Balanced Offensive Attack Leads Bulls to 82-74 Win at Central Michigan

Saturday, February 5

Mount Pleasant, MI

1:00 PM

14-7,8-3MAC

Central Michigan

4-17,2-10MAC

Buffalo

Central Mich.

Balanced Offensive Attack Leads Bulls to 82-74 Win at Central Michigan

2/5/2022 3:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI – Five Bulls scored in double figures and UB outscored the Chippewas 20-12 in the fourth quarter to lead the University at Buffalo women's basketball team to an 82-74 win over Central Michigan at McGuirk Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Junior guard Dyaisha Fair led all scorers with 29 points to go with five assists and three steals. Summer Hemphill recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and a season-high 15 rebounds and freshman Saniaa Wilson recorded the first double-double of her career with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Georgia Woolley added 14 points to go with six rebounds and five assists and Dominique Camp also scored in double figures with 10 points.

It was a battle from the start as the teams went back and forth before the Bulls scored on a pair of fastbreak layups to take a 12-11 lead at the first media timeout. Central Michigan scored on back-to-back possessions to go up by four with just over two minutes to play in the quarter, but Woolley hit Wilson with a beautiful no look pass for an easy layup and later, Hemphill pulled down an offensive rebound and kicked it to Fair for three to give the Bulls a 19-18 lead at the end of the first.

The Chippewas opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run to go up 28-21 and force a UB timeout at the 6:33 mark. The Bulls kept battling as Wilson and Hemphill traded buckets to cut the CMU lead to 32-27 at the four-minute mark. Buffalo continued to attack as Woolley came up with the steal and hit Fair for a fastbreak three and then Fair sliced to the basket for two to cap a 7-0 run to close the quarter and tie the game at 36 at the half.

Hemphill came out of the half aggressive as she scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Bulls an early lead. Later, Woolley got going as she scored on two straight possessions to give UB a 44-41 lead at the 6:31 mark. Woolley continued to heat up as she drained a fastbreak three to give the Bulls a 49-45 lead, but the Chippewas answered with a pair of layups to tie the game at the media timeout. The teams traded baskets out of the timeout before Fair took over, racing up the court for a fastbreak basket plus the foul and later knocking down a deep step-back triple to tie the game at 62 at the end of the third.

Buffalo got a few stops to start the fourth quarter and turned defense into offense as they used a 7-0 run, including a beautiful no look pass from Fair to Camp for two and then five straight points from Fair, to take a 69-64 lead and force a CMU timeout at the 6:09 mark. Fair continued to attack as she blew by her defender for an easy layup to extend the UB run to 11-0 and put the Bulls up 73-64 at the 4:35 mark. Jahari Smith broke a six-plus minute CMU scoring drought to cut the lead to 74-66 at the 2:32 mark and would later trim it to six, but they would get no closer as Camp converted a pair of layups to seal the victory. The Bulls held the Chippewas to just 5-of-18 shooting from the floor and 0-of-6 shooting from behind the arc in the final 10 minutes of play.

The Bulls won the battle on the glass 48-36, including 21 offensive boards, while also holding a 48-38 edge in the paint. Buffalo turned 12 CMU turnovers into 17 points while also scoring 16 fastbreak points.

Buffalo will have a quick turnaround as they will welcome Western Michigan to Alumni Arena on Monday, February 7 at 7pm.