by BUFFALO, NY – Senior guard Cierra Dillard surpassed the 1,000 point mark in her Buffalo career and three Bulls scored in double figures to help lead UB to a 93-64 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. With the win the Bulls improve to 14-4 on the year, 6-1 in conference play.
“Cierra is a special player, special person, high character kid, stands for high academics and she can play this game a little bit,” head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “I just thought we had a great team effort today.”
Also scoring in double figures on the afternoon were Summer Hemphill (Seneca Nation) who had her fifth double-double in the last seven games with 18 points and 14 rebounds and Hanna Hall who scored 17 points while adding seven assists, four rebounds and a steal.
It was a back-and-forth affair to start the game with the teams knotted 8-8 at the media timeout but the Bulls used an 8-2 run to end the quarter and take a 16-10 lead after two.
The Huskies would come out hot to start the second, opening the quarter on a 10-0 run but UB clawed back. A three by Courtney Wilkins put Buffalo back up four and a fast break layup by Autumn Jones extended the lead to eight. Dillard’s 1,000 point shot came on a three pointer off the assist by Hanna Hall to cap an 18-4 run to close the half and give the Bulls a 37-24 lead at the break.
The Buffalo offense was red hot in the second half as UB scored a season-high 56 points after the break. Buffalo shot a blistering 56.4% (12-39) from the floor and 55.5% (5-9) from behind the arc in the second half. The 93 total points was also a season-high for the UB.
The Bulls once again won the battle of the boards, setting a season-high with total 53 rebounds, 20 on the offensive glass. Buffalo also scored 22 points off of 16 Huskies’ turnovers and scored 22 points in transition.
