by BOWLING GREEN, OH – The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team closed out the regular season in thrilling fashion, defeating Bowling Green 69-68 in overtime at the Stroh Center on Saturday. With the win the Bulls clinched the #4 seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament as the Bulls improved to 14-8 on the season while finishing league play at 11-6.
Four Bulls scored in double figures for the second straight game, led by junior forward Keowa Walters who scored a career-high 18 points. Sophomore Dyaisha Fair scored 16 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Freshman Cheyenne McEvans scored 13 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks and Summer Hemphill (Seneca Nation) also scored in double figures with 10 points.
“To go on the road and beat a really good team gives us great energy leading into the MAC Tournament next week,” said Hemphill. “It was a great win and I’m proud of the team for the way we kept our composure and played hard all the way through the final buzzer.”
Senior Hanna Hall drilled a three on the opening possession for UB to jumpstart a 5-0 run and give the Bulls the early lead and later, back-to-back buckets by McEvans gave the Bulls a 13-5 lead and forced a BG timeout at the 5:31 mark. While the Bulls offense would stall, the defense remained stifling as UB held the Falcons without a field goal for the final five minutes of the quarter to take a 15-7 lead at the end of the first.
The Buffalo defense continued to swarm and the Bulls stayed aggressive on offense as they used a 10-0 run to start the second quarter to take a 25-7 lead at the 7:33 mark and UB would lead 25-11 at the media timeout. The Bulls then used a 6-0 run, capped by a pair of great finishes from Hemphill and Fair, to take a 31-11 lead at the 2:46 mark and UB would withstand a late BG run to take a 32-16 lead at the half.
The two teams would trade baskets to start the third quarter before Jazmine Young came up with the steal and found Fair for a transition bucket and Walters knocked down a mid-range jumper to give UB a 42-27 lead at the 4:04 mark. Walters would continue to heat up as she scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Bulls a 46-29 lead with just over a minute to play in the quarter and Buffalo would lead 48-34 at the end of the third.
The Falcons would open the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to cut the UB lead to 50-43 at the 7:12 mark before McEvans stopped the run with an and-one to put the Bulls back up by 10. The Falcons would continue to heat up as they used an 11-0 run to take a 54-53 lead at the 4:04 mark before Walters stopped the bleeding with a turnaround jumper to put the Bulls back on top, 55-54. Later with the game tied at 59 with 13 seconds to play, the Bulls got a big stop as Kadie Hempling’s three at the buzzer was off the mark and the game would go to overtime.
A pair of free throws from Fair gave UB a 64-63 lead with just over two minutes to play in extra time. Elissa Brett knocked down a three to give BG a 56-54 lead but Hemphill answered with a beautiful up and under move to tie the game 66-66 with 1:28 to play. Brett came up big again scoring a layup off glass to give BG a 68-66 lead with 1:18 to go but Fair came up big when the Bulls needed her most as McEvans came up with a steal and found Fair who converted the fastbreak layup to give the Bulls a 69-68 lead and the Buffalo defense would come up big with one final stop on BG’s last possession to secure the victory.
