by BUFFALO, NY – In a back-and-forth game that featured nine lead changes and no lead bigger than single digits, the University at Buffalo women’s basketball team prevailed in a hard-fought 65-62 win over Kent State on Monday night at Alumni Arena. With the win the Bulls improve to 10-4 on the year, including a perfect 7-0 at home, and 4-0 in league play.
The Bulls were led by junior guard Dyaisha Fair who scored a game-high 26 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Georgia Woolley scored in double figures for the eighth time in the last nine games with 14 points, including four-of-five shooting from behind the arc and Summer Hemphill (Seneca Nation) also scored in double figures with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Kent State took an early lead before Fair and Woolley knocked down a pair of triples to tie the game at six, but the Golden Flashes scored on back-to-back possessions to take a 10-6 lead at the first media timeout. Buffalo answered with a 5-0 run out of the media, capped by a Woolley three, to take their first lead of the game, 11-10. Fair continued to attack as she got a mid-range jumper to go plus the foul and later knocked down a triple at the buzzer to give UB a 22-17 lead at the end of the first.
It was a sluggish start to the second quarter for both teams as they each had prolonged field goal droughts, only trading free throws, before Kent State broke through with a three to take a 26-25 lead at the 4:11 mark. Fair then drained a three for UB’s first field goal of the quarter and later knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Bulls a 31-28 lead, but the Flashes answered with a three at the other end to tie the game at 31 at the half.
Hemphill got off to a strong start to start the third quarter as she scored seven points in the opening minutes and Adebola Adeyeye added a pair of layups to give the Bulls a 42-37 lead at the 3:44 mark. Later, Hemphill scored in transition and Woolley knocked down a corner triple off the skip pass from Hemphill to put the Bulls up 49-44 lead, but the Flashes answered with points on back-to-back possessions to cut the UB lead to 49-48 at the end of the third.
Kent State opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 56-49 lead at the 7:51 mark. Hemphill found Christie with a great pass to the block and Fair added a transition bucket to cut the Flashes lead to three, but they Kent answered, scoring on back-to-back possessions to take a 60-53 lead at the 4:11 mark. Junior Dominque Camp got a driving layup to drop on the other end and the Bulls locked down, holding the Flashes to no made field goals the rest of the quarter. The Bulls came up with a big stop around the one-minute mark and Hemphill capitalized by knocking down her signature turnaround jumper to put the Bulls up 62-61 and Fair would seal the game from charity stripe.
Buffalo and Kent were even in the paint with 26 points each, but the Bulls turned 17 Flashes turnovers into 14 points while also adding nine fastbreak points.
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