Jackrabbits Use Early Second-Half Run to Get Past Falcons, 58-45

Monday, December 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-5

South Dakota State

10-3

South Dakota State

Bowling Green

Sydney Lambert had a game-high 14 points Monday night (Larry Clapper photo)

Photo by: Larry Clapper

December 21, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Lambert paces three BGSU double-figure scorers

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

South Dakota State University began the second half on a 12-0 run, wresting control of a close game en route to a 58-45 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Monday night (Dec. 21). The non-conference contest was held at the Stroh Center.

Falcon freshman Sydney Lambert scored a game-high 14 points to pace three BGSU double-digit scorers. Seniors Miriam Justinger and Lauren Tibbs had 11 and 10 points, respectively, but the Jackrabbits got 13 points off the bench from Gabby Boever, while six of her teammates scored between 5 and 8 points.

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The Jacks led by a narrow 20-19 score at the half, but a pair of transition hoops began that 12-point run, and the visitors had a 32-19 advantage.

The lead grew as high as 15 points on several occasions late in the third period, but BG cut the deficit to nine points twice in the fourth quarter, the last on a layup by sophomore Rachel Myers with 6:11 to go. The visitors quickly responded, however, with a Madison Guebert three-point field goal, and the SDSU lead never fell below 10 points thereafter.

Myers had eight points for the Falcons, while junior Ashley Tunstall had two points and nine rebounds, tying for game honors in the latter category. Lambert had a game-best four assists on the night.

Justinger was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range, with Myers and Lambert also knocking down a pair of long-distance shots vs. the Jackrabbits.

BGSU got off to a quick start, taking a 5-0 lead with just over a minute gone. Lambert, who either scored or assisted on 17 of the Falcons' 19 first-half points, flipped the ball inside for a Tibbs layup on the game's opening possesion. Then, she grabbed a defensive rebound and found Justinger for a transition three and that five-point lead.

Clarissa Ober got the visitors on the board with a three-point play, but Justinger fed Lambert for an elbow jumper and a 7-3 BGSU lead. Tibbs, however, was called for her second foul in the game's first three minutes and headed to the bench.

The Jacks scored the game's next five points, with a Chloe Cornemann triple giving the visitors an 8-7 lead just over midway through the period, but BG regained the advantage with back-to-back buckets in the paint. First, Lambert hit a turnaround jumper. Then, junior Abby Siefker drove the lane, drew a defender to her and dished a pass to a wide-open Tunstall for an easy layup and an 11-8 lead.

SDSU's leading scorer, Macy Miller, scored the only points in the last 3:48 of the quarter, as she hit a layup with 1:09 to go, and the Falcons took an 11-10 lead into the first quarter break.

BGSU held the Jackrabbits to just 20 percent shooting in that opening period. SDSU's 4-of-20 field-goal rate included a 1-for-8 effort from three-point land.

Boever opened the second-period scoring, with a three-ball just 14 seconds in. But, Lambert hit back-to-back triples only 25 seconds apart, giving the Falcons a 17-13 lead. Her first trey came after Tibbs took an entry pass and kicked the ball back out to the freshman. Then, after Ober missed a layup at the other end, Lambert came downcourt, found herself open and hit another long-distance shot with 7:06 left before the half.

Lambert scored all eight of the Falcons' second-quarter points.

A pair of jumpers tied the score for the visitors with just over half of the quarter gone, and Boever's triple at the 4:01 mark gave the Jacks a 20-17 lead. Lambert took a pass from redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick and hit a long two-pointer from the right corner, cutting SDSU's lead to a single point, and neither team would score in the last 3:23 of the half.

Lambert had 12 first-half points to lead all players, while Boever scored 10 points prior to the intermission. The Jacks held BGSU to 29.6% shooting in that opening half, but the Falcons' defense allowed the visitors to shoot just 23.5% (8-of-34).

The third quarter, however, saw the Jacks pull away. BGSU used nearly all of the shot clock on back-to-back possessions, with a pair of three-point tries missing the mark, and SDSU countered with a pair of transition layups. Ober scored with 1:15 gone in the period, while Ellie Thompson's hoop at the 8:04 mark made it a 24-19 game and prompted a BG timeout.

Out of that timeout, however, a steal by Thompson gave the ball back to the Jacks, and Ober's layup put her team up by seven points. The run culminated with a three-pointer by Guebert with 5:02 left in the quarter, giving the visitors that 32-19 lead.

Lambert hit a pair of free throws with 4:34 remaining, for BG's first points of the period, and after the Jacks countered with a layup, Tibbs scored four of the game's next five points. After a Kirkpatrick rebound at the defensive end, a long pass by Lambert found Tibbs near the hoop, and the senior laid the ball up and in.

Boever split a pair of charity tosses, but Kirkpatrick found Tibbs for a turnaround one-hander, cutting SDSU's lead to 35-25. The Jacks, though, scored the game's next five points, and a Tibbs jumper was answered by Alexis Alexander's shot at the other end of the floor. Late in the period, however, Tibbs found Myers for a three-ball that cut the Jacks' lead to 12, at 42-30.

Thompson opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a layup just 10 seconds in, but Tibbs scored on a putback, and Justinger spotted Myers in the left corner for a transition three. Suddenly, the SDSU lead was down to nine points, 44-35, with 8:24 remaining.

BG got stops on the next two possessions, including a shot-clock violation by the Jacks, but the Falcons couldn't narrow the gap, and Kerri Young's wild running layup try was successful with 6:32 left. Myers scored on a driving layup, but Guebert came right back with a three-pointer, and the lead was 12 points, 49-37, with 5:56 on the clock. That Guebert try hit the back rim, bounced high into the air and dropped straight through the hoop.

Justinger's trey with 2:34 left cut the Falcons' deficit to 10 points, but the Brown and Orange would draw no closer. The Jacks made 4-of-6 free throws in the game's final 1:41 to keep the lead in double figures.

Justinger scored the Falcons' final eight points of the game, and she had five rebounds and two assists to go along with her 11 points. Tibbs, who was limited to just 23 minutes due to early foul trouble, and Myers had four boards apiece.

Miller had eight points for the visitors, while Ober and Thompson had seven apiece. Ober tied Tunstall for game rebounding honors with nine, as the Jacks held a 38-33 advantage on the glass.

The Falcons, now 4-5 on the year, head to San Antonio, Texas, to play a pair of games in the UTSA Holiday Classic early next week (Dec. 29-30). BGSU will face Texas Southern and host UTSA at that tourney, before opening Mid-American Conference play with a game at Miami on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016.