Bulls Silence Screaming Eagles, Advance to WNIT Great 8

Thursday, March 27

Evansville, IN

7:00 pm (EDT)

27-7,13-5MAC

Southern Indiana

23-13,12-8OVC

Buffalo

Southern Ind.

Bulls Silence Screaming Eagles, Advance to WNIT Great 8

3/27/2025 10:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

EVANSVILLE, IN – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team (27-7, 13-5 MAC) defeated Southern Indiana 76-64 at Liberty Arena on Thursday night. With the win, the Bulls advance to the Great 8 where they will host Rutgers at Alumni Arena on Sunday, March 30 at 2pm.

It was a balanced night offensively for the Bulls as eight players scored on the night, led by Chellia Watson who scored a game-high 16 points to go with six assists. Seniors Jordyn Beaty and Terah Harness scored 13 points each and and fellow senior Noelani Cornfield also scored in double figures with 12 points. Sophomore Kirsten Lewis-Williams narrowly missed out on double figures with nine points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Bulls were the aggressors early on as Watson drilled a triple on UB's first possession of the game, Beaty came up with a steal and score and Buffalo executed a fastbreak opportunity to take a 9-2 lead and force an early USI timeout at the 7:10 mark. Buffalo continued to attack as Ariana Seawell and Cornfield got to the rim for a pair of layups. The hosts cut the lead to two with 90 seconds remaining in the quarter before Harness answered with a triple and the Bulls would lead 20-17 at the end of the first.

Buffalo continued to share the basketball to start the second quarter as Watson hit Beaty on the block for a layup and then found Harness for a triple to spark an 8-0 run, put UB up 28-17 and force another early USI timeout. The Bulls extended the run to 12-0 on a Paula Lopez steal and score and a Lewis-Williams layup to go up by 15 at the six-minute mark. Buffalo continued to execute in transition as Lopez hit Cornfield for a fastbreak bucket and later, Sitota Gines beat the shot clock with a corner three and the Bulls would lead 41-25 at the half.

The Screaming Eagles opened the third quarter on an 11-4 run to cut the lead to single digits at the media timeout. Watson hit a deep three from the top of the key out of the break to put UB back up by double digits and later, Beaty powered up for a layup through contact and then drained a triple of her own to give Buffalo a 56-42 lead at the end of the third.

It was a slow start to the fourth quarter for both teams as the Bulls maintained an 11-point lead. Watson continued to heat up from deep as she drilled a spot up three from the top of the key before Seawell went to work on the baseline and finished with a beautiful up and under move to help the Bulls maintain their double-digit lead and Buffalo would seal the victory at the charity stripe.

Buffalo continues to turn defense into offense as they forced 22 turnovers and scored 21 points off those miscues while also adding 20 fastbreak points. The Bulls also dominated the paint, outscoring USI 38-20 inside.

"Outstanding team effort by our team tonight," said head coach Becky Burke. "We came out from the gate and were ready to play. We withstood some runs and a hostile environment which I thought showed a lot of maturity. Multiple people in double figures for us kept us really balanced and as always, we defended at a high-level tonight. Really excited to advance and move forward to the Great 8."

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