Ohio Holds Off Falcons, 69-58

Saturday, February 17

Athens, OH

1:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

10-15, 2-12MAC

Ohio

14-11, 8-6MAC

Bowling Green

Ohio

February 17, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats' fourth-quarter start keeps BG at bay Saturday

By: ATHENS, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Host Ohio University scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to open up a double-digit lead, and the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team was unable to recover as the Bobcats went on to a 69-58 win Saturday afternoon (Feb. 17) in Mid-American Conference action at the Convocation Center.

LINKS
BGSU-OHIO STATISTICS: PDF

The Falcons trailed for most of the game, but BG battled back to within five points after a layup by freshman Kennedy Williams in the final seconds of the third quarter. But, the 'Cats opened the final period with a 7-0 run to take a 58-46 lead.

Junior Carly Santoro led the Falcons with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists vs. the Bobcats. Caterrion Thompson and Sydney Lambert joined Santoro in double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

QUOTING COACH ROOS
"Kudos to Ohio for making the defensive adjustment that they made for this game. We outrebounded them, we made more 3's than they did; I thought we did a good job in a lot of areas. But, we need to take better care of the ball, and we need to handle that trap better."

"When the trap bothered us, we turned it over, and when we handled it, we got a wide-open or makeable shot. We did a good job of getting to the foul line late, but when you go 7-of-15 at the foul line, it's tough."

"I think this was a closer game than the score indicates, and that's part of why this loss stings a little bit more."

FIRST-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Senior Haley Puk kicked the ball out to junior Carly Santoro at the top of the arc on the game's first possession, and Santoro knocked down a three-point try for an early 3-0 lead. The Bobcats scored the next four points, with a steal and layup by Cierra Hooks putting the hosts in front.
After junior Sydney Lambert hit a tough foul-line jumper, Taylor Agler's driving layup began an 11-0 run for the hosts. Katie Barker pulled up and hit a three-pointer in transition, and buckets by Gabby Burris, Amani Burke and Hooks increased Ohio's lead to double digits.
Freahman Terri Battle snapped a BG scoreless streak of almost exactly three minutes, and a steal and pull-up jumper by sophomore Caterrion Thompson made it a 15-9 game. A Burke layup was followed by a Santoro bucket, and freshman Madisen Parker deflected an Ohio pass, with sophomore Jane Uecker grabbing the ball. The ensuing possession saw freshman Kennedy Williams hit a left-wing three-pointer, and sophomore Andrea Cecil's runner cut the Ohio lead to a single point, 17-16.
The 'Cats answered with a Burke triple, and Dominique Doseck also connected from long range. Williams got a jumper to drop with just 0.9 seconds on the clock, and BG trailed by a 23-18 count after 10 minutes.
Seven different Bobcats and six different Falcons scored in the first quarter.

SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Uecker's three-point try rolled around the rim and dropped through the hoop on the first possession of the period, bring the Falcons to within two points, but the home team then went on an 8-0 run, with an Agler triple giving the 'Cats a 10-point lead.
Santoro found freshman Sierra Thompson for a wide-open layup at the 7:22 mark. Then, Uecker blocked a Hooks layup try at the defensive end, ran the floor, took a pass and hit a trailing three to cut the Ohio lead to 33-26 with 6:21 left before the half.
But, the Falcons then went scoreless for several minutes, and a Burris triple gave Ohio a 12-point lead, the largest of the game at that point. Santoro stopped the run by splitting two defenders for a driving layup, and she then broke a would-be defender's ankle (figuratively, not literally) for another bucket and a 38-30 deficit with 2:42 on the clock.
The only points over the last 162 seconds of the period came when Hooks scored out of the under-five-minute media timeout (which came with 1:19 left in the half), and the Bobcats took a 40-30 lead into the intermission.

THIRD-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

For the third consecutive quarter, BGSU hit a three-pointer on the Falcons' first possession. Lambert drained a long-distance shot to cut Ohio's lead to seven. Two minutes later, a Santoro layup was wiped out by an offensive foul call, and Barker hit a long three-pointer for the team in Green.
But, Puk knocked down a jumper, and Lambert took a Santoro pass and hit another long-distance try. When Santoro canned a pull-up jumper at the 5:49 mark, BG was within three points, at 43-40.
Hannah Thome quickly answered with a layup, beginning an 8-0 run for the 'Cats. BGSU went scoreless for 4:05, before a nifty cross-court pass by Williams found Caterrion Thompson for a corner three in front of the BGSU support staff on the bench.
Williams – who saw a three-pointer nullified by an offensive foul away from the ball during that Ohio 8-0 run – hit a driving layup in the final seconds of the third quarter, capping a 6-0 run for the visitors and getting the Falcons within five points, 51-46, after 30 minutes.

FOURTH-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The Falcons turned the ball over on the opening possession of the final period, and Olivia Bower's layup began a 7-0 run for the 'Cats. Ohio went exactly two minutes without scoring after that Bower bucket, but the Bobcats kept turning the Falcons over, and when Burris hit a layup at the 7:31 mark, Ohio's lead was nine. After another turnover, Agler's three-pointer gave the hosts 58-46 lead and prompted a BG timeout with just over seven minutes remaining.
Caterrion Thompson hit a triple try with exactly six minutes to go, but Agler answered with a layup for a 60-49 Ohio lead. Back came the Falcons, as Lambert hit a pair of free throws, and Santoro fed Caterrion Thompson for a corner three. Ohio threw the ball away, and Santoro was fouled and split a pair of charity tosses, getting BG within 60-55 with four minutes on the clock.
But, BG could draw no closer. Burke rebounded her own miss and hit a layup, and after a BG miss, a Burris shot in the paint made it a 64-55 game with 3:18 left.
Santoro hit a free throw, but the Bobcats slowly pulled away at the line, going 5-of-6 at the stripe in the final two minutes

NOTES / STATS

For the fourth consecutive game, BGSU's starting lineup consisted of Puk, Lambert, Santoro, Caterrion Thompson and Perry. Lambert, Puk and Santoro each have started all 25 games this year.
Santoro had a game-high 16 points, and she also led all players with eight rebounds. The junior paced the Falcons with four assists.
Caterrion Thompson hit a game-high three three-pointers en route to 11 points, and she led BG with three steals. Thompson played 38 of the 40 minutes and Santoro 37.
Lambert had 10 points and made a pair of long-distance shots, while Williams had seven points and Uecker six. Uecker was a perfect 2-for-2 from the arc and added three rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
Burke led the Bobcats with 15 points off the bench, while Agler had 12 points and six assists. Burris rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
Hooks had eight points, five rebounds, three assists and a game-best seven steals.
BGSU had a 40-35 rebounding advantage, and the Falcons hit nine three-pointers to the Bobcats' eight. But, BG committed 22 turnovers to Ohio's 13, and the hosts enjoyed a 28-13 lead in points off turnovers.
BGSU entered Saturday's game ranked third in the MAC in free-throw percentage, having shot 73.5 percent from the line in conference play. But, the Falcons were just 7-of-15 (46.7%) in Athens. Ohio was not much better, going 7-of-13 at the stripe.

UP NEXT

The Falcons return home to face East Division-leading Buffalo on Wednesday night (Feb. 21). That game, which begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center, is BGSU's Play 4Kay/Pink game.
The Ohio game began a regular season-ending stretch of five games against fellow MAC East Division members.

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