Fair’s 40 Leads Buffalo to Win over Bowling Green

A career high 40 points from junior guard Dyaisha Fair led a very shorthanded Buffalo team to its third straight MAC victory, 82–66 over Bowling Green. Buffalo is now 9–4 and 3–0 in the MAC.

It was just the second time that a UB player had reached 40 points, the other time belonging to Cierra Dillard, who scored 43 on January 19, 2019 against Eastern Michigan.

Fair scored 18 points in the first half, and the Bulls ran up a 22 point lead at halftime. The Bulls broke open a close game with a 25–6 second quarter, in which the Bulls’ stifling interior defense held Bowling Green to 3-for-20 shooting. Super-senior forward Summer Hemphill had 10 points in the half, and junior guard Dominique Camp added 11.

In the second half, Bowling Green challenged the Bulls several times, but each time Bowling Green got within 11 points of the Bulls, Buffalo responded by pushing the lead back into the high teens. The Bulls were able to do this despite being severely shorthanded, with just 7 available players (plus three freshman who haven’t played and I think are being redshirted). Buffalo was missing sophomore guard Cheyenne McEvans, who is out indefinitely with an injury.

The manpower shortage got worse as senior forward Ade Adeyeye picked up her fourth foul late in the third quarter, and was replaced by sophomore forward Rama Keita, who usually doesn’t get much playing time. And then in the fourth quarter, Camp was ejected for picking up her second flagrant or intentional foul.

But it didn’t matter. Fair continued to pour in the points, shooting 6-for-8 in the second half, and she made 4 out of 5 three point attempts in the second half, many of them from a few feet beyond the arc, all of them rainbows. Fair also contributed 6-for-8 free throw shooting. That’s 22 second half points; coming into the game Fair was averaging 22 points per game for the entire game. Fair’s entire second half gets the Play of the Game™ award.

Hemphill finished with 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting and had 10 rebounds. Adeyeye had 9 rebounds and junior forward Loren Christie had 8 rebounds. Hemphill had 4 blocked shots, and Adeyeye and Christie joined the block party with 2 each.

Buffalo next plays Kent State on Saturday, January 8, 2021 at 1pm, at Alumni Arena.

Notes:

• One more crazy statistic about Fair: she has played in 13 games, and has committed only 14 fouls.
• Continuing a recent theme of strong free throw shooting, the Bulls shot 17-for-21 from the free throw line. Earlier in the season, Buffalo had several games with poor free throw shooting.
• The Bulls have now scored 80 or more points in their last 3 games.
• Buffalo shot 50.9% from the floor, and 43.8% from beyond the arc.
• Buffalo blocked 10 shots, tying their season high.
• Camp made a spectacular bounce pass through the Bowling Green defense from about mid-court to Fair, streaking down-court on a fast break. Fair caught the ball about 5 feet in front of the basket and laid it in. On ordinary days, that would have been the Play of the Game™ but well, you know ... this wasn’t an ordinary day.
• Previously, the second most points by a UB player was 39 by Brittany Hedderson against Oakland in 2011.
• Highlight reel, including the pass by Camp (at about 20 seconds into the video)