Women’s Basketball Rallies, But Falls Short at Buffalo

BUFFALO, NY – Buffalo outscored Central Michigan, 11-2, over the final 4:20 on Saturday in handing the Chippewas a 70-63 Mid-American Conference women’s basketball loss at Alumni Arena.

The Chippewas (3-10, 1-1 MAC) play at Bowling Green (12-2, 1-1) on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Rochelle Norris turned in her second consecutive monster game for CMU. The 6-foot-5 junior center finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds – both career highs – for her second straight double-double.

She made 12 of her 13 field goal attempts, finishing at 92.3 percent for the game. It marks the third best shooting percentage for a game in program history.

CMU led, 61-59, with 5 minutes to play and then missed eight of its final nine field goal attempts and went more than five minutes without a field goal as Buffalo seized control.

Zakiyah Winfield put the Bulls (6-5, 1-1) ahead, 63-61, with a layup with 4:20 to play. Norris missed from in close – her only miss of the game – on CMU’s next possession and then Re’Shawna Stone hit a 3-pointer to increase Buffalo’s lead to 66-61.

Stone finished with 24 points and hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

After a Carrington Gordon layup brought CMU to within three, 66-63, the Chippewas’ Bridget Utberg missed a 3-pointer and Taylor Anderson failed to convert on the offensive rebound with just over 20 seconds remaining.

The Bulls made all four of their free throw attempts in the final 18 seconds to ice it.

The fourth quarter, which featured six lead changes and six ties, came after a frantic third period in which CMU outscored the Bulls, 34-12. The Chippewas trailed, 39-21, at halftime. The 34 points in the third were the most in a single quarter for CMU this season.

Gordon finished with a career-high 15 points and Sydney Harris added 13 points, all in the second half, for the Chippewas.