Falcons Can't Overcome Western's Fast Start

Wednesday, February 7

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

10-13, 2-10MAC

Western Michigan

14-10, 7-5MAC

Western Michigan

Bowling Green

February 07, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BGSU falls, 81-67, to Broncos on Wednesday night

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

For the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, a spirited second-half effort was not enough to overcome a slow start on Wednesday night (Feb. 7). The Falcons fell, 81-67, to visiting Western Michigan University in Mid-American Conference action at the Stroh Center.

Junior Carly Santoro led the Falcons (10-13, 2-10 MAC) in scoring, with all 16 of her points coming after halftime. Senior Haley Puk added 10 points, while five other Falcons had at least six points in the game. Breanna Mobley had 19 points and 13 rebounds to pace four double-digit scorers for the Broncos (14-10, 7-5 MAC). Deja Wimby had 18 points, nine assists and eight boards for the visitors, while Marley Hill and Jordan Walker scored 16 and 15 points, respectively.

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

The game was tied twice in the early moments, but the Broncos used a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. Western led by as many as 14 points in the opening quarter, then increased the margin to a game-high 25 points late in the first half.

The Falcons cut the deficit to 19 points at the intermission, then got within 11 points midway through the third quarter. The Brown and Orange also cut the WMU lead to 11 points twice in the fourth period, but BG could not get within single digits after the game's opening moments.

The Broncos held a 45-29 rebounding advantage, with Walker, like Mobley, recording a double-double. Walker had 12 rebounds and was one of three WMU players with at least six offensive rebounds. The visitors had 21 offensive boards in the game.

To their credit, the Falcons had 15 offensive rebounds on the night. WMU had advantages of 17-10 in points off turnovers and 25-15 in second-chance points. The Brown and Orange had a 20-7 lead in bench scoring.

Freshmen Angela Perry and Kennedy Williams combined to score all of BGSU's first-quarter points, and Falcon frosh combined for 19 of the team's 27 points in the opening half.

QUOTING COACH ROOS
"This was the third game out of the last four where we were plagued by a start that was not up to our standards. I knew we would come out better in the second half, but we've got to realize as a team that we need to do that from the beginning."

"The two categories that kind of bit us again were points off turnovers and second-chance points. Our bench outscored them, which I was proud of, but they had two kids with double-digit rebounds, and we can't allow that to happen."

FIRST-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Perry scored in the paint on the game's opening possession, then knocked down a jumper from the foul line extended on BG's second trip down the floor to give the Falcons a 4-2 lead. But, the Broncos scored on the first three possessions, with Hill's line-drive three-pointer giving WMU a 7-4 advantage. Layups by Walker and Mobley capped a 9-0 run and prompted an early BG timeout.
Perry was fouled by Hill twice in a 34-second span, and the BG freshman went 3-for-4 from the line in that time. Her last free throw cut the Broncos' lead to 13-7. But, the visitors scored the game's next eight points, with Mobley scoring four and Najee Smith hitting a corner three during that span.
After Perry had scored BG's first seven points of the game, Williams scored the final four points of the period. She was fouled at the 1:54 mark and split a pair of free throws, then took a Perry pass and hit a right-wing three-pointer with 52 seconds left in the quarter. That triple cut the Falcons' deficit to 21-11 after 10 minutes.
Perry and Williams combined to go 3-for-3 from the field in the first period, while the Falcons were 3-of-10 as a team.

SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Meredith Miller hit a triple on the first possession of the quarter to begin a 5-0 run for the Broncos. Williams saw her shot get blocked, but grabbed the rebound in the pain and hit a layup to cut BG's deficit to 26-13.
But, Hill threw in a shot, and Wimby scored back-to-back buckets. WMU's lead was 34-13, and the Falcons used a timeout at the 6:15 mark.
Freshman Sierra Thompson got an offensive rebound and putback, then slashed through the Bronco defense and banked a shot off glass and in.
After the Falcons' first 17 points of the night came from freshmen, junior Sydney Lambert hit a free throw at the 2:50 mark, and Puk stole Nina Farkic's ill-advised pass, was fouled and knocked down two charity tosses.
Freshman Madisen Parker turned the corner and hit a nifty driving layup, and Lambert knocked down a jumper – the first field goal by a non-freshman – with 48 seconds left in the half.
Sierra Thompson found sophomore Jane Uecker for a wide-open back-door layup in the late stages of the period, as the Falcons ended the half on a 6-2 run. But, BG trailed by 19 points, 46-27, at the break.
WMU shot 52.9 percent from the field in the first half, to BGSU's 33.3%. Falcon freshmen combined to go 7-for-12 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, while the rest of the team was just 2-of-15.

THIRD-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The Falcons started the third quarter on an 8-2 run. Sophomore Caterrion Thompson drilled a three-point try on the first possession, and Santoro, who had the assist on that play, then hit a driving layup just 48 seconds into the period.
Wimby hit a jumper, but 90 seconds later, Santoro grabbed a defensive rebound, raced downcourt and found Puk for a corner three that was on target. The Broncos used a timeout as BG had cut the deficit to 13 points, 48-35.
Puk's deflection gave BG the ball back, and Caterrion Thompson hit a jumper. Moments later, Puk's driving layup got up over the rim and dropped through the net. But, the Broncos went on a quick 5-0 run to extend the lead back out to 16 points.
Caterrion Thompson hit a three-ball with just over four minutes on the clock, and she found a cutting Uecker for a layup two minutes later. But, the margin remained 16 points, at 63-47, after 30 minutes

FOURTH-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

The fourth period saw Uecker throw the ball inside to Perry for a layup, with Santoro and Sierra Thompson each making two shots from the stripe before the quarter was 100 seconds old. WMU's lead was 12 points after the BG 6-0 run, but the visitors got four-straight points from Wimby.
Puk drained a left-wing three-pointer, and after Hill's two free throws, Santoro scored four-straight points. The junior's layup shaved the Broncos' lead to 11 points with 4:33 to go, and after Mobley hit a layup, Santoro sank a pair of shots from the stripe. Hill scored three consecutive points, but Santoro took a Lambert inbounds pass and knocked down a corner three. BG trailed, 76-65, with 3:25 remaining, but that was as close as the Falcons could get. The Broncos scored the game's next five points before Santoro closed the game's scoring with a layup at the 40-second mark.

NOTES / STATS

For the second consecutive game, BGSU's starting lineup consisted of Puk, Lambert, Santoro, Caterrion Thompson and Perry. Lambert, Puk and Santoro each have started all 23 games this year.
Perry scored nine points, the highest total of her young BGSU career, while Caterrion Thompson had eight. Sierra Thompson, Uecker and Williams each scored six points on the night, with Sierra Thompson recording two of BGSU's six blocked shots.
Perry scored seven of her nine points in the first quarter, as she and Williams combined for all 11 of BG's points in the opening 10 minutes.
Mobley had eight points and six rebounds in the first quarter for WMU, playing all 10 minutes. Wimby had 10 second-quarter points for the visitors.
Caterrion Thompson scored all eight of her points in the third quarter, while Santoro had 13 points in the fourth quarter alone. Santoro was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in that fourth period.
For the game, the Falcons went 19-of-22 at the line, good for an 86.4% success rate. Santoro was 7-of-8 at the stripe. WMU went 22-for-26 (84.6%) at the line.
The Broncos shot 43.5% from the floor in the win, while BG shot 37.5%. Western went 5-for-12 at the arc, while BG was 6-for-20 from long range.

UP NEXT

BGSU will play road games on back-to-back Saturdays, facing Northern Illinois (Feb. 10) and Ohio (Feb. 17). The matchup in DeKalb is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. Eastern).
Beginning with Wednesday night's WMU game, the Falcons' final seven regular-season contests include three Wednesday-night matches at the Stroh and four Saturday-afternoon tilts 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.