Bulls Defense Stifles in 63-49 Win Over Western Michigan in MAC Quarterfinals

Wednesday, March 9

Cleveland, OH

4:00pm

University at Buffalo

23-8,16-4MAC

Western Michigan

16-14,10-10MAC

Western Mich.

Buffalo

Women's Basketball vs. WMU MAC Tournament

Bulls Defense Stifles in 63-49 Win Over Western Michigan in MAC Quarterfinals

3/9/2022 6:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CLEVELAND, OHIO – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team defeated Western Michigan 63-49 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. With the win the Bulls improve to 23-8 on the year.

Junior guard Dyaisha Fair led all scorers with 19 points to go with six rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Jazmine Young scored 10 points while adding four steals and junior Dominique Camp also scored in double figures with 10 points.

It was a slow start to the game for the Bulls offensively as they did not record a field goal until the 6:09 mark but Camp got a layup through contact and later knocked down a long two to cut the Broncos lead to 8-4 at the media timeout. Buffalo stayed aggressive out of the break as Fair hit Summer Hemphill who knocked down a midrange jumper and then Fair and Georgia Woolley added drive-by layups to give UB a 12-10 lead with just over a minute to play and they led 14-12 at the end of the first.

Fair knocked down a step-back triple on UB's opening possession of the second quarter to extend the run to 8-2 and the Bulls' defense clamped down, holding the Broncos scoreless for five minutes and the offense took advantage as UB used an 11-0 run, capped by a layup from Loren Christie and a pair of jumpers by Fair, to take a 23-12 lead at the 5:04 mark. Christie gave the Bulls a spark as she knocked down a baseline jumper in transition off the feed from Fair and later, Hemphill grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Camp who drained a three from the top of the key to put UB up by 10. The Bulls extended the run to 8-0 as a heads up play by Fair resulted in an easy and Camp got a fastbreak bucket to go plus the foul in the final seconds to put UB up by 15 (33-18) at the half. Western Michigan's 18 points were the second-fewest allowed by the Bulls this season.

Fair continued to heat up as she scored on UB's first two possessions of the third quarter. Later, Fair hit Christie in the corner and she knocked down a big triple and Young followed with a mid-range jumper a couple possessions later to put the Bulls up 42-24 at the media timeout. Buffalo continued the unselfish play on offense as Camp hit Christie with a great pass for an easy layup to give the Bulls their largest lead at the 3:03 mark and they maintained a 49-27 lead at the end of the third.

The Broncos opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run before Woolley knocked down a tough mid-range jumper to put UB back up by 17 at the 7:01 mark. Young got going as she drained a corner three and sliced through contact for a layup and then Fair knocked down a tough jumper of her own to give the Bulls a 59-38 lead at the 5:14 mark. Elea Gaba got in the scoresheet with a strong take for two as Buffalo maintained a 15-point lead and the Broncos would get no closer as the Bulls secured the victory.

Christie scored nine points while adding six rebounds and Hemphill pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to pull her within six rebounds of tying the program's all-time rebounding record.
Buffalo continued its dominance in the paint as they outscored the Broncos 42-26 inside while also maintaining a 46-38 edge on the glass, including turning 13 offensive rebounds into 16 second chance points. The Bulls also scored 20 points off WMU turnovers.

"We played as one," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "A lot of shots that we are comfortable making and should make just didn't go in, but we didn't drop our heads, we didn't walk back on defense. We stayed locked in on defense and the next thing you know a steal came, a deflection happened and when we can do those things, we are a pretty good team. We just have to continue to fight through the process."

The win was also number 200 for Legette-Jack. Up next, Buffalo will face the winner of Akron and Bowling Green in the semifinals on Friday. The Bulls are the second semifinal game of the day which will tipoff around 12:30pm.