Troy’s quest for its first postseason basketball tournament championship fell short in an 88-84 loss at Buffalo in the championship game of the Women’s NIT on Saturday night.

The Trojans led 44-34 at halftime, but could not hold on as the Bulls (30-7) scored 54 points in the second half. Troy’s season — which ironically began with an 80-78 loss at Buffalo as part of the Sun Belt-MAC Challenge on Nov. 4 — ends at 24-14.

Still, Troy had a chance to tie when Buffalo’s Jordyn Beaty missed a free throw with 17 seconds left and Zay Dyer grabbed the rebound with the Trojans trailing 87-84. However, after a timeout, Leilani Guion lost the handle while driving into the paint and the Bulls’ Kirsten Lewis-Williams corralled the loose ball and was fouled with five seconds to play.

Lewis-Williams made the first free throw to put Buffalo up 88-84, but missed the second. Dyer got the rebound but could not get a shot off as the horn sounded to end the game.

Chellia Watson played all 40 minutes for Buffalo and scored 23 points with six assists, while Lewis-Williams added 18 points with five rebounds. Terah Harness scored 17 points off the bench for the Bulls, hitting four of her team’s eight 3-pointers.

Dyer had a double-double for Troy with 15 points and 17 rebounds, while Emani Jenkins and Khila Morris both added 11. Eight of the nine Trojans who saw action in the game scored at least eight points.

Troy shot 50% from the floor, made 16 of 19 free throws and had a 40-36 reboundng edge, but went just 4-for-15 from 3-point range. The Trojans led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Bulls never trailed after Harness’ 3-pointer with 2:52 to play.

Troy was in the NIT for the second straight year and third time in four years. The Trojans reached the semifinals in 2024, losing to Minnesota.