Buffalo stops Toledo 74–65

Sophomore Jessika Schiffer had become the forgotten guard in Buffalo’s back-court rotation. In the team’s last two games, Schiffer had appeared on the court for a total of one minute of playing time.

But with freshman guard Cheyenne McEvans unavailable due to injury, Buffalo coach Felisha Legette-Jack put Schiffer into the starting lineup, and Schiffer responded with her best game of the season. Schiffer registered her first double-digit scoring performance of the year, and tied a number of career highs: points (14), minutes played (33), three-pointers made (4).

The Bulls had opened up a 13 point lead early in the first quarter, but led by only 5 at the half. Toledo made run after run to take the lead back from the Bulls, only to have Buffalo respond each time. With the score 42–36 in the third quarter, Schiffer made back-to-back three pointers from the same spot on the right wing, both on assists from sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair, to push Buffalo’s lead up to 12. Schiffer had a 3-pointer earlier in the quarter and also in the first quarter.

Buffalo would run the lead up to 14 later in the third quarter, and then Toldeo fought back in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 3 points 59–56, raising the spectre of Buffalo’s late game collapse in their previous game against Ohio. But then Fair scored two straight baskets followed by three free throws, then junior guard Jazmine Young made two free throws. This was followed by a steal by Schiffer, whose assist led to a fast break layup by Fair, and Buffalo’s lead was 9 with under a minute to go. Toledo never got closer than eight after that.

Buffalo gets the win, 74–65, to make them 9–4 overall, and 6–2 in the MAC.

Fair finished with 25 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Young had 12 points while sophomore center Elea Gaba had 8 points and 9 rebounds. Junior forward Keowa Walters also had 9 rebounds.

Notes:

• Junior forward Ade Adeyeye seemed to re-injure her right shoulder in the game’s first two minutes and left the court. She returned much later in the first half and played with no obvious signs of injury, picking up 4 blocks and 5 rebounds.
• Junior center Zena Elias, coming off her career high of 13 rebounds at Ohio, picked up her second best rebounding performance of her career with 5 rebounds, and also set a career high with 6 points (which is more points than she scored all of last year).
• Toledo sophomore guard Soleil Barnes had missed Toledo’s last 19 games (going back into last year) due to injury, made her first appearance of the season and picked up a career high 19 points to lead Toledo, include 5-for-9 from downtown.
• Buffalo’s next game was supposed to be Wednesday, January 27th versus Kent State, but that game has been postponed. So the next scheduled time the Bulls take the court will be Saturday, January 30 at Central Michigan.