Bulls Falter Late, Drop 84-81 Decision at Ohio

Wednesday, January 20

Athens, OH

6:00 PM

8-4,5-2MAC

Ohio

7-4,5-3MAC

Buffalo

Ohio

Bulls Falter Late, Drop 84-81 Decision at Ohio

1/20/2021 8:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ATHENS, OH – The Ohio Bobcats used an 11-0 run over the final minute of the game to defeat the University at Buffalo women's basketball team 84-81 at the Convocation Center on Wednesday night. With the loss the Bulls fall to 8-4 overall and 5-2 in league play.

Five players scored in double figures for the Bulls, led by Dyaisha Fair who recorded a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists and four steals. Adebola Adeyeye tied a career-high with 16 points while Hanna Hall had 11 points and Elea Gaba and Cheyenne McEvans added 10 points each. It was the first time the Bulls had five players score in double figures since January 23, 2019.

Gaba got the Bulls going with back-to-back baskets to start the game and Adeyeye would get in on the action with a pair of buckets to give UB a 10-7 lead before a leaner off glass from McEvans would give the Bulls a 12-7 lead at the media timeout. Buffalo would extend the lead to 15-9 on and and-one from Keowa Walters and later would take advantage of a three-plus minute Ohio scoring drought to close the quarter on a 7-3 run and take a 22-15 lead at the end of the first.

The two teams would trade baskets to start the second quarter before the Bobcats used an 9-0 run to cut the lead to 28-27 at the 6:12 mark and the run would continue before Jazmine Young ended the UB scoring drought with a runner in the paint to give Buffalo a 32-30 lead at the media timeout. Both teams would cool on the offensive end of the floor as scoring was at a premium the rest of the quarter and the game would be tied 38-38 at the break.

Ohio used an 8-0 run to take a 49-42 lead at the 6:17 mark of the third quarter but the Bulls responded with a 7-0 run in less than two minutes, capped by a transition bucket by Adeyeye and a triple from Fair, to tie the game 49-49 at the media timeout. The Bobcats responded with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 56-51 lead with one minute to play but Fair hit a big step-back three in the final seconds to cut the Ohio lead to 56-54 at the end of the third.

Hall went on a 5-0 run to give UB a 59-56 lead early in the fourth quarter and the Bulls would extend the run to 10-0 on another step back triple from Fair to give the Bulls a 64-56 lead at the 7:55 mark and force an Ohio timeout. The Bulls would continue to heat up from deep as Hall drained another three and Fair converted the transition bucket to extend the run to 15-0 and give UB a 69-56 lead at the final media timeout with 6:28 to play. Buffalo would maintain a double-digit lead until the final minute when the Bobcats would put together an 11-0 run to close the game and seal the victory.

Junior forward Zena Elias played big minutes for the Bulls, pulling down a career-high and game-high 13 rebounds. The Bulls won the battle on the glass, 49-35, and in the paint, 44-32, but the Bobcats got to the line twice as many times as the Bulls and went 23-of-30 from the charity stripe while scoring 28 points off of 21 UB turnovers.

Buffalo returns to action on Saturday, January 23, when they host Toledo at 2pm.