Upset Alert in The Q

Cleveland, OH- Women’s basketball kicked off the MAC basketball tournament today. The number 8-seeded Buffalo Bulls against the number 1-seeded Ohio bobcats.

It was a rough start for both teams offensively, possibly suffering from the opening round jitters, as it took a full two minutes to put any points on the board. Brittany Morrison for Buffalo hit one of two free throws to get the first points on the ledger.

The first quarter was scrappily played and points were tough to come by. Buffalo broke out the full court press with 7 minutes left to play in the first.

The highlight of the first half was without a doubt OU’s Kiyanna Black, hitting a cross over step back three that was Steph Curry esc, and it gave the Bobcats a 16-14 second quarter lead.

Ohio U maintained a tight 29-28 lead going into the half. Quiera Lampkins lead the Bobcats with 15 first half points and Joanna Smith had 10 points for the Bulls.

The Bobcats had looked to reverse their fortunes against Buffalo heading into this game as the Bulls had beaten the Bobcats in their previous two match ups.

The halftime shoot around paid dividends for both teams as scoring ramped up in the third quarter. Buffalo went on a momentum shifting 9-0 run that saw Buffalo’s Joanna Smith take over the Bulls’ offense, scoring 6 of the points during the run and give Buffalo a 50-45 lead.

Buffalo seemed to be pulling away and drawing ever closer to a first round upset over the 1st seeded Bobcats. The Bulls’ Joanna Smith and Stephanie Reid dominated the fourth quarter, Smith handled the offense early in the fourth and Reid capped off the fourth with an And-1 that seemed to dissolve any hope the Bobcats had at making a comeback.

Buffalo finished the first round upset of Ohio U, beating the Bobcats 72-60 and advancing onto the semi-finals. Buffalo will face the winner of Akron and Toledo on March 11th.