5-0 run of their own to take the lead but an offensive putback by McEvans gave the Bulls a 6-5 lead at the first media timeout. The Bulls would then crash the offensive boards and turn defense into offense using a 9-0 run, sparked by a transition three by Fair and an offensive putback by Keowa Walters, to take a 15-5 lead at the 2:33 mark and UB would maintain a 20-11 lead at the end of the first.

The Bulls offense would continue to click to start the second quarter as UB used a 9-2 run, capped by back-to-back driving layups by Fair and Christie to take a 29-13 lead and force a Bonnies timeout at the 7:31 mark. Buffalo would heat up from deep later in the quarter as back-to-back kick out triples by McEvans put UB up 40-23 with just under three minutes to play in the quarter but the Bonnies closed on a 6-0 run to cut the UB lead to 40-29 at the half.

It would be a slow start to the third quarter for both teams as UB maintained a 42-33 lead at the media timeout. Jazmine Young drilled a triple for her first points as a Bull at the 3:36 mark and later got the bucket and the foul to put UB up 56-41 with just over a minute to play in the quarter and the Bulls would lead 58-41 at the end of the third.

Buffalo would start to put the game away to begin the fourth quarter, using a 9-0 run, including a pair of fast break buckets by Fair to give UB a 67-43 lead at the 4:40 mark. A 5-0 Bonnies run cut the lead to 19 at the 3:48 mark but that would be as close as they would get as Buffalo controlled possession and sealed the victory.

The Bulls just about doubled up the Bonnies on the glass, outrebounding SBU 60-33, while also scoring 22 points off of 27 offensive rebounds. UB also held the 34-28 edge in the paint and turned 14 Bonnies' turnovers into 15 points in transition.

"I thought Elea brought the energy, we became synergized off of her," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "It's usually Dyaisha, sometimes it's Hanna or Ade but Elea knew that she had to be the one today and it was really nice to everybody else play off of her. I think Cheyenne could be rookie of the year in this league and getting Jazmine back out there was great as well. When we get everybody back to full strength I think we are going to have a fun team. There will be some bumps and bruises but it's a lot more fun when we learn lessons through success.

The Bulls return to action on Tuesday, December 22, as they continue MAC play against Western Michigan. Tip-off is set for 12pm at Alumni Arena.