Late Surge Sends Miami Past Falcons, 66-62

Saturday, February 3

Bowling Green, OH

1:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

Miami

February 03, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

RedHawks outlast BG in nip-and-tuck affair at the Stroh

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Miami University's Leah Purvis hit a pair of three-pointers in the game's final two-plus minutes to help lift the RedHawks to a 66-62 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3). The Mid-American Conference game was held inside the Stroh Center.

The game featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes, and neither team led by more than five points at any time during the day.

LINKS
BGSU-MU STATISTICS: PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Puk | Coach Roos
POSTGAME VIDEO: Puk | Coach Roos
PHOTO GALLERY: Isaiah Vazquez, BGSU Mkt. & Comm.

MU's Lauren Dickerson led all players with 24 points on the afternoon, but scored just two points during the second half. She went 0-for-8 from the floor in the final 20 minutes, although she did dish out six of her game-high eight assists during that time.

BGSU's balanced scoring attack saw three Falcons – senior Haley Puk, junior Carly Santoro and sophomore Caterrion Thompson – score 14 points apiece, while junior Sydney Lambert added 10.

Savannah Kluesner scored 12 points, while Purvis added 10 points off the bench for the RedHawks. Both players scored six points in the fourth quarter, with Purvis knocking down a pair of long-distance shots. After Santoro hit a pair of free throws to tie the game for the 13th and final time, a Purvis three-pointer gave the visitors the lead with 2:11 to go. BG got back-to-back buckets to retake the lead, but Purvis hit a deep three with 51.8 seconds remaining and the shot clock winding down. That trey gave the visitors a 64-62 lead.

The Falcons shot 47.8 percent from the field, while holding the RedHawks to a 38.1% success rate, and BG had a slim 35-32 rebounding advantage. Miami made just two more field goals than the Falcons while taking 17 more shots. And, the Brown and Orange hit 12 free throws to the visitors' eight.

But, the 'Hawks turned the ball over just nine times, while BG had 18 turnovers. Miami had a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers, and the RedHawks enjoyed a 17-5 lead in second-chance points. Additionally, the visitors made 10 three-pointers to the Falcons' six.

Dickerson was 6-for-13 from three-point range, including 5-for-7 from beyond the arc in the second quarter alone. Puk and Lambert each knocked down two triple tries, with Puk going a perfect 2-for-2 from long distance.

QUOTING COACH ROOS
"Credit Miami; they made a couple of tough shots there at the end. The way this game was trending, it felt all day like it was going to come down to the last possession."

"We haven't started well in our past two games, but today, they brought it from the beginning and carried that through the fourth quarter. This is our team, and that's what they can do. They have now set the bar for that intensity and that type of effort for 40 minutes, and we're going to hold them to that, and they're going to hold each other to that. I'm proud of that effort when we play that way."

FIRST-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The Falcons took an early 5-0 lead, as junior Sydney Lambert hit a step-back jumper on the game's first possession, then fed classmate Carly Santoro for a corner three after BG pulled down a pair of offensive rebounds.
Miami got on the board at the 8:09 mark. With the shot clock winding down, Santoro blocked a three-point effort by Kendall McCoy, but the ball came right back to McCoy, who fired again and hit. That began a 7-0 run for the RedHawks, concluding with a Savannah Kluesner layup that snapped a scoreless streak of nearly three minutes.
Lauren Dickerson knocked down a three-point try, but Lambert grabbed a defensive rebound and hit a nifty jumper. Dickerson's layup gave MU a 12-9 lead, but sophomore Caterrion Thompson hit back-to-back shots, including a layup that gave BG a one-point lead with 1:15 on the clock. Kayla Brown quickly answered with a jumper, though, and the quarter ended with Miami holding that 14-13 lead.

SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The RedHawks took a four-point lead when Dickerson hit a three-pointer at the 7:33 mark, but Lambert's three-ball from the top of the arc rattled home, beginning an 8-0 run for the hosts. Santoro made a pair of free throws, and freshman Kennedy Williams pulled up for a right-wing triple and a 23-19 BG lead.
Dickerson answered with a quick three-pointer of her own, cutting the Falcons' lead to 23-22 at the media timeout. Neither team would score for nearly two minutes, but the teams then combined for 21 points over the final 2:31 of the quarter.
Caterrion Thompson made a spin move in the paint and canned a jumper, but Dickerson would answer with a three as the clock ticked under two minutes. Senior Haley Puk drove, stopped and scored, but Dickerson again connected from long distance. Puk completed a layup despite some contact by her defender, tying the score, but Dickerson had yet another long-range response.
Dickerson had 22 of her team's 33 first-half points, including nine in the final 1:59. Puk, however, scored seven points in the last 1:38, and her long-range shot brought the Falcons within a single point with 32 seconds to go.
BG forced a shot-clock violation with 0.5 seconds to go, and a three-quarter-length-of-the-court heave by Lambert was just off the mark, as the RedHawks took a 33-32 lead into the break.

