#WORK: Falcons Grind Way to Senior Day Victory over KSU

Saturday, March 2

Bowling Green, OH

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

9-18

Kent State

16-11

Kent St.

Bowling Green

Maddie Cole (44) accepts congratulations from several of her teammates after the Senior Day win

Photo by: BGSU Marketing and Communications

March 02, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-KSU Box Score BGSU-KSU Photo Gallery (BGSU Mkt & Comm)

BGSU holds Flashes to 27% shooting in 62-49 win

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

On Senior Day, the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team used a gritty defensive effort to post a 62-49 win over Kent State University Saturday afternoon (March 2). The Mid-American Conference East Division matchup was held at the Stroh Center.

Junior Andrea Cecil continued to fill the scoresheet for the Falcons, with a game-high 23 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds. Cecil also had four assists and three steals in the win, and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Saturday's performance marked Cecil's second consecutive double-double, and her second-straight 20-point, 10-rebound game. She surpassed the 20-point mark for the third consecutive contest and the fifth time in the last seven games.

Senior Sydney Lambert, in her final game at the Stroh, had 15 points, eight boards, five assists and two steals. Lambert was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.

Cecil and Lambert were a combined 12-for-12 at the line, while the rest of the players on both teams combined to go just 10-of-29 from the stripe

Sophomore Madisen Parker and freshman Kadie Hempfling had nine and eight points, respectively, while Senior Maddie Cole had six points and six rebounds in 33 minutes in her final home game.

Asiah Dingle led KSU with 10 points off the bench.

The Falcon defense held the Flashes to fewer than 50 points and just 26.9 percent shooting on the afternoon. BGSU outscored KSU in each of the four quarters.

After spotting the Flashes a 7-2 lead, the Falcons scored the game's next seven points as part of a 15-3 run. The visitors' Lindsey Thall answered that 7-0 BG run with a three-point field goal that gave her team a 10-9 lead, but Hempfling responded with back-to-back long-range buckets to propel an 8-0 run, and the Falcons never trailed again.

NOTE OF THE DAY
• The Falcons have won 16 of the last 18 Senior Day/Night games since 2002, and BGSU is 21-3 in the last 23 such contests.

FIRST QUARTER
• The Flashes got on the board on an Alexa Golden three-pointer, but Kadie Hempfling stole the ball from Golden several possessions later, and the Falcon freshman fired a pass to senior Sydney Lambert, who raced downcourt ahead of several Flashes for a layup to get BG on the board.
• KSU took a 7-2 lead after Golden hit a jumper and Merissa Barber-Smith got a reverse layup to go. But, junior Andrea Cecil put back her own missed shot to begin a 7-0 run for the Falcons.
• Lambert was fouled after grabbing the inbounds pass out of the game's initial media timeout, and the senior hit two free-throw tries. Then, Lambert knocked down a long three-point try as the shot clock was winding down, and BG had a 9-7 lead.
• That lead was brief, as Lindsey Thall countered with a three-point shot of her own less than 10 seconds later. But, Hempfling took a Cecil pass and drilled a corner three with 2:29 left in the quarter, then grabbed a Lambert pass in transition, pulled up and hit another triple just 40 seconds later. When Cecil was fouled and made both shots from the stripe, BG had a 17-10 lead. Mariah Modkins made a late field goal to snap an 8-0 Falcon run, and the home side had a five-point lead after 10 minutes.
• BGSU shot 33.3 percent in the first quarter, while the Flashes shot just 27.8% from the floor. Both teams made five field goals, and Lambert and Hempfling combined for 13 of BG's 17 first-quarter points.

SECOND QUARTER
• Sophomore Madisen Parker hit a left-side three-ball to open the second-quarter scoring and give the Falcons an eight-point lead, but Thall's three was followed by an Ali Poole layup that cut BG's advantage to three, at 20-17.
• Hannah Young's driving layup slimmed the Falcons' lead to a single point, but freshman Molly Dever pounded the ball inside to Hempfling for a contested bank shot and a 22-19 lead. But, Hempfling was whistled for her third foul of the game at the 5:04 mark.
• Cecil fed Lambert for a left-wing triple, then was fouled on a layup try moments later. The junior hit those charity tosses to give BG a 27-23 lead.
• KSU cut the lead in half on a pair of Modkins free throws – not on the same trip to the line – but Cecil manufactured her own personal 6-0 run to end the half.
• First, after a BG miss, she deflected Thall's outlet pass, grabbed the ball and drove past the KSU freshman for a layup. Then, Cecil drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup ith 34 seconds left in the half.
• The Falcons forced a KSU miss, and an over-the-back call on the rebound sent Cecil to the line with 4.1 seconds to go. The junior connected twice to give BG an eight-point lead, the largest by either team at that point.
• For the second-straight quarter, both teams made just five field goals. KSU shot 31.3% to BG's 29.4% in the quarter.
• Cecil had eight second-quarter points, and went into the half with totals of 12 points and seven rebounds. Lambert scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in the opening half.

