Offense Erupts as Falcons Vanquish Valpo, 90-77

Tuesday, November 28

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

Valparaiso

November 28, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Santoro has a double-double in the second half alone as BG moves to 6-1

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

To say the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team got off to a slow start on Tuesday night (Nov. 28) might be an understatement.

To say the Falcons finished fast is most definitely an understatement.

BGSU shot 64 percent from the floor over the final three quarters, scoring 79 points in that time, en route to a 90-77 win over Valparaiso University before a loud crowd on Falcon Marching Band night at the Stroh Center.

The Falcons are now 6-1 on the season.

Junior Carly Santoro had her sixth double-double in seven games this season, with a monster stat line of 29 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high six assists. She led the Falcons in all three categories and had game-high numbers in scoring and rebounding.

Santoro was 8-of-11 from the floor and 13-for-16 from the line. She missed her only two three-point attempts, meaning that she was 8-of-9 on shots from inside the arc in Tuesday's win.

Junior Sydney Lambert had 17 points in the win, while sophomore Andrea Cecil added 10 and senior Haley Puk nine. Lambert (five) and Puk (three) combined to make eight of BG's 10 three-point field goals in the win.

Dani Franklin, who ranks fourth on the Valparaiso career scoring list, had 17 points for the visitors, who dropped to 2-2 on the year.

LINKS
BGSU-VALPO STATISTICS: PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Santoro | Coach Roos
POSTGAME VIDEO: Santoro | Coach Roos | Highlights
PHOTO GALLERY: Photos by Isaiah Vazquez, BGSU Mkt. & Comm.
BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...: Schedule | Giveaways / Promotions | Spark Page
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NOTE OF THE NIGHT

The Falcons scored points on 10 consecutive possessions Tuesday night – the last five possessions of the second quarter & the first five of the third. That stretch of just over six minutes saw BG extend a four-point lead to a 50-32 advantage.
The Falcons had 25 points on those 10 trips.

BONUS NOTE OF THE NIGHT (or, NOTE OF THE HEIGHT)

Through Tuesday night's games, junior Carly Santoro is tied for third in the country in double-doubles, with six in seven games.
While she will undoubtedly drop on this list (because BG is idle for over a week), Santoro is trailing only George Mason's Natalie Butler and Iowa's Megan Gustafson (seven double-doubles each), and she is tied with South Carolina's A'Ja Wilson.
Santoro is at least five inches shorter than each of the other three players. Butler and Wilson are 6-5, while Gustafson is 6-3 and Santoro 5-10.

Rank	Player	Cl	Ht	Pos	G	Dbl Dbl
1	Natalie Butler, George Mason (Atlantic 10)	Sr.	6-5	C	8	7
1	Megan Gustafson, Iowa (Big Ten)	Jr.	6-3	C	7	7
3	Carly Santoro, Bowling Green (Mid-American)	Jr.	5-10	G	7	6
3	A'Ja Wilson, South Carolina (Southeastern)	Sr.	6-5	F	7	6

TURNING POINT

The Falcons erased an early deficit to take the lead in the second quarter, but BG led by only four points, 25-21, after a Dani Franklin three-pointer with 3:46 left in the half. But, the Falcons would get points on each of the next five possessions, beginning with an Andrea Cecil three-point play. Junior Sydney Lambert, who had 14 first-half points, hit a three-pointer, then made a layup on the next possession to extend BG's lead to eight, before classmate Carly Santoro hit a pair of free throws with just 2.2 seconds left in the half.
After scoring on the final five possessions of the first half, BG scored on each of the first five possessions of the second half. A short jumper by Cecil began the third-quarter scoring, and Santoro scored five-straight points before senior Haley Puk knocked down three-point tries on back-to-back trips. When her second triple swished through the hoop, the Falcons had a 50-32 lead.

THIRD-QUARTER WOES? NOT WHEN YOU SHOOT 70% AT THE STROH!

The Falcons have led at halftime of all seven games this season to date, but BG has struggled in the third quarter. Heading into the Valparaiso game, BGSU had outscored opponents in the first (95-77), second (131-94) and fourth (96-84) quarters, but had been outscored by 40 points in the third.
After scoring a total of 76 third-quarter points in the first six games (an average of 12.7 points), the Falcons exploded for 32 points in the third quarter on Tuesday night. The Falcons led by 10 at the half, but extended that lead to as many as 20 points before taking a 19-point advantage into the final period vs. Valparaiso.

QUOTING COACH ROOS
"In previous games, we've been starting strong and ending strong, and we've struggled in the second and third quarters. Tonight was the complete opposite, and that's exactly what we needed – a strong quarter going into halftime and a strong quarter coming out of halftime."

"This was a big 'heart' game for us. We showed a lot of character against a type of pressure that we had not seen in previous games. Our kids responded, and they executed very, very well."

