BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Western Michigan women's basketball team makes its second-to-last road trip of the 2025-26 season to the Buffalo Bulls.

LAST TIME OUT
Senior Alli Carlson matched her career high with 22 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, as the Bronco's held off Northern Illinois for a 65-60 win at University Arena. Carslon was 8-for-14 from the field and 4-for-7 from three, while also dishing out six assists and grabbing five rebounds. She was the only WMU player to reach double-digit points, while Kailey Starks had nine points, and a team-high four steals. 

The Brown and Gold's defense forced 20 turnovers on the day, including a season-high 11 steals, while they scored 20 points off of the turnovers. Western Michigan also got 20 points from its bench, led by Alli Harness' eight and D'Myjah Bolds and Mary Clare Brusek both scoring six. 

FIGHT TO THE FINISH
Only four games remain in the Broncos regular season schedule going into Wednesday night. WMU is currently just shy of a place in the MAC Tournament, sitting in 10th. With only the top 8 teams making postseason play, the Brown and Gold will need at least 3 wins in their final 4 games to match the conference records of the two teams currently in seventh and eighth place, Kent State and Bowling Green. 

Western Michigan does currently hold the tiebreaker over the team in front of them, Eastern Michigan. The Broncos do not have the tiebreaker over Bowling Green in eighth place, but they could potentially jump the Falcons with a win over seventh placed Kent State in March. 

NOT IN THIS HOUSE, HUSKIES
In their 65-60 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday afternoon the Brown and Gold kept NIU from scoring in a variety of ways. Along with a season-high 11 steals as a team, sophomore guard Kailey Starks tied a career-high four swipes. WMU also blocked multiple shots from Northern Illinois, led by redshirt senior forward De'Ahna Richardson. Richardson set a new career high in blocks against the Huskies, swatting away three baskets. 

SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan is ready for its 36th meeting with Buffalo on Wednesday evening. After their win earlier in the season, the Brown and Gold are 15-20 in the series with the Bulls. WMU's victory in January snapped a three-game losing skid in the series and sets up the Broncos for their first season with two wins against Buffalo. Since the Bulls joined the Mid-American Conference in 1998, WMU has only ever picked up a single victory over Buffalo in a season.

SCOUTING THE BULLS
Since playing Buffalo back in early January, the Bulls have struggled in MAC play. Buffalo is still seeking its first conference win with four games left on the season and hasn't picked up a victory since early December of 2025. The Bulls main contributors on the floor are redshirt freshman guard Aniya Rowe with 13.3 points and 4.0 rebounds a game and freshman forward Meg Lucas with 9.8 points and 10.0 rebounds through 40 minutes.