Wednesday's Scoreboard
Buffalo 73, Kent State 66
Buffalo 73, Kent State 66
Box Score
CLEVELAND, OH – Dyaisha Fair scored 30 points and the University at Buffalo women's basketball team led nearly wire-to-wire in a 73-66 win over Kent State in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday afternoon. The win sets up a showdown with top-seeded Bowling Green on Friday.
Fair was aggressive all afternoon. Her 30 points included 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and 11-of-14 from the free throw line. The sophomore All-MAC guard added six steals. Cheyenne McEvans, playing her first career game at Quicken Loans Arena, finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Adebola Adeyeye scored 11 points to round out the Bulls in double-figures.
The Bulls played excellent defense, holding the Golden Flashes to 39 percent shooting from the field, forcing 19 turnovers and coming up with nine steals. UB was able to score 24 points off turnovers, compared to just five for Kent State, a big difference in the game.
The only Kent State lead was a 2-0. The Bulls countered with a 12-0 run, capped by a Fair jumper to take control of the game. The UB lead would balloon to as many as 14 in the first half before the Bulls settled for a 36-27 advantage at the halftime.
The Bulls would extend their lead to 12 at the end of the third quarter, before the Flashes rallied in the fourth. However, Buffalo had an answer for every Kent State threat. The Flashes first cut the lead to four with 7:19 left, but Summer Hemphill answered with a top-of-the-key jumper to extend the lead six. At the 4:35 mark, Kent State cut the UB advantage to 56-53. However, McEvans followed with a pair of free throws to put the Bulls back up by five.
After Fair came up with her sixth steal of the game, Jessika Schiffermade one of the biggest shots of her career, knocking down a straightaway three to increase the UB lead to 61-53 with 3:38 left.
Kent State was able to connect on three-pointers late in the contest to close the gap, but it wasn't enough as the Bulls held on for the seven-point victory.
"What a great team win today," head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. "Our story is not about Kent State or whoever else we're playing, but it's about how good we can be if we rely on each other, see each other, trust each other and play for each other. Today we did that and we beat a pretty good team."
The Bulls shot 46 percent from the field, including 6-of-13 from beyond the arc. Adeyeye added eight rebounds to go with her 11 points. She shared team-high rebounding honors with Hemphill who also grabbed eight boards.
The Bulls and Falcons will meet in the semifinals on Friday at 10 am.
