Cold-Shooting Start Too Much for BGSU to Overcome

Wednesday, February 11

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

9-14, 2-10MAC

Ohio

19-3, 10-1MAC

Ohio

Bowling Green

Rachel Myers led the Falcons with 13 points, hitting 3 3-pointers, in the Ohio game

Photo by: Larry Clapper

February 11, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Falcons fall, 71-46, to league-leading Ohio

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

A cold-shooting start was too much for the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to overcome, as the Falcons fell, 71-46, to Mid-American Conference-leading Ohio University Wednesday night (Feb. 11).

Freshman Rachel Myers led the Falcons (9-14, 2-10 MAC) with 13 points on the night. Myers went 3-of-6 from three-point range vs. the Bobcats. She paced BGSU in scoring for the second consecutive game.

Senior Deborah Hoekstra added nine points and junior Miriam Justinger eight for the Brown and Orange, while redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick and true freshman Haley Puk scored six points apiece. Justinger led the hosts with seven rebounds and three steals, and Hoekstra had five boards and two blocked shots.

Kat Yelle led the Bobcats (19-3, 10-1 MAC) with 13 points, and Yelle was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point land. Lexie Baldwin had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while four of her teammates -- Kiyanna Black, Mariah Byard, Mariah Harris and Quiera Lampkins -- scored eight points apiece.

The Falcons missed 15-straight shots to begin the game, and BG did not hit a field goal until over nine minutes into the game. When Justinger knocked down that shot, however, the home team trailed by only five points, 10-5. But, the Bobcats made 7-of-12 three-point tries in the opening period, and had an answer for every BG bucket.

Ohio led by a 38-26 score at halftime, and slowly extended the lead in the second half. A Harris three-pointer with 10:57 to go put the visitors up by 21 points, and the final 25-point margin was the largest of the game.

After that 0-for-15 start, the Falcons hit 8-of-15 shots over the remainder of the half. But, the Bobcats shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first period, including that 7-of-12 (58.3%) performance from long distance.

The Falcons committed just two turnovers in the first half and had a season-low eight turnovers for the game. But, BG shot just 22.2% on the night, including a 4-for-24 (16.7%) effort in the second half.

BGSU spotted Ohio the game's first five points. The Falcons got a stop on the opening possession of the game, but Black's three-pointer and a Lampkins lalyup put the visitors ahead for good.

Sophomore Rachel Konieczki, however, was fouled on a three-point attempt with just under two minutes gone, and swished all three of the resulting free-throw tries. The Falcons were 16-of-22 (72.7%) at the line on the night, and Konieczki's three tosses cut Ohio's lead to 5-3.

The score remained the same at the opening media timeout of the night. BGSU was 0-of-7 from the field at that juncture, while Ohio was 2-for-3, but with three turnovers -- more than the Falcons would commit in the entire half.

The 'Cats got a Jasmine Weatherspoon layup four minutes into the game, and a Harris three-pointer with six-and-a-half minutes elapsed, but when Justinger broke BG's field-goal drought with a jumper at the 10:40 mark, BG trailed by just a 10-5 score.

And, when the junior's cross-court pass resulted in a corner three from Myers, the Falcons were down only two, 10-8, midway through the period.

The visitors, however, scored the game's next seven points, and after Myers took a Kirkpatrick pass and drained another triple, Byard came right back with a three for the visitors. Myers hit a pull-up jumper to give her eight points and cut her team's deficit to 20-13, though and after the 'Cats countered with a layup, Konieczki found Hoekstra for a left-wing three-pointer, cutting the visitors' lead to 22-16 with 6:10 left in the half.

But, Baldwin's jumper began a 7-0 run, with Yelle knocking down a triple try and Baldwin grabbing a teammate's airball and laying the ball up and in.

Kirkpatrick ended that run with a three-pointer from Hoekstra's feed, and after Yelle answered with a trey, Puk knocked down a long two-pointer after a nifty shot fake just outside the arc. BG trailed by 11, 32-21.

Moments later, Myers got to the line and hit a pair of free throws, cutting the Ohio lead to 10. Yelle drilled her third three-pointer of the half, but with 45.8 seconds to go, Justinger muscled her way inside and hit a layup, drawing Black's third foul in the process. Justinger's free throw made it a 36-26 game before Yelle's layup gave the Bobcats a 12-point advantage at the intermission.

After a Lampkins layup began the second period, Puk answered with a driving layup to cut the lead to 12 once again. The 'Cats scored just four points over the next four minutes, but held the Falcons scoreless during that time. But, when Myers took a Justinger pass and knocked down a corner three, Ohio's lead was back down to 13 points, 44-31, at the initial media timeout of the period.

The Bobcats answered with a 6-0 run, however, with Baldwin scoring the last four points on layups. Hoekstra drilled a long three-point try with the shot clock winding down, cutting Ohio's lead to 50-34 with exactly 12 minutes left in the game. But, the Falcons would make only one more field goal the rest of the night.

Ohio went on a 9-1 run, with a Weatherspoon layup making the score 59-35 with under nine minutes remaining. BG hit three free throws within a two-second span, and knocked down three more shots from the stripe over the next minute-plus, but Black's three-pointer extended the Bobcats' lead to 64-41 with 6:23 to go.

Kirkpatrick got to the line and made a pair of shots, and Justinger got a layup to drop with just under four minutes on the clock, but it was too little, too late. After a Justinger free throw with 2:38 to go, the 'Cats would score the last six points of the night.

The Falcons will head to Muncie, Ind., for a Saturday (Feb. 14) contest against Ball State University. Tipoff for that game is 2:00 p.m. at Worthen Arena, and the game is the first half of a doubleheader which sees the BGSU and Ball State men's teams meet at 4:30 p.m.