Hot Start Lifts Kent State Past Falcons, 86-62

Monday, March 11

Kent, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

9-21

Kent State (First Round)

19-11

Bowling Green

Kent St.

Sydney Lambert Maddie Cole v Marshall - Nov 13 2018

March 11, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-KSU Box Score

Cole & Lambert conclude their collegiate careers on Monday night

By: KENT, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Kent State University's hot start was too much for the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to overcome, and the Golden Flashes topped the Falcons, 86-62, in Mid-American Conference Tournament first-round action on Monday night (March 11) at the M.A.C. Center.

With the win, the Golden Flashes, the fifth seed for the tournament, advance to the quarterfinal round. KSU (19-11) will face Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon (March 13).

The Falcons, the tourney's number-12 seed, see the season come to an end with a record of 9-21.

KSU surged out to a 21-3 lead, and the Flashes led by a 25-7 score after the first period. The hosts shot 58.8% from the field in the opening quarter and 50.8% for the game.

Junior Andrea Cecil had a double-double, with team-high totals of 17 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman Morgan McMillen, despite battling foul trouble all evening, had 15 points.

In her final game as a Falcon, senior Maddie Cole hit double digits in the scoring column, with 10 points. Cole made 11-of-13 shots from the field over her last three games in a BG uniform.

BG's other senior, Sydney Lambert, had six points, three rebounds, a team-high four assists and two steals. In her last game as a Falcon, Lambert moved into 20th place on the BGSU career scoring list. She ended her BG career with 1,218 points. Additionally, Lambert finished her career ranked second in BG history in career three-point field goals made, with 241, and she was fifth in games started.

KSU's Asiah Dingle had 25 points to lead five double-figure scorers for the Golden Flashes.

QUOTING COACH FRALICK
"We had a horrible start tonight. After that first quarter, the game was basically even, but you can't have a start like that. We were bad on both ends; we had a hard time scoring, and we gave up too many points."

"Our team showed a lot of fight. We've shown that all year; I never doubt that we're going to fight our way back into a game. Our senior point guard, who played her last game tonight, she's a fighter. Our team really followed her lead, and every night I believed that we would fight. We didn't always get the outcome that we wanted, but I never doubted that we would fight back."

(On the seniors)
"Syd Lambert is an elite competitor; you can count on her to battle, night in and night out. And Maddie Cole, I think, has been a great example that it's never too late to get better. She didn't play much her first three years, but this year we were really counting on her and she stepped up."

(On the returning players)
"You can't teach experience. We started two freshmen for most of the year, and a lot of younger kids played a ton of minutes. Hopefully, that experience will help us as we continue to build this program. But, the reality is that we have a lot of work to do. We have to get better, and we have to have a great offseason."

FIRST QUARTER
• The Flashes got out to a quick lead, as Alexa Golden and Lindsey Thall hit three-point field goals on the first two possessions for a quick 6-0 lead.
• Freshman Morgan McMillen got BG on the board with a reverse layup off of a baseline drive, but that would be the Falcons' only field goal of the game until the final minute of the quarter.
• Freshman Kadie Hempfling and sophomore Terri Battle each would hit a free throw, but Battle's charity toss ended a 17-1 run for the Flashes.
• Ali Poole's layup gave the home team a 25-4 lead before senior Sydney Lambert knocked down a left-side three-pointer with 27 seconds to go in the period.

SECOND QUARTER
• Hempfling hit a driving layup on the first possession of the quarter to make it a 16-point game, but the Flashes scored the next five points.
• BG looked to make a run, as McMillen muscled a shot up and in, then took a pass from junior Andrea Cecil and drilled a three-point try. But, KSU seemingly had an answer each time BG looked to narrow the gap, as Asiah Dingle hit a layup.
• Sophomore Madisen Parker hit a right-side triple try off of McMillen's feed, making it a 15-point game, but Thall's triple began a 5-0 run that gave the hosts a 37-17 advantage with just over four minutes left in the half.
• Cole scored five points, hitting an 'and-1' layup and sinking the free throw, then making another layup after Lambert's 'extra pass' found her cutting to the bucket.
• KSU's lead was back down to 15 points, but despite the Falcons' solid defense for the length of the next possession, Ali Poole cut to her right and gave herself just enough space to hit a jumper from the right win.
• That Poole bucket began an 8-0 KSU run to close the half. Megan Carter's jumper with one second left in the period gave KSU a 45-22 lead at the break.

THIRD QUARTER
• The teams traded points, before KSU scored five-straight to take a 26-point lead. Merissa Barber-Smith's layup was followed by an Alexa Golden three-pointer that made it a 52-26 game.
• A Cecil pull-up jumper, however, began a 13-3 run for the Falcons. Lambert hit a three, and Cecil then fed freshman Molly Dever for a three-ball from the top of the arc.
• Cecil took the ball down the lane and made a layup, and after Dever drew a charge, McMillen knocked down a left-wing three. BG trailed by a 55-39 score with just over three minutes to go.
• The Falcons had gained a great deal of momentum, and BG then stole the ball, but KSU took it right back, and Poole hit a corner three that made it a 19-point game.
• Cecil made a turnaround banker, and McMillen's free throw made it a 16-point game once again, but a questionable foul call on the Falcons sent Dingle to the line, and after she hit both free throws, the KSU freshman came up with a steal and a three-point play that made it a 63-42 score.
• Cecil scored inside, and BG got the ball back on a Parker steal. But, KSU blocked shots on back-to-back BG possessions each led to run-out layups. The Flashes ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 67-44 lead after 30 minutes.

FOURTH QUARTER
• The Falcons could not gain any ground, as the margin stayed in the 20's for the entire quarter. Cecil scored seven points in the period, while BG was a perfect 5-for-5 at the free-throw line in the final 10 minutes.
• Cole drove past her defender for an 'and-1' layup heading into the game's final media timeout, and the senior hit her free throw when play resumed.
• Lambert picked up the final two assists of her career, pounding it inside to Cecil for a turnaround banker with just under four minutes to go, then driving and kicking the ball to Cecil for a left-wing three-pointer with 2:02 on the clock.
• With 16 seconds to go, head coach Robyn Fralick called a timeout and took her two seniors, Cole and Lambert, out of the game for the final time.

FINAL STATISTICS
• KSU shot 50.8 percent from the field on the night, and the Golden Flashes were 10-of-22 from the arc (45.5%). The Falcons shot 36.7% from the floor and hit seven three-pointers in 21 tries (33.3%).
• BGSU was 11-of-14 (78.6%) at the free-throw line, while KSU got there 21 times, making 14 (66.7%).
• Led by Barber-Smith's 20 rebounds, the Flashes had a 44-28 lead on the boards.
• Dingle scored 25 points for the hosts, while Poole had 14 off the bench. Carter scored 12, Thall 11 and Barber-Smith 10.
• Cecil, as mentioned, led the Falcons, posting her seventh double-double of the season with a 17-point, 11-rebound night.
• McMillen had 15 points and Cole 10 for the Falcons, while Lambert had six points and a team-high four assists.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons see the season come to an end with a record of 9-21. Coach Robyn Fralick and her staff have just two seniors, Maddie Cole and Sydney Lambert, on the 2018-19 roster.

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.