Cinderella Bulls are still dancin’

TALLAHASSEE — The clock has not yet struck midnight, and this magical, delirious basketball season will not end, not after what happened here Monday night when the UB women’s team knocked off host Florida State, 86-65, scrapping and swaggering their way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

Now the Cinderella Bulls will meet defending national champion South Carolina in Albany on Saturday, and after what Coach Felishe Legette-Jack’s players have done so far, who’s to say they won’t work some more magic then?

“We’re goin’ dancin’! We’re goin’ dancin’!” the women sang in their victorious dressing room after beating the No. 11 team in the nation and the No. 3 seed in the bracket — a win perhaps even more impressive than their 102-79 triumph over No. 6 seed South Florida on Friday. Those two landmark victories secured UB’s first-ever trip to the Round of 16, by either the women’s or the men’s team.

“To be a mid-major, to be Buffalo,” said junior guard Cierra Dillard, whose 22 points again led the Bulls. “We knew that we could do it since Day 1, but now we’re showing the world, we’re showing the country that we can do it. It’s an amazing feeling.”

“Congratulations to the UB women’s basketball team and Coach Jack on your win over Florida State and advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16!!” President Satish K. Tripathi said in a statement released soon after the victory. “What an incredible run from an amazing team. We will see you in Albany! All of UB is proud of you.” 

Consider what the Bulls did on Monday: They beat a Seminoles team that had won 59 consecutive games versus mid-major opponents, that was going for its fourth-straight appearance in the Sweet 16, and that was a perfect 3-0 in NCAA second-round games at home.

Not only did the Bulls boost their overall record to 29-5, they did it with style.

It was a high-pressure game, yet they seemed to enjoy every moment, conversing with one another even in the thick of the action, encouraging, strategizing, congratulating. When point guard Stephanie Reid struck on a desperation shot just as the 30-second shot clock was expiring, she ran back down court, laughing along with her teammates. And she did it two more times.

“I don’t know a team that has as good chemistry as we do, on and off the court,” said Reid, who had 18 points, one of five Bulls in double figures. “That’s why we’re talking to one another.”

The game started scrappy, with the lead whipsawing back and forth over the first 17 minutes. But then one particular UB player asserted herself, and everything changed very quickly.

It was 26-26 with 2:33 left in the half, and the Seminoles were trying to assemble for a huddle before taking a foul shot — right where Summer Hemphill was already standing. The sophomore forward from Buffalo refused to move, and the Seminoles’ Nicki Ekhomu tried to push her out of the way. That earned Ekhomu a rebuke from the referee — with Hemphill still standing her ground.

“I didn’t want them to think that they could just boss us around,” said Hemphill, who led all rebounders with 11 and poured in 17 points. “So I was just going to bite back at ’em. I don’t like that.”

A minute later, Seminoles point guard AJ Alix was dribbling up court when she turned to get directions from her coach — only to have UB’s ball-hawking guard Katherine Ups sneak up and almost steal the ball. Alix, panicked, made a bad pass that led to a turnover — the first of three straight turnovers that sparked UB to a six-point lead.

“She didn’t think we were coming,” said Ups, who had 11 points. “And we were. Every second.”

The icing on the cake came in the final seconds of the first half, with Dillard running down the clock for the last shot. As she dribbled, she calmly neatened her left sleeve — and then drove the lane and drew a foul. Dillard hit both free throws, giving UB an astonishing 39-30 halftime lead and setting the tone for a second half that was all Bulls.

That made two straight games in which Dillard made a gesture of surpassing cool late in the first half; it followed her spontaneous shimmy after making the basket that ignited UB’s comeback versus South Florida.

In the raucous postgame dressing room, the UB women ambushed Legette-Jack as she walked through the door from an ESPN2 interview, drenching her with water, then wrapping her rather stylishly in towels. She praised the players one by one, including Reid and Dillard, whom she called “the best guards in the damn country.”

In the postgame news conference, Legette-Jack commented on her players’ constant in-game conversation.

“We always talk to them about using their voice,” she said. “We really emphasize women using their voice, whether it’s ‘good job,’ ‘I see you,’ ‘my bad,’ whatever. I want them to continue to have their voice, and I want them to know their voice matters.”

March rolls on, and the amazing UB women are still talking. They’re still swaggering. And they’re still dancing.