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Ugly Win for Women's Basketball in Season Opener

Ugly would be the best way to describe the UB Women's Basketball team's season opening victory over Central Connecticut, 61–56. Poor shooting from three point land and massive foul trouble put the victory in doubt, plus the Bulls, despite their superior size, got outrebounded — and if it wasn't for huge performances from freshman guard Dyaisha Fair (24 points) and senior guard Teresa Onwuka (21 points) the Bulls could have gone home with a loss.

The Bulls ran out to an early 17–10 lead, with Onwuka picking up 14 of those points, slashing to the basket time after time. That lead came with 1:13 left in the first quarter, but then the Bulls offense hit a brick wall, and they scored only one more basket until 1:42 of the second quarter, with free throws keeping the Bulls in front of Central Connecticut.

That one basket in that stretch was impressive, as Fair dribbled about 70 feet a full speed, and then dished off to — wait for it — 6-4 freshman center Elea Gaba, who was running court at full speed as well, probably the last person I expected to finish off the fast break, and Gaba laid it in left-handed. Gaba was motoring. I think if you gave me a million dollars to take a charge from Elea Gaba or from Khalil Mack ... I'd pick Mack.

In the last two minutes of the 2nd quarter, Fair hit a three pointer and Onwuka had a layup and the Bulls led 31–22. But the three point shooting was atrocious by halftime, Buffalo hitting only 2-for-19. The good news if any, was that Central Connecticut's three point shooting was just as bad. However, Buffalo had several players, mostly their forwards and centers, in serious foul trouble.

In the third quarter, the Bulls managed to open their biggest lead of the night at 40–26, on back to back layups from sophomore forward Keowah Walters. And then the offense hit the wall again, and the Blue Devils climbed back in contention. At one point, Buffalo was 4-for-27 from three point land. Coach Felisha Legette-Jack clearly made an adjustment to the Bulls offense, and the three pointers became much less frequent. The offense then boiled down to Fair driving to the basket, Fair driving to the basket, and also Fair driving to the basket. Fortunately, Fair was up to the task, and she almost single handedly kept the Bulls ahead. It was surprising to me how few times the Bulls, who had superior height in this contest, got the ball to a big player in the paint.

The Bulls finished 4-for-30 from three point land (all made three pointers coming from Fair), but 15-for-27 inside the arc. The Bulls were out-rebounded by 5, committed 18 turnovers and shot only 57.6% from the free throw line. Fair had a pretty strong debut, with a double-double (24 points, 10 rebounds) and nearly had a bizarre triple double, committing 8 turnovers. Her 10 rebounds led the team — yes, the 5–5 Fair has some pretty good ups (not to be confused with Katherine or Liisa Ups), but also the Bulls big players were in so much foul trouble that they spent little time on the court and couldn't accumulate a lot of rebounds.

Notes:

  • Sophomore guard Finess Dickson will be out for the season.
  • Sophomore forward Alexis Adams was on the bench for the exhibition game against Mercyhurst, but no on the bench tonight.
  • Legette-Jack, as she is wont to do, picked up the microphone after the game and thanked the UB Band and the fans for their continued support. She said the Bulls were the youngest team in the county (I didn't know that) and that they were going to need help from the fans all season long.
  • Irony: in the Bulls previous non-exhibition game, they scored 72 points against women's basketball power Connecticut; tonight only 61 against Central Connecticut.

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