FIRST-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The Falcons were held scoreless for over five minutes to start the game, and BGSU had only three points before junior Sydney Lambert hit a three-pointer with 3:08 left to go in the quarter.
Valparaiso scored the game's first seven points, with the first five coming on back-to-back possessions. After neither team scored for nearly three and a half minutes, Dani Franklin knocked down a jumper, and the Falcons used a timeout.
The home team got on the board on the next trip down the floor, as sophomore Jane Uecker kicked the ball out to classmate Andrea Cecil for a three-pointer that finally got BG on the scoreboard with over five minutes gone.
But, despite shooting just 2-for-13 from the field to begin the evening, the Falcons were within a single point after freshman Sierra Thompson hit a pair of free throws with 1:31 left in the opening quarter.
Then, Thompson rebounded a teammate's missed shot and found freshman Kennedy Williams, who drilled a three-pointer with just 20 seconds left in the period to give BG an 11-9 lead. The visitors got a layup from Nicole Konieczny in the waning seconds to tie the score after 10 minutes.
SANTORO WATCH: Junior Carly Santoro was scoreless in the first quarter, going 0-for-1 from the field with a pair of rebounds.

SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

After shooting just 21.4 percent from the field in the first quarter, BG shot 75% in the second. The Falcons went 9-of-12 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from the arc, in that second quarter, outscoring Valpo, 26-16.
Williams hit her second bucket of the night to give the Falcons a brief lead, but Grace Hales connected on a long-range shot for the visitors. BG's next trip down the floor, however, saw sophomore Caterrion Thompson convert a baseline driving layup as the shot clock wound down. The Falcons led, 15-14, and BG would never trail again.
Santoro came up with a steal, went coast to coast, was fouled and hit both shots at the stripe for a 17-14 BG lead, and moments later, Lambert knocked down three-point tries from almost the exact same spot on the floor on back-to-back trips. Her second trey gave the hosts a 23-18 lead.
Santoro's pull-up jumper out of a media timeout made it a seven-point game, and after Frankin answered with a three-pointer with 3:45 left in the half, the Falcons scored on the final five offensive possessions of the quarter.
That stretch saw Cecil convert a three-point play, then find Uecker for a quick layup. Hales hit a trey, but Lambert answered with her third three-pointer of the quarter. Maya Meredith drained a triple for the Crusaders, but Lambert banked a layup attempt high off the glass and through the hoop with under a minute left in the half, and Santoro's charity tosses made it a 37-27 game at the intermission.
SANTORO WATCH: The Bellevue, Ohio, native had six points in the second quarter, going 1-for-1 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line. She also had an offensive rebound to bring her game totals to six points and three boards at the half.

THIRD-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

In both of BG's games at the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament over the weekend, the opponent made a third-quarter run and eventually took the lead before the Falcons rallied to win. On Tuesday, however, the Falcons scored early and often in the third quarter.
BG scored 13 points in the first 3:16 of the period, extending the lead to 18 points.
Cecil took a Santoro pass and knocked down a short jumper on BG's first possession of the period. Franklin came right back with a three, but Santoro's three-point play gave BG a 12-point lead, and the junior then converted a nice driving layup.
Moments later, senior Haley Puk took a Santoro pass and hit a left-corner three, then drained another triple try on BG's next possession, prompting VU coach Tracey Dorow to call her second timeout of the quarter with 6:41 remaining.
Puk made her third trey of the quarter just over a minute later, and Santoro then scored six-straight BG points. During one 20-second stretch, she rebounded a teammate's missed shot, then laid the ball back up and in before grabbing a defensive rebound, going coast-to-coast and scoring again.
Freshman Terri Battle banked a shot home for a 61-43 lead, and Sierra Thompson hit two-straight layups for the Falcons, then made a pair of free throws for a 67-47 BG advantage. Meredith Hamlet countered with a three-pointer, but Caterrion Thompson knocked down a jumper as the final seconds ticked away, giving BG a 69-50 advantage.
BG shot 70.6% in the third quarter on Tuesday night going 12-of-17 from the floor.
SANTORO WATCH: The junior had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in the third quarter alone. She was 4-of-4 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the stripe.

FOURTH-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The final quarter of Tuesday night's game had a track-meet feel, as both teams raced up and down the court for a majority of the 10 minutes.
BG was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free-throw line on the night before Santoro missed her second toss with 9:33 to go.
BG took a 20-point lead on Uecker's layup with 8:22 to go. That bucket came after multiple players went to the floor diving after a rebound, with Santoro finally grabbed the ball near midcourt and whipping a pass to Uecker as the duo was on a 2-on-1 break.
After Caitlin Morrison answered with a three-point play, Santoro hit a layup after rebounding a teammate's miss. But, back-to-back triples cut BG's lead to 13 points. Several minutes later, a Konieczny three-pointer cut the BG advantage to just 11 points, at 78-67, with 4:42 on the clock.
Cecil answered with a layup, then Uecker got a sweet reverse layup to drop. When Lambert hit a corner three with 2:43 to go, the Falcons' lead was back up to 17 points. That advantage reached 20 points once again, before Valpo scored the final seven points of the game.
SANTORO WATCH: Santoro had 12 points, five rebounds and two assists in the fourth period before checking out with 1:29 to go. She was 3-for-5 from the floor and 6-of-9 from the line in that quarter.

