Falcons Rally for 64-58 Road Win in MAC Opener

Saturday, January 2

Oxford, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-5, 1-0MAC

Miami

6-6, 0-1MAC

Bowling Green

Miami

Rachel Myers scored 16 points, including 4 3-pointers (photo by Dave Meyer, Miami Athletics)

January 02, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BGSU battles back from 14 down to topple Miami in Oxford

By: OXFORD, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team rallied from a 14-point deficit to post a 64-58 win over Miami University Saturday afternoon (Jan. 2). The game, the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams, was held at Millett Hall on the MU campus.

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With the win, the Falcons improve to 5-5 on the season, and Saturday's win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Brown and Orange. The loss drops the RedHawks to 6-6 on the year.

Senior Lauren Tibbs and sophomore Rachel Myers tied for game scoring honors with 16 points apiece, while junior Ashley Tunstall had 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds in the win.

Tibbs scored 14 of BGSU's 24 first-half points, while Myers and Tunstall each scored 11 points in the second half. Tunstall had eight points in the game's final seven minutes.

BGSU trailed by just two points after one quarter of play, but the RedHawks opened the second quarter on a 13-2 run to open up a 30-17 lead. That lead reached a game-high 14 points when Kristen Levering's three-point field goal made it a 33-19 contest with 2:22 left before the half.

The 'Hawks took a 36-24 lead into the intermission, then scored the first point of the third quarter before the Falcons slowly began to rally. The lead fluctuated between seven and 10 points for much of the period before back-to-back triples cut BG's deficit to just four, 43-39, late in the period.

The Falcons held the RedHawks without a basket in that third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, MU twice extended the lead back out to six points before a 5-0 BG run cut the hosts' lead to a single point. Tunstall hit a pair of free throws with 4:07 remaining to give the Falcons the lead for good.

The Falcons forced the RedHawks into 20 turnovers, and BG had advantages of 22-15 in points off turnovers and 11-2 in second-chance points.

Levering, who led the RedHawks with 13 points, opened the game's scoring with her first of three successful treys on the day. Myers countered with her own personal five-point run, hitting a right-side jumper and knocking down a corner three after a pass by Tibbs, but another Levering triple gave the hosts a 6-5 lead with two and a half minutes gone. Tunstall drove the lane, was fouled and knocked down both charity tosses to give BG a one-point advantage at the first media timeout.

Moments later, some nifty BG passing resulted in redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick finding Tibbs in the paint. The senior quickly hit a jumper for a 9-8 Falcon lead midway through the quarter.

The hosts scored the next four points, and after freshman Sydney Lambert was fouled and split a pair of free throws, Leah Purvis hit a three to give the hosts a 15-10 lead. Tibbs scored five points in the final minute of the period, taking a Myers pass and knocking down a straightaway trey and, after Ana Richter's putback, catching an entry pass from Tunstall and hitting a layup with just seven seconds left. The hosts led by a 17-15 score after 10 minutes.

Both teams went 5-of-11 from the field in that opening period. Miami, after hitting all three three-point attempts in the first quarter, opened the second quarter by making shots in the paint on each of the first three possessions of the second. Richter scored on a back-door layup, and Kayla Brown hit an unorthodox turnaround one-hander. When Baleigh Reid drove down the middle and scored, MU's lead was 23-15.

Kirkpatrick stopped the run with a driving layup after a nifty shot fake, but Richter quickly hit a triple try at the other end. At that point, the RedHawks were a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the quarter and 4-of-4 from three-point land for the game. And, moments later, a Richter layup gave the 'Hawks a 28-17 advantage and prompted a Falcon timeout.

Neither team scored for over two minutes, before a driving layup by Richter increased her team's lead to 13 points. Tibbs grabbed an offensive rebound and muscled back inside for a layup, but Levering's shot from beyond the arc bounced around and finally dropped through the basket, giving MU a 33-19 lead.

Tibbs answered with her second three-pointer from the top of the arc, with the net barely moving as the ball dropped through, but Jazz Smith countered with a triple of her own. Tibbs hit a running banker to cut the Falcons' deficit to 36-24 at the break.

Another Tibbs shot went off glass and through the hoop with just 5.1 seconds left in the period, but that basket was waved off as the senior was called for an offensive foul. Tibbs had 14 of BG's 24 first-half points, going 6-of-7 from the field in that time, but the foul was her second of the afternoon.

As the third quarter began, Tibbs was whistled for her third foul of the day on the opening possession, and headed to the bench for the final 9:38 of the period. Molly McDonagh split two tosses, but senior Miriam Justinger's 'extra pass' resulted in a three-pointer from a wide open Myers. After Miami turned the ball over, junior Abby Siefker drew a foul and hit two free throws, cutting the RedHawks' lead to 37-29.

