Bulls Battle Back, Defeat Ohio 69-64 on Wednesday

Wednesday, January 11

Athens, OH

7:00 pm

7-5,2-1MAC

Ohio

2-12,0-3MAC

Buffalo

Ohio

Photo by: Ken Smith/UBBulls.com

Bulls Battle Back, Defeat Ohio 69-64 on Wednesday

1/11/2023 9:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ATHENS, Ohio – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team (7-5, 2-1 MAC) outscored Ohio 19-8 in the fourth quarter to complete a second half comeback for a big 69-64 road win over the Bobcats at the Convocation Center on Wednesday night.

The Bulls were led by the backcourt duo of Re'Shawna Stone and Jazmine Young, the former who scored a game-high 23 points to go with four rebounds and four assists, while the latter scored 20 points.

The Bobcats jumped out to an early 6-2 lead before Young knocked down a midrange jumper and Kayla Salmons grabbed an offensive rebound and scored through contact to tie the game at eight at the first media timeout. The Bulls took their first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Young, but Ohio answered with a triple on the other end to retake the lead, 14-12, at the 3:52 mark. Stone blew by her defender for a layup off glass and Emerita Mashaire followed with a strong drive to get a bucket plus the foul to put UB back on top 17-16, but Ohio scored in the final seconds to take a 21-19 lead at the end of the first.

Latrice Perkins got a steal and finished in transition to tie the game at 21 early in the second quarter but UB then hit a two-plus minute scoring drought before Stone got out in transition for a fastbreak layup to cut the Ohio lead to 26-23 at the 6:42 mark, but the Bobcats answered with a 5-2 run to take a 31-25 lead at the media timeout. Freshman Hattie Ogden gave the Bulls a spark as she drilled a triple from the top of the key to trim the lead to four, but Ohio answered with an 8-0 run to go up by 12 before Stone hit a corner three and then knocked down a pair of free throws in the final seconds to cut the Ohio lead to 42-35 at the half.

After a sloppy start to the third quarter for both teams, Stone hit a second-chance three from the corner and later, Young knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to cut the Ohio lead to 45-42 at the media timeout. The Bulls stayed aggressive as Salmons went to work inside and finished for two off glass and later, Young hit a transition three to tie the game at 47 at the 4:22 mark but the Bobcats hit their next four shots to take a 56-50 lead at the end of the third.

Stone gave the Bulls a lift as she scored on back-to-back possessions to spark a 6-0 run and trim the lead to 58-56 and force an Ohio timeout at the 7:02 mark. The Buffalo defense turned up the pressure and Young continued to attack as she hit two straight mid-range jumpers and then Perkins grabbed a big offensive rebound and got the bucket plus the foul to extend the UB run to 13-0 and give the Bulls a 63-58 lead with five minutes remaining. Ohio scored on two straight possessions to cut the lead to one but Young sealed the game at the charity stripe, converting four straight free throw attempts, and the Bulls came up with one last defensive stop in the final seconds to complete the comeback win.

Salmons had a solid game for UB with eight points and five rebounds and Winfield added five points, nine rebounds and five assists. Buffalo had the 36-27 edge on the glass and scored 32 points in the paint while also scoring 12 points off Ohio turnovers and 12 fastbreak points.

"We battled through adversity and fought for a full 40 minutes tonight," said head coach Becky Burke. "That's what it's going to take to win in this league every single night and we understand that. I'm proud of this team's resilience. I think the difference for us was getting back to what we do defensively for the last 20 minutes."

Up next, Buffalo returns to Alumni Arena to host Eastern Michigan on Saturday, January 14 at 2pm.