#WINNING

The Falcons have ended the November portion of the schedule with a 6-1 record.
The last BG team to win as many as six games in November was the 2013-14 club, which also ended the month with a 6-1 mark.
The last time a Falcon team won as many as six games in any month of the year was also that '13-14 squad, which went 6-2 in March of 2014, en route to the fourth round of the WNIT.
In fact, that 2013-14 team won six or more games in every month but one, and in that month (December), the Falcons only played five games. Just because you're dying to know, the '13-14 team went 6-1 in November, 4-1 in December, 7-1 in January, a perfect 7-0 in February and 6-2 in March.
Last year, BGSU's sixth win came on February 4.

A FEW KEY STATISTICS

The Falcons set season-best marks in field-goal percentage (53.4%), three-point FG pct. (41.7%) and free-throw pct. (85.7%) in Tuesday night's win.
BGSU shot better than 70% from the floor in both the second (75%; 9-of-12) and third (70.6%; 12-of-17) quarters.
For the game, the Crusaders shot 42.9% from the field, including an 11-for-31 (35.5%) effort from three-point range.
The teams combined to make 21 three-point field goals, as BG was 10-of-24 from long distance.
BGSU went 18-for-21 from the free-throw line, while Valpo was 18-for-22.
The Falcons went 13-for-13 from the stripe to begin the game, before finally missing with 9:33 left in the fourth quarter.
BGSU outrebounded VU, 35-28, on the night. The Falcons had a 28-16 advantage on the boards over the final three quarters.
As mentioned, the Brown and Orange shot 64% from the floor over those last three quarters.
BGSU had advantages of 36-20 in points in the paint, 19-13 in points off turnovers and 19-17 in second-chance points.
A total of eight Falcons had at least four points in the win.

NOTES

As mentioned, it was Falcon Marching Band night at the Stroh.
BGSU reached the 90-point mark for the first time since Feb. 9, 2014, when the Falcons drubbed Miami, 91-45, at the Stroh.
The Falcons' field-goal percentage was BG's best in almost two years, since the Brown and Orange shot .563 from the floor in a home win over Evansville on Dec. 2, 2015.
Junior Carly Santoro had her sixth double-double in seven games this season, topping her total for all of last season (five). Santoro now has 11 career double-doubles as a Falcon.
Santoro set a career high for the second consecutive game. After pulling down 17 rebounds – the most by a Falcon in nearly four years – in BG's win over FAU on Saturday, Santoro set a career standard in assists on Tuesday night. She had six assists vs. the Crusaders.
It has been nearly four years since a BG player had more than six assists in a game. Alexis Rogers had seven in a win over Eastern Michigan on Feb. 15, 2014. Junior Sydney Lambert has had several six-assist games in her career to date.
Through Tuesday night's games, Santoro is ranked 11th in the nation in rebounding, with 11.9 boards per game. She is currently the nation's leading rebounder among players under 6-0.
BGSU has led at halftime in all seven games this season.

UP NEXT

After playing seven games in 19 days, the Falcons now have over a week until the next game. BG will conclude a brief two-game home swing with next Wednesday's (Dec. 6) School Day game vs. Xavier. Tipoff for that game is 11:00 a.m. at the Stroh Center.
Then, the Falcons will fly to Brookings, S.D., to face South Dakota State on Saturday, Dec. 9

FOLLOW THE FALCONS

For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUwbb), Instagram (@bgsuwbasketball) and Snapchat (BGSU Falcons) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.

I hope I bought enough cookies for @BGSUFMB10! I will SEE you & HEAR you @BGSUwbb game! #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/WQM1N6Om7Y
— Jennifer Roos (@BGSUHoops) November 28, 2017

Best #PepBand in the land! @BGSUwbb got the entire @BGSUFMB10 tonight for their game! @BGSUHoops and the Falcons have responded well! pic.twitter.com/woQXxkDRGq
— BGSU Falcon Club (@Bgsufalconclub) November 29, 2017

3 wins in 5 days for @BGSUwbb! Always great to get a W at home. Thank you @BGSUFMB10! #AyZiggy #GoFalcons pic.twitter.com/vpkyV34fdz
— Lauren Ashman (@lm_ashman) November 29, 2017