Woolley’s Game-Winner Lifts Bulls to 62-60 Win Over VCU

Wednesday, December 8

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Woolley’s Game-Winner Lifts Bulls to 62-60 Win Over VCU

12/8/2021 10:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BUFFALO, NY – University at Buffalo women's basketball freshman guard Georgia Woolley hit a pull-up jumper at the buzzer to give the Bulls a 62-60 hard-fought win over VCU at Alumni Arena on Wednesday night. It's the fifth straight win for the Bulls, improving them to 6-2 overall and 5-0 at home on the season.

After VCU's Sarah Te-Biasu tied the game on a three-pointer with 2.5 seconds to go, the Bulls inbounded the ball tableside and Dominique Camp inbounded it to Woolley who took one dribble and let the floater fly and it found the bottom of the net at the buzzer for the win.

Junior guard Dyaisha Fair led all scorers with 22 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Summer Hemphill had another big game with 13 points and nine rebounds and Woolley finished with 11 points.

It was a slow start to the game with neither team recording a field goal for the first two minutes before Jazmine Young scored five straight points to give UB an early lead, but VCU answered with a 6-0 lead and the Bulls would hold a narrow 7-6 lead at the first media timeout. The Rams scored again out of the media timeout to take the lead, but the Bulls answered with a 7-0 run, to give UB a 14-8 lead at the end of the first.

Buffalo opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run with a triple from Hemphill and a steal and score from Fair to give UB a 19-8 lead and force a VCU timeout at the 8:49 mark. The Rams answered with a 7-0 run before Fair converted on a fastbreak layup and later made a great pass to Adebola Adeyeye on the block to give the Bulls a 23-15 lead at the 5:43 mark. The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes before Hemphill knocked down a corner three off a great assist from Cheyenne McEvans, but VCU scored on back-to-back possessions in the final minute of the half to cut the UB lead to 29-25 at the break.

Hemphill started the third quarter with a beautiful up and under move to give UB an early 31-27 lead, but the Rams answered with a 7-0 run to take a 34-31 lead and they would lead 34-33 at the media timeout. McEvans knocked down a baseline jumper to help UB regain the lead and later, Camp found Woolley on the block with a beautiful pass to put UB up 39-37, but VCU scored on a layup at the buzzer to tie the game at 39 at the end of the third.

Offense was at a premium to start the fourth quarter before Fair converted a pair of free throws to tie the game at 44. Later, Fair found Woolley who knocked down a corner triple to give UB a 47-44 lead and they would lead 47-46 at the 4:36 mark. Fair took over out of the timeout as she scored eight straight points for Buffalo on 4-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe and a pair of fastbreak baskets to give the Bulls a 57-49 lead at the 1:32 mark. The final 90 seconds were chaotic as Fair made a pair of free throws after being fouled but was also called for a technical foul which gave VCU two free throws and the ball and they scored four points on that possession to cut the UB lead to five with just over a minute to play. Taya Robinson scored on a layup and got fouled and converted the free throw with nine seconds remaining to cut the lead to two. Young then went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to put UB up three before Te-Biasu hit the game-tying three but Woolley would have the last laugh with the game-winning floater as time expired.

Young just missed out on her fifth straight game in double figures, scoring nine points, while Adeyeye added four points and six rebounds. Buffalo continued to turn defense into offense as they scored 19 points off VCU turnovers and added 15 fastbreak points while also scoring 24 points in the paint.

"We had to try everything tonight," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "I jumped on my coaches hard and they didn't even flinch. They kept talking about the next play, the next defensive line. My staff was locked in for the entire 40 minutes. If we had to go five more, they were willing to go five more. Really proud of my staff. Great team win!"

Up next, Buffalo travels to Princeton, NJ for their first true road game of the season, a clash with the Princeton Tigers on Tuesday, December 14 at 7pm.