Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, November 28
Los Angeles, CA
4:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
3-1
62
vs
54
UC Irvine
1-5
1
2
F
Bowling Green
31
31
62
UC Irvine
24
30
54
Erica Donovan (left), Miriam Justinger & the Falcons got the LA trip off to a successful start
Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications
Falcons Begin LA Trip with 62-54 Win over UC Irvine
November 28, 2014 | Women's Basketball
BGSU leads from wire-to-wire en route to third-straight victory
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team led from wire to wire against UC Irvine, en route to a 62-54 win Friday afternoon (Nov. 28). The game, the first contest in the DoubleTree LA Westside Thanksgiving Classic, was held at Gersten Pavilion.
Â
LINKS
FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
POST-GAME AUDIO: Coach Roos
With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-1 on the season, and BGSU will face tournament host Loyola Marymount University in Saturday's championship game. The Lions defeated UAB, 66-61, in Friday's second game. The BGSU-LMU contest will begin at 3:30 p.m. locally (6:30 p.m. Eastern).
Redshirt junior Erica Donovan had a double-double vs. the Anteaters, with game-high totals of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Rachel Myers had the second double-digit game of her young career, with 10 points in the win.
The Falcons led by seven at the half, but built that lead to as many as 27 points in the second half. A furious rally by UCI got the Anteaters back within single digits, but the lead never fell below the final eight-point margin.
Junior Miriam Justinger had nine points and six rebounds on Friday, while senior Deborah Hoekstra and freshman Haley Puk scored eight points apiece.
The Falcons' 62-point total included 31 points from the starters and 31 from the bench.
Shareen Sutherland led the Anteaters with 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Brittany Glassow and Olivia Montgomery had eight points apiece for UCI.
""We were able to open up a good lead in the second half and were able to play eight to 10 minutes with five freshmen on the court today," said BGSU head coach Jennifer Roos. "We got some good execution from that group, and then we just ran out of gas, and they hit a couple three-pointers to cut into that lead. But, overall we had good balance. With the back-to-back games in this tournament, we wanted to get a lot of people some good minutes today, and if we could get the lead, try to rest some of our starters.
"I was really happy with our balance. We had every kid except one score, which is a huge positive, and we got to the foul line and made some shots. We got good contributions from everyone. When three-point shots weren't falling, we were able to turn the corner and get to the rim, and either make shots or draw fouls and get to the line."
The Falcons took the lead with just 16 seconds gone, when Donovan stole a cross-court pass by Raelyn Cheung-Sutton and headed in for an easy layup. Justinger drove the lane and banked home a shot with just over two minutes gone, and UCI's first points did not come until Madison McKenney hit a pair of free throws at the 16:13 mark. Senior Jasmine Matthews hit a runner, though, and Donovan knifed through traffic for a layup and an 8-2 lead.
The Anteaters finally made a field goal with 5:39 gone, when Methlyn Onogomuho came up with a steal and uncontested layup. But, Donovan came right back with a left-side layup, and Justinger hit a driving layup in a crowd for a 12-4 Falcon lead.
The Falcons went just over three minutes without a point, and UCI crept to within two points on a jumper by Mokun Fajemisin, but Myers fed Hoekstra for a corner three, and Hoekstra deflected an Anteaters pass, leading to an easy layup for Myers and a 17-10 lead. Hoekstra grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and hit the resulting free throws for a nine-point advantage.
Moments later, sophomore Abby Siefker's nifty pass found Justinger under the hoop. Justinger was fouled as she attempted a layup, and made two charity tosses coming out of the under-eight-minute media timeout, for a 21-12 advantage.
Puk hit an 'and-one' layup and made the ensuing free throw, before the Anteaters' Irene Chavez hit a three-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer. Sutherland's putback cut the Falcons' lead to five points, before Matthews drove the paint, was tripped and made two shots from the line with just over four minutes left in the half.
Sutherland followed with a layup, however, and a free throw cut the Falcons' lead to just four points, 26-22, with 1:55 left in the half. But, Matthews found Donovan for a left-wing three-pointer, and after the teams traded offensive fouls, Myers grabbed a defensive rebound, headed downcourt and found Matthews in transition. Matthews was fouled, returned to the line and made two more shots for a 31-22 lead with 35.7 seconds left in the period. Montgomery's late bucket cut the Falcons' advantage to seven points at the intermission.
