Bulls Thrash Akron to Clinch #2 Seed

The Buffalo Women’s Basketball team ran away from Akron in the 2nd half, leading to a 86–60 victory. The win clinched the #2 seed in the MAC Tournament for the Bulls. Buffalo is now 21–8 and 15–4 in the MAC.

Leading by 5 at halftime, Buffalo outscored the Zips 48-27 in the second half, led by junior guard Dyaisha Fair, who scored 19 of her game high 25 points in the second half. Fair, who shot only 2-for-8 in the first half, went 8-for-12 in the second half. She also had 6 assists and 4 steals.

Fair had plenty of help, as Buffalo’s front line dominated the entire game. The Bulls got 17 points from senior forward Ade Adeyeye, who shot a perfect 8-for-8 and 1-for-1 from the free throw line. Time after time, the Akron defense lost track of Adeyeye, and time after time, her teammates were able to find Adeyeye for uncontested layups. It was Adeyeye’s career high in points.

Sixth year forward Summer Hemphill had another typical Summer Hemphill game, 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting, and 10 rebounds. And junior forward Loren Christie has been offensively strong lately, with 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Freshman guard Georgia Woolley, not shooting well lately, hardly looked for her shots and only took 6 shots all game, making 2, but Woolley still contributed with 6 steals and 5 assists.

The Bulls were so dominant in the paint that their total points in the paint (58) almost exceeded Akron’s points from everywhere on the court. And their dominance in the paint led to Buffalo shooting over 50% in every quarter, and over 60% in the first quarter and over 70% in the fourth quarter.

Buffalo finishes the regular season on Saturday, March 5 when they host Bowling Green at Alumni Arena at 2pm (ESPN+).

Notes:

• Akron remains the likely #3 seed in the MAC tournament, and barring first round upsets, would meet the Bulls again in the second round of the MAC Tournament. Buffalo has defeated Akron twice this year, by 17 points or more each time.
• Buffalo coach Felisha Legette-Jack now has 7 seasons as UB head coach with 19 or more wins, in the 10 seasons she has been coach here. That number would likely 8 seasons out of 10 had not the 2020-21 season been shortened by COVID.
• Despite Buffalo’s very high shooting percentage, their usual point guards, junior Dominique Camp and senior Jazmine Young, picked up a total of just 3 assists.
• Akron had 26 turnovers, 16 of them coming on Buffalo steals, tied for their highest number of steals during the MAC schedule.