In a surprising development, junior guard Dyaisha Fair has missed out on Mid-American Conference Player of the Year honors.
The Rochester native is the nation’s fourth leading scorer, but did not secure enough votes from the league’s coaches to win the award. Instead, Akron’s Jordyn Dawson — who ranks seventh in the country in scoring — earned the honor.
Still, the 22-8 Bulls had three players claim All-MAC honors and saw freshman forward Georgia Woolley win the conference’s rookie of the year award.
Woolley also earned a spot on the All-Freshman team and was named third-team All-MAC. The Brisbane, Australia native has scored in double digits in all but seven games this season, as she has averaged 14.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. This is the third consecutive year Buffalo has taken home the freshman of the year crown, with Cheyenne McEvans winning it in 2021 and Fair in the pandemic-stricken 2020.
Fair, for her part, averaged 23.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, two steals and 4.2 assists per game in 30 contests to earn first-time All-MAC honors.
Graduate forward Summer Hemphill was named to the MAC’s All-Defensive team and second-team All-MAC. Hemphill averaged 13.9 points, 10.2 boards, one block and 2.1 steals per game. The Buffalo native is just eight rebounds shy of becoming UB’s all-time leading rebounder after she grabbed 13 boards against Western Michigan.
Men’s basketball’s ‘Big 3’ — senior forward Jeenathan Williams, senior guard Ronaldo Segu and senior forward Josh Mballa — each earned All-MAC honors after helping the Bulls to a 19-10 regular season record.
Williams was named first-team All-MAC after averaging 19.2 points per, 2.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. Mballa’s 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game was good enough to be named all-MAC second-team and All-Defensive team. Segu averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game to earn a spot on the All-MAC second-team.
The women’s team will face Akron in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland on March 11. Tip-off is at 12:30 p.m. The men’s team lost to Akron, 70-68, in the quarterfinals Thursday, which ended their season.
Kayla Sterner is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at kayla.sterner@ubspectrum.com
Kayla Sterner is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. She is studying communications with the hopes of being a sideline reporter. In her spare time, she can be found in the gym, watching football or vibing to Mac Miller. Kayla is on Twitter @kaylasterner.