BGSU shot only 30.3 percent from the field, but held the Anteaters to a 33.3% success rate as each team made 10 field goals in the opening half. The Falcons hit only two first-half three-pointers to UCI's one, but BG went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, while the Anteaters were 3-of-4 from the stripe.
The second half started slowly, as neither team scored for two minutes. A Justinger layup with exactly 18 minutes left, however, sparked a 7-0 run for the Falcons.
After a BG defensive rebound, Justinger took a pass from sophomore Rachel Konieczki and scored in transition. Then, a nifty look by Hoekstra led to an easy layup for Donovan underneath the hoop, and the Falcons' lead was double digits once again. When Justinger fed Hoekstra for a triple from the left corner, BGSU led by a 38-24 score with 15 minutes to go.
Irvine's first points of the half came on a Sutherland layup at the 14:16 mark, but Konieczki knocked down a jumper in the paint as she was fouled, and the resulting free throw made it a 41-26 game.
Moments later, Donovan came up with a defensive rebound, and seconds later, the redshirt junior was laying the ball off glass and through the hoop at the other end of the floor. After another Donovan defensive board, Myers executed an effective shot-fake, took two dribbled and hit a 10-foot jumper from the right side. BG's lead was 45-28, and the Anteaters used a timeout with 12:10 remaining.
A minute-and-a-half later, Myers drilled a three-pointer to give the Brown and Orange a 20-point lead for the first time. Then, redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick scored the first points of her collegiate career, grabbing a rebound at the defensive end, going coast-to-coast, and hitting a layup for a 50-28 BG lead.
Freshman Lauren Webb scored the first point of her young Falcon career, knocking down a free throw at the 8:37 mark. Freshman Sarah Baer checked into the game at that point, giving BGSU five freshmen on the floor, and after Glassow hit a shot for UCI, Baer took a pass from Kirkpatrick and hit a turnaround jumper from the foul line.
Puk scored five consecutive BG points, turning a left-side drive into her second three-point play of the game, and getting herself back to the line and hitting both ends of a one-and-one opportunity. When Myers hit an 'and-one' layup of her own, off of a Webb assist, the Falcons had a 27-point lead, 61-34, with just 4:50 remaining. But, the Anteaters would come roaring back.
Against the youthful Falcon lineup, a Glassow jumper began an 18-0 run for Irvine. Jenny Dee's three-pointer with 1:44 remaining made it a 15-point margin, 61-46, and Tierra Hicks connected from long range with a minute to go. When Dee hit another shot from beyond the arc, the Falcons' lead was down to single digits, 61-52.
Justinger, who along with Konieczki had returned to the game just over a minute earlier, split a pair of free throws with 41.9 seconds to go, and the Anteaters missed a three-point try on the following possession. BG used most of the shot clock on the next trip down the court, and Montgomery closed the scoring with a pair of late charity tosses for UCI.
The Falcons shot 11-of-22 (50.0%) over the first 12-plus minutes of the second half, and BG shot 37.9% from the floor in the half and 33.9% for the game. The BGSU defense held UC Irvine to a 30.0% conversion rate in the second period and a 31.4% field-goal rate on the day.
At the line, BGSU went 16-of-21, while the Anteaters hit 6-of-10 shots. Both teams sank four three-pointers on the day. Hoekstra was a perfect 2-of-2 from long range.
"Almost everyone played double-digit minutes today," said Roos. "Our players got a good chance to play with the lead, and also to play against a team who is playing from behind and playing a little more aggressively. We wanted to get to the championship game, and we've done that, and we know we will need a concerted effort from everyone who gets on the floor tomorrow."
BGSU, as mentioned, will take on host LMU on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. locally (6:30 p.m. ET) in the tournament's championship game. The consolation game, featuring UAB and UC Irvine, will begin at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time (4:00 p.m. Eastern).
