Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball remains undefeated as Reid’s 21 propels the Bulls to a 58-54 win over Fordham

The end of non-conference play is on the horizon as Buffalo Bulls Women’s Basketball remains undefeated with their win against Fordham this afternoon. The Bulls’ defense coupled with dominance from Stephanie Reid was the storyline for the 58-54 win.

At the start of the game, Buffalo found themselves in a rut offensively. After a quick three-pointer from JoAnna Smith and a layup from Cassie Oursler, Fordham took control of the game. Almost eight minutes into the quarter, the Rams had an 11-5 lead.

Things got better once UB stopped settling for poorly selected shots and started feeding the ball to Stephanie Reid. Although her shots weren’t falling in the first, she quickly dismantled Fordham in the second. Add in her trifling defense and the Rams were left scratching their heads going into the half.

The biggest story for Buffalo in the first half was the vice grip they had defending the interior. Fordham had only 2 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes of play. Even better, the Rams’ leading scorer G’mrice Davis was 0-8 from the field.

Heading into the half what UB needed to do was clear: minimize Fordham’s three-point shooting and find more looks through different people offensively. Fordham shot 55% from beyond the arc to start the game, but thanks to that being the only thing working on their offense, Buffalo held a 27-23 advantage at the half.

Fordham’s offense continued to struggle in comparison to their effort in the first quarter. While their shooting from beyond the arc was still just as effective, their efforts from two got worse. Nonetheless, Fordham’s shooting was still just enough to keep hanging with the Bulls.

Buffalo continued to see more players step up the third quarter rolled on and the fourth quarter began. The Bulls saw contributions from Wilkins and Morrison in this time but Katherine Ups was the stand out. Playing swarming defense all game, she connected on consecutive shots to bring her up to 7 points on the day.

With 5:00 to go in the fourth, UB held a two possession 45-39 lead over the Rams. Despite the game being that close, it felt like that Buffalo had dominated this game. The Bulls would break out to a 48-41 lead before chaos ensued. Fordham’s offense cam alive and Buffalo had to respond.

Katherine Ups hit a crucial three-pointer to put the Bulls up 51-47 and Stephanie Reid cleaned up from there on the free throw line. UB’s unblemished start would remain that way as the Bulls move to 10-0.

Stephanie Reid dominated the day with 21 points on 7-16 shooting. Reid did a little of everything as her stat line also had 5 points, 4 assists, and 4 steals to it. Katherine Ups is the other double-digit scorer in that one as she had 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Buffalo will now stay in the Bronx to play an undetermined opponent tomorrow in the Fordham Holiday Classic Championship Game. The Bulls will face the winner of the Harvard/UNC Asheville game and the game is slated for 2:30PM.