UB women’s basketball (19-11, 10-9 MAC) is moving on to the MAC tournament quarterfinals after defeating Miami (OH) (11-20, 4-14 MAC) 87-72 in a landslide victory Monday.
The Bulls came out firing from the jump as junior Hannah Hall opened the scoring for Bulls, hitting her first of three 3-pointers eight seconds into the game.
The Bulls continued their scoring onslaught as they found themselves with a 20-9 lead midway through the first quarter. The RedHawks tried to make a push but head coach Felisha Legette-Jack’s artillery kept on firing. UB ended the first quarter on a 12-1 run on their way to a season-high 32 first-quarter points.
The second quarter was more of the same for the Bulls, as freshman guard Dyaisha Fair led her team with 15 first half points and 4 steals.
Three different Bulls tallied double digits in the first half. On top of Fair’s 15 points, Hall put up 11 points and senior Theresa Onwuka had 14 of her own.
Defensively, the Bulls kept on par with their near-perfect offense as they forced 11 turnovers in the first half, nine of which were steals.
UB held Miami to 1-10 from deep and 10-29 from the field. They shot an efficient 56.4% from the field despite shooting 3-10 from 3-point range.
The Bulls went into the locker room with a demanding 29-point lead at the half.
Miami came out strong defensively in the third quarter, holding Buffalo to 3-14 shooting and outscoring them 26-14 behind senior Savannah Kluesner’s 11 third-quarter points.
Kluesner ended the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds.
Although UB was in a scoring drought in the third, it still managed to hold onto a 17-point lead heading into the final quarter.
UB was, again, out scored in the fourth quarter but it wasn't enough for Miami to close the gap.
UB came out with a big 87-72 win behind Fair’s game-high 32 points and 5 steals, as well as Onwuka’s 18 points and 8 rebounds.
As Dyaisha Fair begins her first postseason run, she seems unphased by the stage getting bigger. Fair says postseason games feel the same as any other game.
“The game itself didn't feel different, it was the feeling before the game that I had in my gut. I mean, every game is just another game … we have to take it one step at a time,” Fair said.
Legette-Jack looks forward to more tournament play and said she believes her key players are starting to heat up.
“We have a one, two, three punch [Fair, Onwuka and Hall],” Legette-Jack said. “I think that the more this team plays, the better we’re going to get.”
The Bulls will move on to play the No. 3 seed Kent State on Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Ohio.
The sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com.