DOUBLETREE LA WESTSIDE THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
Friday, Nov. 28
Bowling Green 62, UC Irvine 54
Loyola Marymount 66, UAB 61
Saturday, Nov. 29
Consolation - UC Irvine vs. UAB, 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. ET)
Championship - BGSU at Loyola Marymount, 3:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. ET)
Â
Â
LINKS
FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
POST-GAME AUDIO: Coach Roos
With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-1 on the season, and BGSU will face tournament host Loyola Marymount University in Saturday's championship game. The Lions defeated UAB, 66-61, in Friday's second game. The BGSU-LMU contest will begin at 3:30 p.m. locally (6:30 p.m. Eastern).
Redshirt junior Erica Donovan had a double-double vs. the Anteaters, with game-high totals of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Rachel Myers had the second double-digit game of her young career, with 10 points in the win.
The Falcons led by seven at the half, but built that lead to as many as 27 points in the second half. A furious rally by UCI got the Anteaters back within single digits, but the lead never fell below the final eight-point margin.
Junior Miriam Justinger had nine points and six rebounds on Friday, while senior Deborah Hoekstra and freshman Haley Puk scored eight points apiece.
The Falcons' 62-point total included 31 points from the starters and 31 from the bench.
Shareen Sutherland led the Anteaters with 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Brittany Glassow and Olivia Montgomery had eight points apiece for UCI.
""We were able to open up a good lead in the second half and were able to play eight to 10 minutes with five freshmen on the court today," said BGSU head coach Jennifer Roos. "We got some good execution from that group, and then we just ran out of gas, and they hit a couple three-pointers to cut into that lead. But, overall we had good balance. With the back-to-back games in this tournament, we wanted to get a lot of people some good minutes today, and if we could get the lead, try to rest some of our starters.
"I was really happy with our balance. We had every kid except one score, which is a huge positive, and we got to the foul line and made some shots. We got good contributions from everyone. When three-point shots weren't falling, we were able to turn the corner and get to the rim, and either make shots or draw fouls and get to the line."
The Falcons took the lead with just 16 seconds gone, when Donovan stole a cross-court pass by Raelyn Cheung-Sutton and headed in for an easy layup. Justinger drove the lane and banked home a shot with just over two minutes gone, and UCI's first points did not come until Madison McKenney hit a pair of free throws at the 16:13 mark. Senior Jasmine Matthews hit a runner, though, and Donovan knifed through traffic for a layup and an 8-2 lead.
The Anteaters finally made a field goal with 5:39 gone, when Methlyn Onogomuho came up with a steal and uncontested layup. But, Donovan came right back with a left-side layup, and Justinger hit a driving layup in a crowd for a 12-4 Falcon lead.
The Falcons went just over three minutes without a point, and UCI crept to within two points on a jumper by Mokun Fajemisin, but Myers fed Hoekstra for a corner three, and Hoekstra deflected an Anteaters pass, leading to an easy layup for Myers and a 17-10 lead. Hoekstra grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and hit the resulting free throws for a nine-point advantage.
Moments later, sophomore Abby Siefker's nifty pass found Justinger under the hoop. Justinger was fouled as she attempted a layup, and made two charity tosses coming out of the under-eight-minute media timeout, for a 21-12 advantage.
Puk hit an 'and-one' layup and made the ensuing free throw, before the Anteaters' Irene Chavez hit a three-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer. Sutherland's putback cut the Falcons' lead to five points, before Matthews drove the paint, was tripped and made two shots from the line with just over four minutes left in the half.
Sutherland followed with a layup, however, and a free throw cut the Falcons' lead to just four points, 26-22, with 1:55 left in the half. But, Matthews found Donovan for a left-wing three-pointer, and after the teams traded offensive fouls, Myers grabbed a defensive rebound, headed downcourt and found Matthews in transition. Matthews was fouled, returned to the line and made two more shots for a 31-22 lead with 35.7 seconds left in the period. Montgomery's late bucket cut the Falcons' advantage to seven points at the intermission.
BGSU shot only 30.3 percent from the field, but held the Anteaters to a 33.3% success rate as each team made 10 field goals in the opening half. The Falcons hit only two first-half three-pointers to UCI's one, but BG went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, while the Anteaters were 3-of-4 from the stripe.
The second half started slowly, as neither team scored for two minutes. A Justinger layup with exactly 18 minutes left, however, sparked a 7-0 run for the Falcons.
