Courtesy of UBBulls.com
CLEVELAND, OH – The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team held off Ball State, 79-75, to claim the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championship at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Saturday afternoon. Dyaisha Fair and Georgia Woolley combined to score 59 of the team’s 79 points to help the Bulls win their third MAC title in six years.
Buffalo held a 53-50 lead entering the fourth quarter and that’s when Fair and Woolley took over. The pair combined to score all 26 fourth-quarter points for the Bulls. With the game tied, 53-53, Woolley drained a three from the top of the key to put UB ahead for good.
Ball State, one of the top three-point shooting teams in the MAC, didn’t go away quietly, and trailed 73-71 with 52 seconds left. Woolley answered with one of the biggest shots of her young career, knocking down a pull-up jumper in the paint to extend the UB lead to 75-71 with 32 seconds left.
Woolley was also calm at the free throw line, making all four of her free throw attempts in the closing seconds to hold off the Cardinals.
Fair was named the MAC Tournament MVP after scoring a game-high 30 points, including four three pointers, and added six assists and three steals. It was an historic day for Fair as she not only became UB’s all-time leading scorer but became the first player in program history to surpass 2,000 career points.
Summer Hemphill and Adebola Adeyeye were relentless on the glass, finishing with 13 and 12 rebounds, respectively.
Ball State took an early 8-4 lead before Fair knocked down a deep three ball to cut the lead to one at the first media timeout. Camp came up with a steal and hit Adeyeye up ahead for a fastbreak bucket to give the Bulls their first lead of the game. UB extended the run to 11-2 on a Hemphill jumper, a transition three by Fair and a steal and score from Fair to Woolley to put the Bulls up 20-12 and force a Ball State timeout with just over a minute to play and they would lead 20-15 at the end of the first.
Junior Jazmine Young gave the Bulls a spark to start the second quarter as she sliced to the basket and got the bucket and the foul on UB’s first possession, but the Cardinals answered with a 10-0 run to take a 28-25 lead at the 7:03 mark. The Bulls fought back as Fair got a tough layup off glass and Young and Fair followed with back-to-back triples to put UB up 33-28 at the 5:42 mark and they would lead 35-30 at the media timeout. Buffalo struggled offensively as the Bulls were held scoreless for the final 2:15 of the quarter, but they were able to maintain a 38-37 lead at the break.
Woolley came alive to start the third quarter as she knocked down a pair of threes to give Buffalo a 46-42 lead early on and later, Fair would slice to the basket to put UB up 48-43 at the 4:39 mark. Both teams went through a prolonged scoring drought of almost three minutes, but Woolley snapped the Bulls out of it with a baseline pull up jumper to put UB up five at the 2:49 mark. Hemphill knocked down a pair of free throws to give Buffalo an eight-point lead with just over minute to play in the quarter, but the Cardinals scored on their next two possessions to cut the UB lead to 53-50 at the end of the third.
Buffalo will now advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in six years. The Bulls will find out who they who, when and where they will play at Sunday’s selection show.
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