BUFFALO, NY - Miami University outscored the University at Buffalo, 16-4, in the final 8¹/₂ minutes on Saturday afternoon to score a 59-49 Mid-American Conference women's basketball victory before 629 fans at Alumni Arena.

The RedHawks overcame a late first-half and early second half surge by the Bulls to improve to 11-7 overall and 5-3 in the MAC. Buffalo saw a three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 15-5 and 5-4 in the MAC. Miami moved a half-game ahead of Buffalo in the MAC East Division with the win.

Miami opened the game strongly taking a 31-17 lead with 4:36 remaining in the first half before the Bulls rallied. Buffalo held Miami without a point for the rest of the half and made a 15-0 run to cut the lead to 31-29 at halftime.

Buffalo opened the second half with more great defense as, all told, they held the RedHawks without a field goal for 9:49 and opened up a 38-32 lead - their biggest of the game -with 15:43 remaining on a three-point field goal by Colleen Tabor (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa). Tabor finished with eight points, five assists and three blocked shots.

The Bulls were led again by MAC Freshman-of-the-Year candidate Kim Kilpela (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield). Kilpela had 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the game while junior Tiffany Bell (Alexandria, VA/Hayfield) had 10 points and six rebounds.

Miami's Aubree Hamilton led all scorers with 16 points, including six points in the critical last eight minutes of the game. Jamie Stewart and Jenny Martin added 12 points each for the RedHawks.

Head coach Cheryl Dozier said her team showed their weariness late in the game.

"We didn't get back from Marshall until 6:30 am on Friday and that and our lack of depth really caught up with us late in the game. That's not an excuse, however, because Miami really wanted the game more than we did down the stretch. We did not play with enough as a team or with enough emotion to win."

The Bulls will play at Ball State on Thursday and at Ohio next Saturday night.