The home team made a pair of shots from the stripe, before Tunstall's first three-pointer of the season narrowed the Falcons' deficit to seven. The Redhawks inched that lead back out to 10 points on two occasions, but back-to-back triples made it a four-point game.

The first of those triples came when Tunstall rebounded a teammate's missed shot in traffic underneath the basket and kicked the ball out to Myers for a long-range make. Then, after the BG defense forced Miami into a shot-clock violation, junior Rachel Konieczki fed sophomore Haley Puk for a three-ball, and MU's lead was just 43-39. The hosts hit three free throws over the next few minutes, before Justinger knocked down a triple with 38 seconds to go in the quarter.

The Falcons went 5-of-8 from three-point range in the third period. Miami, after going 6-for-8 from long distance in the first half, was 0-of-1 from three-point land and 0-for-6 overall in the third quarter.

The RedHawks scored the first points of the fourth period on a steal and layup by McDonagh with 9:05 to go. That broke a streak of 12:34 without a field goal for the home team, which had not hit a bucket since 1:39 remained in the second quarter.

Justinger hit a layup, and after two Purvis free throws, Tunstall converted a pretty layup attempt, and Tibbs kicked the ball out to Myers for a corner three. Suddenly, Miami's lead was a single point, 50-49, with 6:26 to go.

After a Miami timeout, Kayla Brown scored inside, but Tunstall answered with a left-side jumper. Brown was called for an offensive foul, and Puk's bounce pass found Tunstall in the paint. Tunstall was fouled, but missed with of the ensuing free-throw attempts, leaving MU's one-point lead intact with 5:12 on the clock. But, Tunstall would more than make up for those misses.

The junior drove and drew another MU foul with 4:07 remaining. This time, she hit both shots at the line, giving BG the lead for the first time since midway through the first quarter.

McDonagh missed a short jumper and Tunstall grabbed the rebound. BG turned the ball over, but Tunstall's pressure forced Reid into a turnover at the top of the key with 2:52 to go.

Myers drove down the right side of the lane and scored, giving her team a three-point lead, but Smith quickly answered at the other end. Justinger's three-point try would not drop, but Tunstall battled an MU player for the rebound, and the ball went out of bounds to BG with 1:57 left.

Another three-pointer was no good, but Tunstall grabbed that rebound, and the possession culminated with a Tibbs layup with 1:19 remaining, giving the Falcons a 57-54 lead.

Megan Galloway hit a jumper and the RedHawks used a timeout with 52.8 seconds left. The Falcons, however, got a huge bucket on the next possession.

With under 40 seconds to go, Justinger's pass found Lambert on the left side of the court. The freshman point guard, who had missed all five of her field-goal attempts in the game's first 39-plus minutes, quickly took a shot from beyond the arc. This time, the ball found nothing but net, and the Falcons had a four-point lead, 60-56, with 36 seconds on the clock.

Galloway hit another layup to cut her team's deficit in half, and Tunstall called timeout as BG attempted to inbound the ball. After the timeout, the Falcons inbounded at midcourt, and successfully put the ball in play, forcing Miami to foul with 16.7 seconds left. Again, BG inbounded the ball without a hitch, and again the RedHawks were forced to foul. This time, the foul was MU's fifth of the quarter, and Tunstall calmly went to the line and hit the first free throw, then the second.

MU quickly headed downcourt, but Levering's three-point try was well off the mark, and the ball went out of bounds. Tunstall's long inbounds pass found Justinger over midcourt, and after Reid fouled her, the senior from Sylvania hit a pair of shots from the line with 2.6 seconds remaining to close the scoring.

Myers, Tibbs and Tunstall all had season-high point totals, and Tunstall scored in double digits for her first time as a Falcon. Tunstall just missed a double-double with her nine boards, helping the Falcons to a narrow 27-26 advantage on the glass.

BGSU went 10-for-23 from three-point range in the win, including a 7-of-12 performance in the second half. Six different players hit at least one triple, led by a 4-for-6 long-distance effort from Myers.

Overall, Tibbs was 7-for-11 from the field, while Myers went 6-for-9. Tibbs made two of her three three-point attempts.

Justinger had seven points, wihile Lambert and Puk had four apiece. Siefker had two points, five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while Kirkpatrick had two points and was one of five Falcons to hand out a pair of assists.

Richter had 12 points to join Levering in double figures for the hosts, while Brown scored eight points and Reid seven. BG held Reid more than 10 points under head 17.4 points-per-game average entering Saturday's contest.

The RedHawks shot 56.5 percent from the field in the first half, but just 31.3% (5-of-16) in the second. BG, after shooting 34.6% in the opening half, went 12-for-24 (50%) from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

The Falcons return to the road for a Wednesday (Jan. 6) game at Western Michigan University, before hosting Ohio University next Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Stroh Center. The Ohio game begins a three-game homestand for the Brown and Orange.