After a BG defensive rebound, Justinger took a pass from sophomore Rachel Konieczki and scored in transition. Then, a nifty look by Hoekstra led to an easy layup for Donovan underneath the hoop, and the Falcons' lead was double digits once again. When Justinger fed Hoekstra for a triple from the left corner, BGSU led by a 38-24 score with 15 minutes to go.
Irvine's first points of the half came on a Sutherland layup at the 14:16 mark, but Konieczki knocked down a jumper in the paint as she was fouled, and the resulting free throw made it a 41-26 game.
Moments later, Donovan came up with a defensive rebound, and seconds later, the redshirt junior was laying the ball off glass and through the hoop at the other end of the floor. After another Donovan defensive board, Myers executed an effective shot-fake, took two dribbled and hit a 10-foot jumper from the right side. BG's lead was 45-28, and the Anteaters used a timeout with 12:10 remaining.
A minute-and-a-half later, Myers drilled a three-pointer to give the Brown and Orange a 20-point lead for the first time. Then, redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick scored the first points of her collegiate career, grabbing a rebound at the defensive end, going coast-to-coast, and hitting a layup for a 50-28 BG lead.
Freshman Lauren Webb scored the first point of her young Falcon career, knocking down a free throw at the 8:37 mark. Freshman Sarah Baer checked into the game at that point, giving BGSU five freshmen on the floor, and after Glassow hit a shot for UCI, Baer took a pass from Kirkpatrick and hit a turnaround jumper from the foul line.
Puk scored five consecutive BG points, turning a left-side drive into her second three-point play of the game, and getting herself back to the line and hitting both ends of a one-and-one opportunity. When Myers hit an 'and-one' layup of her own, off of a Webb assist, the Falcons had a 27-point lead, 61-34, with just 4:50 remaining. But, the Anteaters would come roaring back.
Against the youthful Falcon lineup, a Glassow jumper began an 18-0 run for Irvine. Jenny Dee's three-pointer with 1:44 remaining made it a 15-point margin, 61-46, and Tierra Hicks connected from long range with a minute to go. When Dee hit another shot from beyond the arc, the Falcons' lead was down to single digits, 61-52.
Justinger, who along with Konieczki had returned to the game just over a minute earlier, split a pair of free throws with 41.9 seconds to go, and the Anteaters missed a three-point try on the following possession. BG used most of the shot clock on the next trip down the court, and Montgomery closed the scoring with a pair of late charity tosses for UCI.
The Falcons shot 11-of-22 (50.0%) over the first 12-plus minutes of the second half, and BG shot 37.9% from the floor in the half and 33.9% for the game. The BGSU defense held UC Irvine to a 30.0% conversion rate in the second period and a 31.4% field-goal rate on the day.
At the line, BGSU went 16-of-21, while the Anteaters hit 6-of-10 shots. Both teams sank four three-pointers on the day. Hoekstra was a perfect 2-of-2 from long range.
"Almost everyone played double-digit minutes today," said Roos. "Our players got a good chance to play with the lead, and also to play against a team who is playing from behind and playing a little more aggressively. We wanted to get to the championship game, and we've done that, and we know we will need a concerted effort from everyone who gets on the floor tomorrow."
BGSU, as mentioned, will take on host LMU on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. locally (6:30 p.m. ET) in the tournament's championship game. The consolation game, featuring UAB and UC Irvine, will begin at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time (4:00 p.m. Eastern).
DOUBLETREE LA WESTSIDE THANKSGIVING CLASSIC
Friday, Nov. 28
Bowling Green 62, UC Irvine 54
Loyola Marymount 66, UAB 61
Saturday, Nov. 29
Consolation - UC Irvine vs. UAB, 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. ET)
Championship - BGSU at Loyola Marymount, 3:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. ET)
Â
Team Stats
BGSU
UCI
FG%
.339
.314
3FG%
.190
.267
FT%
.762
.600
RB
48
47
TO
15
14
STL
4
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballAmy Velasco, Lexi Fleming, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Mar. 5, 2025)
Thursday, March 06
Paige Kohler, Coach Chmiel, & Amy Velasco Postgame Interview (Feb. 26, 2025)
Thursday, February 27
In the Paint: Lexxus Graham-Blincoe
Wednesday, February 26
Erika Porter, Amy Velasco, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Feb. 22, 2025)
Sunday, February 23