McMillen Scores 20, But Falcons Fall to Huskies Wednesday Night

Wednesday, January 16

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

7-8, 0-4MAC

Northern Illinois

10-6, 2-2MAC

Northern Ill.

Bowling Green

January 16, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-NIU Box Score BGSU-NIU Photo Gallery (Isaiah Vazquez)

Fast fourth-quarter start lifts Northern to 66-52 win at the Stroh

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Freshman Morgan McMillen scored a game-high 20 points, but it was not enough as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team fell, 66-52, to visiting Northern Illinois University Wednesday night (Jan. 16). The Mid-American Conference game was held inside the Stroh Center.

Neither team led by more than five points at any time during the first three quarters, but the Huskies (10-6, 2-2 MAC) opened the fourth period on a 9-2 run, taking a 50-41 lead with 7:16 to go. The Falcons scored the game's next three points to get within six, but BG (7-8, 0-4) would draw no closer.

Ally May led a balanced offensive attack for Northern, with 18 points. She also had game-high totals of 15 rebounds and five steals. Mikayla Voigt added 12 points, while Gabby Nikitinaite and Myia Starks had 11 apiece for the Huskies.

For the Falcons, McMillen was the lone player in double digits. Sophomore Angela Perry flirted with a double-double, winding up with eight points and a team-leading nine rebounds.

Freshman Molly Dever scored seven points for the Falcons, who had a 33-9 advantage in bench points. BG also had a slim 10-7 lead in second-chance points, but the Huskies topped the Brown and Orange in points off turnovers (18-12), points in the paint (40-24) and fast-break points (16-2).

Northern had a 47-40 advantage on the boards, and the Huskies shot 40.6 percent on the night while holding BG to a 33.9% success rate.

FIRST-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
• Sophomore Madisen Parker, making her first collegiate start, took a pass from junior Andrea Cecil and knocked down a three-pointer on BG's second possession of the night, giving the hosts a 3-2 lead.
• But, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run, capped by Ally May's fast-break layup after a BG turnover, and Falcon head coach Robyn Fralick used a timeout.
• Freshman Morgan McMillen came off the bench and immediately took a Cecil pass and hit a triple, and Cecil then fed redshirt sophomore Clare Glowniak for a banker that tied the game at 8-8. Cecil had assists on each of BG's first three buckets of the night.
• When Glowniak grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out top to McMillen for another three-ball, the Falcons had an 8-0 run and an 11-8 advantage.
• The Huskies, however, responded with a May layup, and a Mikayla Voigt three-pointer gave the visitors a 13-11 lead after 10 minutes of play.
• The teams were whistled for a total of one foul during the entire period.

SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
• Freshman Kadie Hempfling pounded the ball inside to sophomore Angela Perry for a layup that opened the second-period scoring, and Perry then came up with a nice offensive rebound and an equally nifty left-handed layup, giving the Falcons a 15-13 lead.
• Northern, however, scored the next six points, as Errin Hodges sandwiched a pair of jumpers in the paint around a May bucket.
• Senior Maddie Cole worked around her defender for a layup, but after a BG foul with 4:34 left in the period – the Falcons' first foul of the night – Gabby Nikitinaite hit a pair of free throws for a 21-17 NIU lead.
• But, Cole kicked the ball to fellow senior Sydney Lambert for a corner three, and McMillen hit a floater with the shot clock winding down, giving the Brown and Orange a 22-21 advantage.
• May got a layup to go, but freshman Molly Dever took a Perry pass and knocked down a triple try from the left corner. Then, after May scored again, Dever grabbed a teammate's missed shot and laid the ball back up and in with 52 seconds left in the half, giving BG a 27-25 lead.
• The Falcons got a stop, and in the waning seconds of the period, McMillen took Lambert's inbounds pass and drained a three-point try to put the hosts ahead by five, 30-25, at the intermission.
• McMillen had 11 points in the first half, while Dever scored five points in under two minutes of action before the break.
• The teams combined for only three fouls in the second period and just four (three on NIU, one on BG) in the entire first half.

THIRD-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
• Neither team scored in the first 90 seconds, but the Huskies then amassed six points in roughly one minute. Nikitinaite and May each hit layups, and Myia Starks also scored inside to give the visitors a 31-30 lead and prompt a BGSU timeout with 7:27 on the clock.
• Out of that break, McMillen went around and through three Huskie defenders to hit a pretty floater, but Starks scored on a smooth transition layup, then fed Voigt for a three-pointer that gave NIU a 36-32 advantage.
• McMillen quickly answered with a long-range shot of her own, and Dever's free throws at the 2:34 mark gave the Falcons a 37-36 lead.
• But, Starks hit an and-one layup, converting the free throw, and Nikitinaite got a shot in the paint to drop. Perry turned and scored after receiving a lob pass from Cecil, cutting NIU's lead to just two points, 41-39, after 30 minutes.

FOURTH-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
• The fourth quarter saw NIU score twice off of BG missed shots in the first minute of play. Hodges corralled a pair of defensive rebounds, and scored herself before feeding Starks for a step-back jumper off of one foot. The unconventional-looking shot dropped through the hoop to give NIU a six-point lead, the largest for either team to that point.
• Cole put back a teammate's miss, but Ninni Salmi answered with a left-wing triple, and May grabbed her own missed shot and converted, giving the Huskies a 50-41 lead with 7:15 to go.
• Cecil scored off glass out of a timeout, and then Hempfling's nifty offensive rebound led to a free throw by the freshman, cutting BG's deficit to six points with 6:26 remaining.
• But, a May layup was followed by a Nikitinaite three-pointer, giving Northern a 55-44 lead with 5:19 to go.
• Hempfling scored after Glowniak's nice pass found her all alone underneath, and McMillen hit a runner to put BG within seven points. But, NIU used nearly all of the shot clock on the next possession, and Starks scored with 3:48 to go. Perry answered with a hoop, but Voigt then proceeded to score the game's next five points. She hit a long two-pointer, then stepped outside the arc to knock down a shot, and the visitors had a 62-50 lead with under three minutes left.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons remain home for a weekend matchup with Toledo. BGSU meets the Rockets on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 19), with tipoff slated for 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh.
• Then, BGSU plays the lone road tilt in a five-game span, heading to Eastern Michigan to take on the Eagles next Wednesday night (Jan. 23).
• The Brown and Orange will end the month of January with home games vs. two of the top teams in the MAC, hosting Ohio (Jan. 26) and Central Michigan (Jan. 30) at the Stroh. Then, February begins with trips to UT (Feb. 2) and NIU (Feb. 6).

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.