BUFFALO, NY - The UB women's basketball team won their home opener with a 59-57 victory over visiting Rhode Island. Tiffany Bell (Alexandria, VA/Hayfield) scored the game winning bucket with 1.7 seconds left for the victory, improving the Bulls record to 2-1 on the season.

The Bulls led by as many as 10 points, 48-38, with 6:53 left before the Rams came back with a 12-0 run and took a 50-48 lead with 3:35 remaining. A jumper by Bell gave UB a 52-51 lead with just over two minutes left, and the Bulls increased the lead to three, 54-51, with 1:55 remaining on a jumper by Tara Perrier (Aurora, Ontario). Rhode Island came back and eventually tied the score at 55-55 on a basket by Colleen Mullen with just under a minute remaining. Two free throws by Nisha Wilson (Toronto, Ontario) gave UB a two-point lead, 57-55, with 0:38 left. Mullen then hit another jumper in the lane for the Rams, knotting the score at 57-57 with 0:21 remaining. The Bulls came down and fed the ball to their goto player, Tiffany Bell. Perrier fed a pass down low to Bell, who hit a turn around shot with 1.7 seconds left for the win.

It was a sluggish game in the first half as both teams had trouble controlling the ball. There were a total of 54 turnovers between the teams on the game. "We came out flat in the first half and I think our players tended to overlook this team," said UB head coach Cheryl Dozier. "The second half we got some better defense but we forced 32 turnover and didn't really capatilaze on those turnovers in terms of points. Tiffany Bell was again our bright spot and came through in the end for us."

Bell led all scorers with 21 points and she also collected five rebounds. Mari McClure (Rochester Hills, MI/Rochester Adams) added eight points for the Bulls and Sonia Ortega (Chiahuahua, Mexico) had seven assists. Rhode Island (0-2) was led by Colleen Mullen with 18 points and Yatar Kuyateh had a game-high 13 rebounds.