THIRD QUARTER
• Cecil extended her personal run to 8-0, hitting a foul-line jumper. Then, after a KSU miss, Cecil laid the ball off to a cutting Maddie Cole, and the senior put a shot off glass and in. BG's lead was 12, at 37-25.
• But, Megan Carter's three-pointer was followed by a pair of Poole free throws that cut the BG lead to seven. Cecil kicked the ball out to Lambert for a corner three, but the Flashes scored the next five points, with Golden's three cutting BG's lead to 40-35 at the 5:24 mark.
• Sophomore Angela Perry found Parker for a long-range shot, however, and Cecil hit a pair of shots at the stripe to restore BG's eight-point lead.
• KSU made two free throws as well, but Lambert quickly found Cecil for a three, and the senior point guard then pounded the ball inside to classmate Cole for a layup and a 50-39 lead. The Falcons led by nine, 51-42, after 30 minutes.
• Cecil led all players with seven third-quarter points.
• BGSU shot 50% in the quarter, going 6-of-12 from the floor, while holding KSU to a 5-for-19 performance (26.3%). Both teams hit three three-pointers in the period.

FOURTH QUARTER
• The Flashes got a defensive stop to start the period, and Carter hit a quick bucket, but Parker came right back and knocked down a right-wing triple try, giving the Brown and Orange a 54-44 advantage.
• Cole was fouled after a near-turnover, and made one of two free-throw tries, and Cecil hit a tough runner late in the shot clock. BG's lead was 13, 57-44, with just over seven minutes to go.
• The teams went scoreless for the next 90 seconds, before Asiah Dingle's steal in the backcourt led to a KSU layup. BG immediately turned the ball over once again, and the Flashes hit a free throw. Cecil made a step-back jumper, before Carter's layup made it a 10-point game once again, 59-49.
• That Carter bucket came with 4:43 to go, but the Golden Flashes would not score again.
• BGSU only scored three more points over that stretch, but the Falcons' double-figure lead proved to be more than safe.
• With four minutes to go, a Parker three-point try was halfway down before rattling out, but Cole got the rebound and BG used more clock.
• The next few minutes followed a similar pattern, as KSU missed a number of shots, both from the field and the free-throw line, but the Falcons could not increase the lead at the other end of the court.
• Finally, Lambert was fouled with 1:05 to go, and knocked down both of the ensuing free-throw tries. Her first make ended the game's scoreless streak at three minutes and 38 seconds, and her second gave the Falcons a 12-point lead.
• The Flashes threw the ball away on the next possession, and Cole was fouled with 48.2 seconds remaining. The senior split a pair of tosses to conclude the scoring.
• After another KSU miss at the other end, Lambert grabbed the rebound. BG brought the ball over midcourt, and head coach Robyn Fralick called a timeout to take her two seniors out of the game. The duo embraced near midcourt, then left the Stroh Center court for the final time with 17 seconds remaining.
• BGSU shot just 30% in the final quarter, going 3-for-10, and the Falcons hit only 4-of-8 free throws in the period.
• But, Kent State was 3-for-14 (21.4%) from the floor, including 0-for-7 from the arc, and the Flashes went just 1-for-9 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

FINAL STATISTICS
• BGSU shot 35.2% for the game, making 19 field goals in 54 attempts, and the Falcons were 9-of-24 (37.5%) from the arc. BG shot only 62.5% from the free-throw line on the day, going 15-for-24.
• But, the Falcons held the Flashes to just 26.9% shooting. KSU went 18-for-67 in the game, including 6-of-30 (20%) from long distance.
• And, Kent State shot just 41.2% from the line, with the team's 7-for-17 performance including just a 1-for-9 success rate in the fourth quarter.
• KSU had a slim 46-45 rebounding advantage in the game. Merissa Barber-Smith led all players with 12 rebounds for the Flashes, while Cecil, as mentioned, had 11 boards for the Falcons.
• BGSU had 14 turnovers to KSU's 12, but the Falcons had a 12-8 lead in points off turnovers.
• BG outscored KSU in each of the four quarters. Kent State never shot better than 31.3% from the floor in any of the four periods.

UP NEXT
• The Kent State game was BGSU's final home game of the season.
• The Falcons will play three road games in a six-day span, beginning Wednesday night (March 6) at Buffalo. That contest will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Western New York.
• Then, BGSU will conclude the regular season next Saturday (March 9), at Ohio.
• The first round of the MAC Tournament is scheduled for Monday, March 11. BGSU will play a road game on that evening, with the opponent and site of the game still to be determined.

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.