by BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team battled to a 71-64 win over Western Michigan at Alumni Arena on Monday night. With tonight’s win, their fourth straight, the Bulls improve to 15-7 overall and 9-3 in league play.
Freshman guard Georgia Woolley led all scorers with 21 points to go with six rebounds and four steals. Junior Dyaisha Fair scored 18 points while dishing out seven assists and recording five steals and Summer Hemphill (Seneca Nation) recorded her second straight double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds while also tying a career-high with five steals. Junior Dominique Camp flirted with a triple double as the junior scored eight points while pulling down a career-high nine rebounds and adding seven assists.
Hemphill native now sits at 994 career rebounds as she looks to become just the second player in program history to record 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
Western Michigan took an early 6-2 lead before Hemphill and Woolley answered with back-to-back mid-range jumpers to tie the game. Camp started to heat up as she knocked down a pair of shots and Hemphill and Fair added fastbreak buckets to give the Bulls a 14-13 lead at the media timeout. Later, Woolley knocked down a three from the wing and Fair came up with the steal and raced up the court for a fastbreak layup plus the foul to give UB a 20-16 lead at the end of the first.
The Broncos hit a three early in the second quarter, but the Bulls answered with a 7-0 run, capped by a spot up three from Loren Christie, to go up 27-19 and force a WMU timeout at the 7:37 mark. Both offenses stalled a bit out of the timeout before Christie pulled down an offensive rebound and powered up for two and later, Fair knocked down a step-back triple from deep to give the Bulls a 35-25 lead at the half.
Western Michigan cut the lead to seven early in the third quarter, but the Bulls answered with an 8-0 run, capped by four straight points from Hemphill, to take a 43-28 lead at the 5:44 mark. Later, Fair would knock down a pull up three to put UB up 46-33 at the media timeout. The Broncos cut the UB lead to eight at the 2:54 mark but Fair hit Saniaa Wilson on the block with a great pass for two and Woolley knocked down a pull up jumper in the final seconds to give the Bulls a 52-41 lead at the end of the third.
The Broncos trimmed the UB lead to single digits early in the fourth quarter, but the Buffalo offense came alive as Camp came up with a big board and found Wilson on the block for two and then Camp broke free in transition and converted the fastbreak layup off glass to put UB up 58-47 and force a WMU timeout at the 5:45 mark. The Bulls would maintain a double-digit lead throughout most of the quarter before the Broncos used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to six with just under a minute to play but Woolley and Hemphill converted four straight free throws in the final seconds to secure the victory.
The Bulls did what they do best turning 16 steals into 23 fastbreak points. UB held a narrow 40-38 edge on the glass, including 13 offensive rebounds, while also scoring 26 points in the paint and 28 points off WMU turnovers.
