Bulls’ history-making comeback started with a shimmy

TALLAHASSEE — It was a history-making comeback for UB basketball, and it started with a shimmy.

The NCAA Women’s Tournament opening-round game was in its 14th minute and UB was getting clobbered, 29-18, by the University of South Florida here on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls were shooting air balls, missing layups and looking very much like the 11-seed they were, stumbling against a strongly favored 6-seed.

But then Cierra Dillard, UB’s top-scoring junior guard, got the ball and hit a jumper for 3. As she turned to run back up court, she scrunched down and did a little shimmy, an unmistakable dance of pride and joy.

“Sometimes I don’t even know I do it,” Dillard said later, after her career-high 36-point performance had propelled the Bulls to a comprehensive 102-79 thrashing of USF — the first NCAA tournament victory in the history of the UB women’s program. “You find the energy, and that energy comes out of you. And sometimes that energy comes out in a shimmy.”

After Dillard’s dance move, UB roared back. Four minutes later they took their first lead, at 37-36. At halftime they led by 43-38. And they simply pulled away in the second half, completing a decisive 23-point upset that looked a lot like the UB men’s 21-point upset of Arizona on Thursday.

It made 2018 the year in which both the UB women and the UB men recorded their first-ever NCAA tournament triumphs.

But Dillard was hardly the only Bull dancing in Tallahassee. Junior forward Courtney Wilkins came off the bench in the pivotal second quarter and wound up with 23 points. Senior point guard Stephanie Reid recovered from a shaky start to score 19 points and add 8 assists. And the Bulls as a team went 14 for 27 from 3-point range as they scored more than 100 points for the first time since 1995. They also outrebounded their taller opponents, 32-29, and won almost every 50-50 ball.

“We won all the loose balls,” said senior guard Katherine Ups, who led the Bulls with seven rebounds. “That was it. Just the heart, the hustle. That’s Buffalo basketball. That’s who we are.”

A few hours after the big victory, the UB men lost to Kentucky in Boise, ending their valiant March Madness run. That left the UB women as the school’s lone representatives on college basketball’s biggest stage.

The women’s journey continues on Monday evening versus host Florida State, the bracket’s third seed.

“These young ladies, all they wanted was a chance to dance and be on the stage and see what they can become,” Coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “And now it’s understanding that if we don’t continue to have success, then we’re not going to be in the same locker room together, and that’s too hard for us to handle. We want this magic to continue as long as it can.”

A contingent of about 50 UB supporters were in the Tucker Center stands to watch the women’s second-ever appearance in the NCAAs, including Wilkins’ sister, who made the trip from Australia, and three UB football players: Ja’varius Harrison, KJ Osborn and Tyler Mabry. Also on hand in the Bulls rooting section was Vera Jones, Legette-Jack’s college roommate and teammate at Syracuse in the 1980s, and a longtime basketball TV commentator now working for the Big Ten Network.

Reid made several errors in the opening 15 minutes, but once she got rolling, her pace accelerated and she even often had a smile on her face as she sliced through the South Florida defense. Dillard called her “one of the best point guards in the country, without a doubt.”

“We haven’t really got the concept of a good start down yet, but we do finish strong,” Reid said outside the jubilant Bulls dressing room. “I think that’s something that we showed today. We’re resilient, and we’re a team that doesn’t give up.”

Wilkins’ brilliant sixth-woman performance included 5-for-8 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. Legette-Jack said her entry into the game in the 13th minute was key to the UB comeback. Wilkins, who played the rest of the way, was asked if she was surprised to see so much action. “Well,” she said, “kind of.”

The UB women, now 28-5, took a few hours Saturday evening to savor their victory. But then it was back to business, preparing to play the 26-6 Seminoles, who finished third in the mighty Atlantic Coast Conference and crushed Little Rock by 91-49 earlier on Saturday.

“We’ll celebrate the win tonight and even later tonight start getting ready for Florida State on Monday,” Dillard said. “That’s what every team has to do here at the NCAA tournament, keep the focus and keep pushing through.”

“Tunnel vision,” said sophomore forward Summer Hemphill, who contributed 8 points. “We’re already thinking about our next game.”

The Bulls game against Florida State is being broadcast at 6:30 p.m. on Monday on ESPN2. Watch with other Bulls fans at one of several watch parties in Amherst.