Thursday’s Women’s Basketball Results
Buffalo 70, Vermont 68
Ball State 112, Anderson 35
Toledo 71, Liberty 63
Coppin State 67, Kent State 61
UTRGV 73, Eastern Michigan 66 (OT)
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications
Buffalo 70, Vermont 68
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team erased a 23-point second half deficit to defeat Vermont 70-68 at Alumni Arena on Thursday afternoon. The comeback was the largest by the Bulls in over 20 years.
With the win, the Bulls improve to 10-0, matching the 2016-17 team for the best start in program history.
Four Bulls scored in double figures on the day, led by Chellia Watson who scored a game-high 22 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Kirsten Lewis-Williams just missed out on a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds and senior Terah Harness added 14 as well, including 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Also in double figures was Alexis Davis who scored 10 points to go with nine rebounds.
Trailing by 23 at the 4:29 mark of the third quarter, the comeback began as the Bulls made four straight at the charity stripe before Harness gave the Bulls a spark in the final minute of the quarter as she rattled off a 5-0 run by herself to cut the lead to 59-43 at the end of the third.
The teams traded made threes to start the fourth quarter but then it was all Buffalo as they held the visitors without a field goal for a span of eight minutes. Buffalo continued to attack as they went 6-for-6 from the free throw line over a two-minute stretch to cut the lead to seven. UB continued to go to work in the paint as Davis skied up for an offensive rebound putback before Noelani Cornfield came up with a steal and found Watson up ahead for a fastbreak layup to pull the Bulls within one possession with 5:09 remaining.
UB continued to turn defense into offense as they forced a turnover and then Davis found Lewis-Williams who put her defender in the spin cycle for a layup off glass. Watson then came up with a rebound and flew up the court for a fastbreak layup plus the foul to give the Bulls their first lead since the second quarter, 64-63, with 1:14 remaining. Watson continued to heat up as she converted a steal and score to put UB up by three with 43 seconds to go. UB then forced another turnover and Watson came up with another big shot to extend the lead to five with 16 seconds remaining. The Catamounts hit a three to pull within two, but Cornfield hit two clutch free throws to seal the victory.
Buffalo dominated inside once again, outscoring the Catamounts 34-16 in the paint, while also turning defense into offense, scoring 24 points off 18 Vermont miscues and adding 24 fastbreak points.
"I am so unbelievably proud of our players and coaching staff," said head coach Becky Burke. "That game was unlike anything I've ever been a part of and shows a tremendous amount of toughness and resilience. That is what you want to see as a coach out of your team and those characteristics will take them far."
Up next, Buffalo will take a break for the holidays before closing out non-conference action on Saturday, December 28 at Le Moyne.
Ball State 112, Anderson 35
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State women's basketball team turned in an impressive performance to close out the non-conference season as the Cardinals wrapped up the 2024 year with an awe-inspiring 112-35 victory over Anderson University Thursday night in Worthen Arena.
The win over the Ravens (5-6) marked Ball State's eighth victory of the season as the Cardinals close out non-conference play with an 8-4 ledger. The 112 points was also a program record for the largest margin of victory. The old record was 61 points against Taylor with Ball State winning that contest 106-45 on Jan. 28, 1975.
The Cardinals put on an impressive defensive display in the opening 10 minutes of action. Ball State held Anderson scoreless up until the 5:04 mark. The Cardinals were able to score 30 points in the first quarter to take a 21-point (30-9) advantage over the Ravens with Elise Stuck leading the squad with 12.
Ball State's offense continued to thrive in the second quarter as the team tacked on another 30 points onto the scoreboard to take a 60-19 lead over Anderson at intermission.
At the half, Stuck remained the top scorer with 14 points while the true freshmen Grace Kingery and Zuri Ransom each had scored 10.
In the second half, the Cardinals continued their fast-paced offense as head coach Brady Sallee continued to utilize the Cardinals' bench. Fresh legs helped Ball State to keep up its strong defense throughout the remainder of the contest.
All-in-all it was an overall team effort as 11 different Cardinals saw playing time during the 40-minute duration of tonight's contest with 10 of those players scoring eight or more points.
For the game, Ball State shot a whopping 62 percent (47-76) from the field, saw 64 points scored from its bench while scoring 82 points in the paint and 38 off fast break layups.
The Cardinals were led in scoring by Stuck with 16. Both Maliyah "MJ' Johnson and Zuri Ransom tallied 14 points while Grace Kingery finished the contest with 13. Ally Becki registered an 11-point performance. Hailey Smith and Sydney Bolden each scored 10 a piece to round out the double figure scoring.
Toledo 71, Liberty 63
Box Score
CHEROKEE, N.C. – The Toledo women's basketball team finished out a 2-0 week and earned the Cherokee Invitational tournament crown with a 71-63 victory over Liberty on Thursday.
The Rockets (7-2) once again rallied in the second half, going on a 21-4 run in the third quarter to take an 11-point lead, before holding back the Flames (7-4) in the final stanza.
"I'll really proud of our personnel execution and our defensive scout this week," said Head Coach Ginny Boggess. "We made tremendous growth on the defensive end of the court not only in the box score but in the energy in which we played. That led to success on the offensive end this week. There was a palpable 'refuse to lose' mentality this week. I'm proud of our culture and I'm especially happy for our seniors, and we get to relax going into the holiday break."
The Rockets were led by graduate student Khera Goss who scored 18 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Freshman Kendall Carruthers added 17 points and was 8-for-9 from the charity stripe, while graduate student Sammi Mikonowicz chipped in 13 points offensively. Toledo was also led on the assist board by Goss, who had three on the evening.
Graduate student Hannah Noveroske had a big day on the boards, grabbing a team-high nine rebounds including four on the offensive glass. She also blocked four shots, one away from her career high. Mikonowicz added seven rebounds while graduate student Nan Garcia added six.
