Bulls School Falcons 82-72 on Wednesday Afternoon

Wednesday, January 24

Buffalo, NY

11:00am

10-7,4-3MAC

Bowling Green

10-7,4-3MAC

Bowling Green

Buffalo

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UBBulls.com

Bulls School Falcons 82-72 on Wednesday Afternoon

1/24/2024 2:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team (10-7, 4-3 MAC) put on a show for the thousands of local students in attendance on Education Day as the Bulls defeated Bowling Green 82-72 in an electric atmosphere at Alumni Arena on Wednesday.

Redshirt senior guard Chellia Watson gave the kids plenty of reasons to cheer as she scored a career-high 36 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Rana Elhusseini stuffed the stat sheet as well as she recorded 15 points, six rebounds and six assists and the freshman duo of Kirsten Lewis-Williams and Alexis Davis combined for 24 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a back-and-forth affair to start as the game remained tied at 11 at the first media timeout. The Falcons extended their lead to seven before the Bulls used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to one with two minutes remaining in the quarter. Buffalo continued to attack as Watson scored layups in the paint on back-to-back possessions, the latter coming at the buzzer, to pull UB within one at the end of the first.

Neither team scored for the first two minutes of the second quarter. Watson hit a big three to tie the game at 26 and then found Lewis-Williams for a bucket in the paint to pull UB within one at the media timeout. Buffalo came out swinging out of the timeout as they closed the quarter on a 12-3 run, capped by a pair of threes, including one in the final seconds, by Elhusseini to take a 38-33 lead at the half.

The Falcons cut the UB lead to one early in the third quarter before the Bulls rattled off a 7-0 run, capped by an and-one fastbreak bucket by Watson, to take a 46-39 lead at the 7:11 mark. UB continued to attack as Davis and Lewis-Wiliams sliced to the basket for layups and Elhusseini scored on second chance layup to give UB its largest lead of the game, 54-41, and force a BGSU timeout. The freshman duo stayed aggressive, scoring in the paint on two straight possessions, but the Falcons closed the quarter on a 5-0 run to pull within six at the end of the third.

Bowling Green opened the fourth on a 10-3 run to retake the lead midway through the quarter. Davis knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game at 65 coming out of the media timeout and then tied the game again on a layup with three minutes remaining. The Bulls extended the run to 8-0 on a fastbreak layup by Watson and four straight made free throws by Elhusseini and Lewis-Williams to put UB up by eight with one minute to go and that would all they would need as they sealed the victory from the charity stripe.

Buffalo won almost every statistical category as they held an advantage in the paint, 44-32, and on the glass, winning the boards by seven, including 14 offensive rebounds which they turned into 16 second chance points. The UB defense also shined as the Bulls scored 16 points off BGSU turnovers while also recording 18 fastbreak points.

"Incredibly proud of the response of our team today and this bounce back win," said head coach Becky Burke. "Those young women in our locker room deserved that win and I couldn't be happier for them. We are getting better every day and I'm excited to see where that goes."

Up next, Buffalo heads back on the road for a pair of games, beginning on Saturday, January 27 as they travel to Toledo for a clash with the Rockets. Tipoff from Savage Arena is set for 7pm.