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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Getting battered on the glass, undersized and fourth-seeded Buffalo hunkered down to outlast fifth-seeded Bowling Green, 70-64, in a Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinal at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Wednesday afternoon.
The Bulls (18-12) advance to face top-seeded Toledo in a MAC semifinal at 10 a.m. on Friday. The Rockets edged the Bulls, 67-63, in their previous encounter back on Jan. 27. The Falcons finish the season 16-14.
“Credit to Bowling Green for competing and throwing punches, and really making us work for that,” second-year Bulls head coach Becky Burke said. “You couldn’t ask for anything more to grow our game then an opening game like that. Just really excited for us to be able to move on. Last year, losing a heartbreaker in the opening round. for us to make that stride this year and move to the second round I think is huge.”
In a game with massive swings in the second half, it was a mixture of free throws and composure for the Bulls down the stretch.
After MAC Freshman of the Year Kirsten Lewis-Williams split a pair of free throws to give the Bulls a 65-64 lead with 45 seconds, Rana Elhusseini also split the pair following a stop. With the game still in reach, the two found themselves at the line again after a pair of turnovers from the Falcons. This time, they knocked down all four.
“One hundred free throws,” senior guard Rana Elhusseini said. “Early in the season, dating back to the summer, coach just kept telling us the importance of putting in the work, especially when it comes to the free throws. That’s all I could think about. You shot your hundred, you shot your hundred, and this is the time where they come in.”
Elhusseini finished with 17 points, five rebounds and two assists. Lewis-Williams added 11 points.
Burke was quick to point out that her guard, who was fasting for Ramadan, was playing on an empty stomach since 5 a.m.
“To go out there on fumes and do what this kid just did,” Burke said. “The heart that this kid has and toughness. That is going to be irreplaceable.”
Elhusseini’s first time in the tournament was a memorable one.
“It’s a crazy feeling, I just feel like I walk by God and everything I do is with the strength of God in every moment,” she said. “You don’t rely on anything besides the faith of God to get you through these moments. All I wanted to do was prove that you can do something like that, and to do it on no food and water, we did, we pulled it out.”
After trailing by as many as 13 in the opening minutes, the Falcons put together an 11-0 run to take a 43-41 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter. The Bulls here held to just 1 of 6 from field during that stretch.
Buffalo sophomore guard Hattie Ogden and senior guard Chellia Watson sank a pair of 3′s in the fourth, part of a 13-0 answer to give the Bulls a 59-50 lead.
Watson, who did not play in last year’s tournament, felt the group showed their experience in the pivotal stretch.
“It’s just maturity,” Watson said. “This year we have been through so many obstacles, and just with this tournament, we came here knowing if we lost, we would go home. We basically did anything for us to come out with the win.”
Watson finished with a game-high 24 points and three rebounds.
But the Falcons came back again, carving the lead to 64-60 with less than two minutes left in the game. Bowling Green junior guard Amy Velasco hit a layup with 1:42 left cut it to two. She followed that up with a pair of clutch free throws to tie the game.
“One thing about this team is we have fight,” Velasco said. “We are ever going to give up and we are going to play as hard as we can for every possession.”
Velasco and freshman guard Paige Kohler led the Falcons with 19 points apiece. Senior guard Morgan Sharps chipped in 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.
A known weakness going in, Bowling Green targeted Buffalo in the interior. They outscored them 40-20 in the paint and outrebounded them 40-24, including a 19-4 advantage on the offensive glass. They also racked up a 16-3 edge in second chance points.
“Every team this year has battered us inside,” Burke said. “It’s been a challenge for us, we just don’t have the size. We are very, very undersized, but we try to utilize our quickness and our athleticism and our perimeter defense to make up for that. You can think about deficiencies as negatives, or you can think about how to turn them into positives.”
Bowling Green, which has been decimated with injuries, weathered a shaky start where it was just 4 of 17 from the field. The Falcons regained their touch in the third quarter with a 60% clip and took a 48-46 lead. The fourth was filled with turnovers as the offense stalled out.
The nerves and massive environment took its toll at times.
“It’s always the experience of playing in the early game … that’s not an excuse but I will say a different environment,” first-year Falcons head coach Fred Chmiel said. “Beautiful arena. The MAC did a great job of putting us in this arena. It’s top notch. But shooting in an arena like this, the vastness of the backdrop. We are a shooting team. I don’t know, didn’t hit shots early, probably didn’t hit shots late.”
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