What a great chance to celebrate our @BGSUwbb Alumnae today at our home game at the @StrohCenter! Lots of W's and great memories with these @FalconAlumni over the years! pic.twitter.com/sta0WulUO7
— BGSU Falcon Club (@Bgsufalconclub) February 3, 2018

THIRD-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Lambert knocked down a three-pointer on the opening possession, and after Kluesner's layup, Lambert drove and hit freshman Angela Perry for an easy layup and a 37-35 BG lead in the opening minute of the period.
Puk's corner three was followed by a Santoro layup, putting the Falcons ahead by five, 42-37, with 7:14 on the clock. But, despite getting back-to-back stops, the home team could not increase the lead. Finally, McCoy's three cut the BG advantage to two.
Caterrion Thompson answered that shot by getting a runner to go, and after a Leah Purvis jumper, Thompson hit a pull-up jumper. Redshirt freshman Clare Glowniak's free throw restored the Falcons' five-point advantage, but Miami then scored six of the final seven points of the period, capped by a Leah Purvis layup that tied the score at 48-all.
BGSU went 6-for-9 from the floor in that third quarter, while Miami was 6-of-18.

FOURTH-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The fourth quarter saw six ties and four lead changes.
After the teams traded free throws, they then traded buckets, with Brown hitting a jumper off of an inbounds pass and Kluesner scoring inside for the 'Hawks. Each time, though, BG answered, as Caterrion Thompson hung in the air and hit a jumper, and Perry banked a shot off glass and in. Kluesner scored again, but Santoro was fouled and knocked down both shots at the stripe, tying the game at 56-56. The score remained the same at the media timeout just under 30 seconds later.
A Kluesner putback put the visitors ahead once more, but Santoro again was fouled, and again, the junior hit both charity tosses to tie the score with 3:11 to go.
BG forced a stop, but the Falcons turned the ball right back over, and Dickerson found Purvis for a corner three and a 61-58 Miami lead with 2:11 remaining. Caterrion Thompson answered with a tough jumper over a taller defender, and the BG defense got a stop. Then, Thompson found Perry for a layup and a 62-61 lead with 1:22 remaining.
The next possession saw the RedHawks use nearly all of the shot clock before Purvis drilled a long three-pointer with 51.8 seconds remaining. Santoro's three-point try was off the mark, and the RedHawks rebounded the ball. After a BG foul, Dickerson hit two free throws – her only second-half points – with 12.4 seconds to go. A final BG jumper was off the mark, and the ball went out of bounds to Miami

NOTES / STATS

Sophomore Caterrion Thompson and freshman Angela Perry each made their first collegiate start on Saturday. Senior Haley Puk and juniors Sydney Lambert and Carly Santoro joined them in the starting lineup. Lambert, Puk and Santoro each have started all 22 games this year.
As mentioned, Saturday's game featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes, and neither team led by more than five points at any time during the day.
BGSU held the lead for 14:57 of the game's 40 minutes on Saturday, while Miami led for 14:56. The teams were tied for 9:58.
Santoro led the Falcons with seven rebounds, while Perry and sophomore Andrea Cecil each had six. Perry also had six points on the day.
Caterrion Thompson was 7-of-11 from the field, tying her career high for field goals made. She played 39 minutes, the most of her BG tenure.
The Falcons shot 63.6% in the second quarter and 66.7% in the third, going a combined 13-for-20, including 5-of-9 from the arc, in that time. Miami did not shoot better than 40% from the floor in any of the four quarters.
Lambert surpassed the 800-point mark for her career in Saturday's game. She now has 809 career points for an average of 10.0 per game.
Lambert knocked down a pair of three-pointers, giving her 173 for her career. Lambert – just a junior – is now tied for fifth in BGSU history in career three-point field goals made.
Lambert is tied with Sara Puthoff (1994-98) on that list, and is just two triples behind fourth-place Chrissy Steffen (173 three-pointers from 2009-13). Both Puthoff and Steffen were in attendance on Saturday, as were many other former Falcon greats as part of BGSU's annual Alumnae Day.

UP NEXT

BGSU will wrap up a brief two-game homestand with a Wednesday (Feb. 7) meeting with Western Michigan. That game will tip off shortly after 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh. BG then hits the road for the next two tilts, meeting Northern Illinois (Feb. 10) and Ohio (Feb. 17) on back-to-back Saturdays.
The Falcons' final seven regular-season games include three Wednesday-night matches (all at the Stroh Center) and four Saturday tilts (all on the road)..

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.