by BUFFALO, NY – University at Buffalo junior guard Dominique Camp tied a program record with 16 assists and Dyaisha Fair, Summer Hemphill (Seneca Nation) combined for 54 points to power the Bulls to a 92-75 win over Central Michigan in the opening game of Mid-American Conference play at Alumni Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
Camp’s 16 assists tied the program record set by Stephanie Reid and Ashley Zuber. Hemphill led all scorers, tying a career-high with 28 points to go with seven rebounds. Fair scored 26 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and four steals. Freshman Georgia Woolley reached double figures for the sixth straight game with 14 points and Adebola Adeyeye also scored in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds.
The Bulls were aggressive from the start, turning defense into offense to take an early 10-4 lead. The Chippewas answered with an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game before Fair knocked down a step back three to give the Bulls a 15-12 lead at the first media timeout. Hemphill then drained a triple of her own out of the break but CMU answered with three straight threes to take a 21-20 lead at the 1:34 mark. Buffalo slowed the attack with an offensive rebound putback from Cheyenne McEvans and a Hemphill three to take a 25-21 lead at the end of the first.
The teams traded baskets to begin the second quarter before a pair of second chance layups by Camp and Adeyeye gave UB a 31-28 lead at the seven-minute mark and the Bulls would extend the lead to 34-28 at the media timeout. Buffalo clamped down on defense out of the timeout, holding the Chippewas without a field goal for over five minutes, to extend their run to 14-2, capped by a triple from Woolley to take a 43-30 lead with just over three minutes to play in the quarter. CMU’s Molly Davis scored on three straight possessions to cut the UB lead to 11 but Camp found Loren Christie on the block with a great dish to give the Bulls a 49-36 lead at the half.
After a back-and-forth start to the third quarter Hemphill hit her stride with the mid-range game, knocking down three straight jumpers to give UB a 57-45 lead and force a CMU timeout at the 6:27 mark. The teams then traded baskets and the Bulls maintained a 61-50 lead at the media timeout. The UB offense cooled off as the Chippewas held the Bulls without a field goal for the final four minutes of the quarter, and CMU capitalized as they used a 9-0 run to cut the UB lead to three at the 1:16 mark but Fair continued to attack the basket and went five-of-five from the charity stripe in the final minute to give the Bulls a 70-64 lead at the end of the third.
Neither team scored in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter before UB scored on back-to-back possessions with baskets from Hemphill and Fair to take a 74-64 lead and force an early CMU timeout at the 7:01 mark. Woolley knocked down a triple to put UB up 79-67, and later Hemphill scored on a pair of out-of-bounds plays to give UB 84-71 lead 3:23 mark and would extend the run to 9-0 to go up 90-71 with a minute to play to seal the victory.
Buffalo led for all but 1:20 of the game and assisted on 24-of-33 made field goals, a season-high. The Bulls scored 34 points off 27 CMU turnovers, while also turning 14 steals into 27 fastbreak points. UB also scored 47 points in the paint and scored 16 second chance points of 13 offensive rebounds.
