Third-Quarter Run Lifts Ohio Past Falcons, 72-57

Saturday, January 9

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-7, 1-2MAC

Ohio *

11-3, 3-0MAC

Ohio

Bowling Green

Freshman Sydney Lambert scored a season-high 17 points vs. Ohio

Photo by: Larry Clapper

January 09, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Lambert paces three BGSU double-figure scorers with 17 points

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team weathered an early Ohio University run, but a third-quarter surge by the Bobcats proved to be too much for the Falcons to overcome. Ohio posted a 72-57 win over BGSU in Mid-American Conference action Saturday (Jan. 9) at the Stroh Center.

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Freshman Sydney Lambert scored 17 points, the highest total of her BGSU career to date, to pace three double-figure scorers for the home team. Senior Lauren Tibbs had 15 points, making 7-of-10 shots from the floor, while sophomore Rachel Myers added 10 points.

Kiyanna Black paced the visitors with 18 points, while both Lexie Baldwin and Hannah Boesinger scored 13 apiece.

The Falcons committed turnovers on each of the team's first three possessions to begin the game, and the latter two turnovers resulted in uncontested Ohio layups. The Bobcats led by a 6-0 score with less than 90 seconds gone.

The 'Cats, in fact, would score the game's first nine points, but the Falcons battled back. BGSU was within a single point at the half, and the hosts took a 43-42 lead on a pair of Lambert free throws midway through the third quarter. But, Ohio responded by scoring the final 14 points of the quarter, and the Brown and Orange could get no closer than 13 points thereafter.

BGSU shot 46.4 percent from the field in the first half, and hit 6-of-9 three-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes. But, in the second half, the Brown and Orange went just 1-for-9 from long distance and shot 26.9% overall. The Bobcats shot just over 39% in the first half and just under 39% in the second, but Ohio made six triples in each half.

The Bobcats' Yamonie Jenkins turned the ball over on the game's first possession, but proceeded to steal it right back. Ohio's next possession ended in a Jasmine Weatherspoon jumper for the game's first points. A steal and layup by Baldwin was followed by another steal by Jenkins, who headed downcourt and hit a layup. With just 1:27 gone, the 'Cats had a 6-0 lead and the Falcons used a timeout.

The Ohio lead increased to 9-0 on a Baldwin three-pointer in transition, but Tibbs took a pass from senior Miriam Justinger and hit a three-pointer from the right wing. Quiera Lampkins answered with a bucket, but Tibbs kicked the ball out to Lambert, who knocked down a triple try to cut Ohio's lead to 11-6.

Black hit a long-range shot midway through the period, but Justinger was fouled on a drive, and her one-handed scoop shot rolled in. The senior completed the three-point play to bring the Falcons within five points, at 14-9. Then, Justinger fed Lambert for the freshman's second three-pointer of the day.

Ohio went 5-for-5 from the field to begin the game, then missed six of the next seven shots. That seventh shot, a Kelly Karlis layup try, was blocked by junior Abby Siefker, but Boesinger grabbed the rebound and hit a second-chance layup. Moments later, a Jenkins bucket gave Ohio an 18-12 lead with 2:32 left in the period.

Myers, however, scored the game's next five points. The sophomore hit a pull-up jumper, then curled around a screen and knocked down a long-distance shot from the right wing, cutting Ohio's lead to 18-17 at the 1:54 mark.

Ohio answered with a Dominique Doseck trey, but Lambert hit her third triple of the first quarter with 1:04 to go, and BG trailed by just a 21-20 score after the opening period of play.

After turning the ball over three times on as many possessions to begin the game, the Falcons did not commit a turnover in the final 8:37 of the quarter.

BGSU would commit just one turnover during the entire second quarter, and that turnover came on an offensive foul with 5:08 left before halftime.

Doseck's second trey of the day opened the scoring, but Justinger came up with a steal, then found an open Myers in the left corner for a triple with just over two minutes gone. The visitors surged out to a 29-23 lead after a Baldwin layup and a Boesinger three, but freshman Carly Santoro spotted Tibbs cutting to the hoop, whipping a pass to the senior for an easy backdoor layup.

Ohio went ahead by seven on a layup by Black midway through the quarter, and after Justinger's nifty drive and layup off glass, Black knocked down a jumper for a 34-27 Bobcat advantage. Santoro knocked down a pair of free throws, and Justinger took an inbounds pass from Lambert and hit a short-corner jumper, but Black's three-pointer gave her team a 37-31 lead with three minutes left in the half.

The 'Cats would not score again, however, before halftime arrived. Justinger found Tibbs for a quick foul-line jumper, and Tibbs then hit a one-hander. When Lambert was fouled and split a pair of free throws with 21.5 seconds left in the period, Ohio's lead was just one, 37-36.

Neither team scored for over two minutes when the third period began, before Black stole the ball from a Falcon and sailed in for a layup. Lambert quickly responded with her fourth three-pointer of the game, briefly tying the contest, but Black came right back with a triple of her own.

On the next two BG possessions, however, both Myers and Lambert drove to the basket and got fouled by a would-be defender. Myers hit two shots from the stripe at the 6:21 mark, and Lambert knocked down both charity tosses with 5:57 on the clock. For the first time, the Falcons had the lead, 43-42.

But, after a pair of offensive rebounds by her teammates, Boesinger hit a layup that gave Ohio the lead for good. Beginning with that layup, the Bobcats scored the game's next 14 points. When the third-period horn sounded, the visitors' lead was 56-43.

The run reached 18-0 as Weatherspoon hit a pair of layups to begin the fourth quarter, before redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick fired a pass to Tibbs for a layup with 8:56 to go. The visitors scored the next four points to take a 19-point lead, the largest of the game, before Justinger's layup.

That shot sparked a 6-0 run for the Falcons, with a Myers steal resulting in a Tibbs, and Tibbs grabbing a teammate's missed shot and laying the ball back up and in. The Bobcats' lead was down to 13 points, 64-51, with 6:19 remaining. Jenkins, however, hit a three-pointer on the next trip down the floor, and after a Lambert layup, five-straight points by Boesinger restored Ohio's 19-point advantage. Sophomore Haley Puk drained a pair of free-throw tries, and Siefker fought through several Bobcats for an offensive rebound and layup that closed the scoring.

Justinger had nine points for the Falcons, adding five rebounds and a team-leading four assists in 36 minutes of action. Tibbs had six boards to lead BG in that category, while Siefker and Santoro joined Justinger with five apiece.

Lampkins and Jenkins scored eight points each for Ohio, and three 'Cats -- Baldwin, Boesinger and Lampkins -- had seven rebounds apiece, as Ohio had a 42-37 advantage on the boards. Lampkins dished out a game-high five assists.

The Falcons are back at the Stroh Center on Wednesday night (Jan. 13), continuing a three-game home stand with a 7:00 p.m. matchup vs. Akron. Then, BG will face Ball State next Saturday (Jan. 16), with tipoff scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh.