Cardinals Stop Falcons, 91-70, in Muncie

Wednesday, February 8

Muncie, IN

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

6-17, 2-9MAC

Ball State

17-7, 10-2MAC

Bowling Green

Ball State

Huddle vs NIU - Jan 4 2017 - Bianca Garza photo

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 08, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Falcons hit 10 3-pointers in road setback

By: MUNCIE, Ind. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Host Ball State University scored the final 12 points of the first quarter to take the lead for good, and the Cardinals used a hot-shooting second-quarter performance to pull away from the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Wednesday night (Feb. 8). The result was a 91-70 BSU win in Mid-American Conference action at Worthen Arena.

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The Cardinals shot 50.7 percent from the field on the night, including a 20-for-35 effort in the opening half. Carmen Grande and Renee Bennett scored 20 points apiece for the home team.

The Falcons shot better than 44% from the floor for the third-straight game. And, BGSU made 10 three-point field goals on the night, going a perfect 5-for-5 from long range in the fourth quarter. Six different BG players hit at least one shot from beyond the arc on Wednesday, with five different Falcons knocking down a trey in that fourth period.

Freshmen and sophomores combined to score 50 of the Falcons' 70 points, with freshman Caterrion Thompson scoring a team-high 16 off the bench to tie her career high. Sophs Sydney Lambert and Carly Santoro had 10 points apiece.

"I thought we started off strong, just like we did when we played them at the Stroh Center," said Falcon head coach Jennifer Roos. "But, in the second quarter, we were losing people defensively. And, we didn't get a whole lot of shot attempts in that quarter because the majority of our 19 turnovers came in the first half. The story of this game, though, was that they doubled us up in points in the paint. With their 6-5 presence in Renee Bennett inside, they had success inside.

"This was also the first time in a long time that we have been outrebounded by that margin. We played better at both ends in the second half, and put up 41 points in that half, but when you dig yourself that big of a hole early on, it's tough to get out. We need to improve at both ends of the floor, because this is a team we could face in the MAC Tournament."

BGSU got off to a scorching start at the offensive end, hitting three-pointers on each of the first three possessions of the night. Lambert connected to open the game's scoring, and senior Ashley Tunstall kicked a pass out to Santoro for a left-wing triple moments later. When Lambert knocked down another long-distance try, BG had a 9-5 lead.

With less than three minutes gone, senior Abby Siefker hit a driving, and-one layup, sinking the ensuing free throw for a 12-7 Falcon lead. But, the Cardinals would hold the Falcons off of the scoreboard for the remainder of the period. BSU scored just 12 points over the final seven-plus minutes of the period, and the BG defense held the Cards without a point for nearly three minutes to end the quarter, but the Cards held a 19-12 lead after 10 minutes.

Tunstall banked home an acrobatic scoop shot after picking up a loose ball to begin the second-period scoring, and Lambert's nifty slashing drive saw the sophomore split two tall defenders and hit a layup, but Grande answered with a three-pointer for a 27-16 BSU lead.

Sophomores scored each of the next two BG buckets as well, as Maddie Cole converted a one-hander, Lambert pulled up for a jumper. Then, Thompson hit a jump-stop layup, giving the Falcons four-straight possessions with a basket. But, Ball State was answering at the other end.

Calyn Hosea followed Cole's hoop with one of her own, Grande answered Lambert's layup with a driving shot, and the BSU point guard responded to Thompson's layup with a three-pointer, giving the Cards a 34-22 lead.

After that Grande trey, the Cardinals got several stops at the defensive end, enabling the hosts to go on a 9-0 run. Another long-range make by Grande gave Ball State a 40-22 lead with under three minutes left in the period.

Thompson hit a pair of shots in the latter stages of the half, and Santoro got to the line and sank a pair of tosses, but the Cards continued their blistering second-quarter shooting. BSU went 11-of-18 (61.1%) from the field in the period, taking a 51-29 lead into the intermission.

In the second half, BG could not get any closer than the final margin. The Falcons got a Santoro driving layup midway through the period, and junior Rachel Myers and freshman Andrea Cecil each connected on three-point tries, before Cecil made a nifty move and banked home a shot in the paint in the final minute of the quarter.

The fourth period saw the Falcons go 10-of-16 from the field (62.5%), including that perfect 5-for-5 performance from the arc. Cecil, Thompson, Santoro, Myers and junior Haley Puk each hit a long-distance attempt in that final quarter, but it was not enough to make a dent in the Cardinals' lead.

All 11 Falcons to see action scored at least two points. In addition to the three double-figure scorers, the Falcons got eight points from Cecil, six from Myers and five from Puk.

Bennett had a game-high 15 rebounds for the home team, as the Cardinals held a commanding 45-25 lead on the glass. Jill Morrison scored 15 points for BSU, while Destiny Washington added 10.

BGSU, as mentioned, has shot better than 44% from the floor in each of the last three games, after being held under 40% in each of the previous 18 contests. The Falcons have shot three-pointers at a 41% rate or better in the last three games, making a total of 34 triples in that time.

The Falcons have made 10 or more three-pointers four times in the last seven games.

The Falcons now prepare for this weekend's Battle of I-75, as BG will head to Toledo to face the Rockets on Saturday night (Feb. 11). Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Savage Arena.