Bulls Defeat Bonnies

Buffalo Women’s Basketball picked up their second straight win, this time defeating in-state rival St. Bonaventure 71–52, with a commanding performance on the boards. Buffalo is now 4–2 on the season. This is their final non-conference game of the year.

The Bulls, despite relatively poor shooting, led almost the entire game, and their height advantage led to Buffalo out-rebounding the Bonnies by a whopping 55–25 (excluding “team rebounds”). The Bulls were led off the boards by sophomore forward Loren Christie, who set a career high with 17 rebounds (in 31 minutes). Christie’s previous high was 13 rebounds, set in a double-overtime game against Central Michigan last year in which she played 40 minutes.

Junior forward Keowa Walters had 9 rebounds, while sophomore center Elea Gaba and freshman guard Cheyenne McEvans had 8 each.

The Bulls had opened a 17 point lead 40–23 in the second quarter, but by the end of the quarter, Buffalo had gone flat, and that continued into the third quarter, as St. Bonaventure narrowed the lead to 44–35 with 4:20 left. But then the Bulls would go on a 12–4 run to build the lead, and the game was never close after that. That 12–4 run began with Christie driving to the lane and scoring a layup left handed (she is right-handed). Then junior guard Jazmine Young knocked down a 3-pointer for her first basket with the Bulls, Walters scored a basket on an assist from Young, sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair made a three-pointer and then Young scored two more baskets and the Buffalo lead was back up to 17.

Young, making her first appearance for the Bulls, transferred to Buffalo from Tennessee State, where she was the team’s leading scorer last year. She had been ineligible to play until earlier in the week, the NCAA decided to approve all transfers.

Notes:

• Fair led the team with 20 points while McEvans had 14 and Young had 10. Fair led the team with 4 steals and 3 assists (tied with Young who also had 3 assists).
• Junior forward Ade Adeyeye played only 4 minutes. She picked up her second personal foul three minutes into the first half. When she returned in the second half, she was in the game for one minute before apparently injuring her shoulder, and she did not return.
• Senior forward Summer Hemphill again did not play, and is listed as “day-to-day”.
• Buffalo’s next game is on December 22 at 12 noon when they host Western Michigan.