Falcons Vanquish Vaqueros, 71-47, for Eighth-Straight Victory

Tuesday, December 20

South Padre Island, Texas

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

10-1,0-0MAC

UTRGV

6-5,0-0WAC

Bowling Green

UTRGV

Photo by: Chad Williams, IUPUI Athletics

December 20, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-UTRGV Stats

BGSU moves to 10-1 on the season

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team pulled away from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the second half, posting a 71-47 victory on Tuesday evening (Dec. 20). The game, part of second-day action at the UTRGV South Padre Island Classic, took place at the South Padre Island Convention Centre.

The Falcons (10-1) won for the eighth consecutive game, and BGSU has tied the program record for best start to a season. The 2022-23 season marks only the second time in school history that BG has gone 10-1 to begin the year.

No player scored more than 12 points for the Falcons, but six players had at least eight points in the win. Nyla Hampton and Jocelyn Tate each had 12 points, with Tate adding a game-high nine rebounds, while Elissa Brett had 11 points and eight boards on the night.

For the Vaqueros (6-5), no player hit double digits in the scoring column. Both Halie Jones and Deborah Ogayemi had nine points to lead the team.

The Falcons shot 41 percent from the field, but held UTRGV to just a 36% success rate. And, BGSU forced 26 turnovers while committing just nine.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT: SCHOOL RECORD-TYING START
• BGSU's 10-1 start to the season is tied for the best in school history. Prior to this season, only the 2010-11 team had won 10 of 11 games to begin the year.
• The 2005-06 and 2013-14 teams each got off to a 9-1 start, but then lost the next game.
• The '10-11 team lost the season opener by one point, then reeled off 15-straight wins before losing again.

QUOTING COACH ROBYN FRALICK
"We had to show a lot of maturity on the road against a good team tonight. We've played five-straight games away from home, and tonight we didn't shoot the ball very well and had to find other ways to win. I thought our toughness, our rebounding, and our defense was dialed in. When they made a run at us in the third quarter, we got tough, we locked in, and we found a way to beat a good team."

FIRST QUARTER
• The Vaqueros took a 2-0 lead on a putback by Halie Jones with just over 80 seconds gone. It marked the first time – and so far the only time – that the Falcons have trailed in the month of December.
• BGSU went scoreless on five consecutive possessions before Morgan Sharps hit a short jumper with nearly three minutes gone. That bucket, however, began a 9-0 for the Falcons. Sophie Dziekan hit a reverse layup, Jocelyn Tate drove and banked a shot off glass, and after a steal by Dziekan, Tate grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to Amy Velasco for a three-pointer and a 9-2 lead.
• Tiffany McGarity scored for the Vaqueros, but Dziekan answered with a layup, then drew a foul and knocked down a pair of shots at the line for a 13-4 lead. The Falcons then went without a point for nearly three minutes, but Allison Day's layup with 1:33 left in the quarter gave the Orange and Brown a 15-8 lead.
• The Falcons shot just 30 percent in the first period, going 6-for-20, but the BG defense held the Vaqueros to just a 3-for-16 (18.8%) success rate.

SECOND QUARTER
• Day took a charge on the first possession of the period, then proceeded to score the next four points. She hit a turnaround shot off glass, then made a layup after a nifty bounce pass from Elissa Brett. When Tate banked a shot home after a crowd-pleasing spin move, the Falcons had a 21-8 lead.
• The Vaqueros responded with a 7-1 run, as Charlotte O'Keefe's foul-line jumper made it a 22-16 game. Nyla Hampton answered with a driving layup, and the teams traded points over the remainder of the quarter. Tate knocked down a short jumper, and Lexi Fleming's three-pointer gave the Falcons a 29-20 lead at the half.

THIRD QUARTER
• UTRGV quickly cut into the BG lead in the second half, as Deborah Ogayemi scored inside before Mele Kailahi knocked down a three-point try. Hampton came right back with a driving layup, but Kailahi hit another long-range shot, and BGSU's lead was just 31-28.
• Tate hit a pair of free throws, and Hampton stole the ball and laid it up and in, giving BG a seven-point advantage and prompting the Vaqueros to use a timeout.
• Dziekan made a pair of charity tosses moments later, and after a steal by Brett, Velasco fed Sharps for a three-pointer and a 42-32 Falcon lead. UTRGV whittled that lead back to six points, but Brett hit two shots from the stripe.
• Then, in the final minute of the period, the Falcons scored six points to take a double-digit lead. Hampton stole the ball, then scored on a baseline drive with 55 seconds to go. Another Hampton steal led to a Sharps run-out, and after Jones scored at the other end, Tate was fouled with just 0.3 seconds on the clock. She hit a pair of shots to give BG a 50-39 advantage.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Brett opened the quarter with a pair of free throws, then grabbed a defensive rebound, brought the ball upcourt and found Day running the floor for a layup and a 54-39 lead.
• Hampton split the defense for a layup, and after a Jones three-pointer, Brett took a Fleming pass and hit a short-corner jumper. That bucket began a 9-0 run that put the game away.
• Brett made a layup off of Hampton's inbounds pass, Tate scored inside, and a Sharps reverse layup gave the Orange and Brown a 20-point lead, 64-44, with just over four minutes to go.
• Olivia Hill got to the line and made a pair of shots, then fed Brett for a bucket with just over a minute to go. Kadie Hempfling closed the scoring with a step-back jumper as the shot clock wound down.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• The Falcons have won eight consecutive games, the program's longest winning streak since BGSU won 13-straight contests during the 2013-14 season.
• BGSU fell behind, 2-0, on Tuesday night, marking the first time in the month of December that the Falcons had trailed. BG had not been behind since the Northern Kentucky game on Nov. 23.
• BG shot an even 41 percent on the night, but held UTRGV to a 36% success rate. The Falcons were 25-of-61 from the floor, while the Vaqueros went 18-for-50.
• Both teams struggled from the arc, with BG going 3-for-17 and UTRGV 4-of-21.
• The Falcons made 18 free throws to tie a season high, and BGSU shot 75% rom the stripe.
• UTRGV had a 41-35 rebounding advantage, but BGSU committed just nine turnovers while forcing the Vaqueros into 26.
• The Falcons had 13 steals, and BGSU had advantages of 26-9 in points off turnovers, 38-20 in points in the paint and 16-2 in fast-break scoring.
• Sharps and Dziekan each had nine points in the win. Sharps added three rebounds and two assists, while Dzieken went 2-for-2 from the floor and 5-of-7 at the stripe.
• Day had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
• Brett scored all 11 of her points in the second half, including nine in the fourth quarter. She went 5-of-6 at the line, all in the second half.
• Tuesday marked the 11th time in as many games this season that BG had fewer turnovers than the opponent.
• The Falcons have forced the opponents into a total of 247 turnovers this season, an average of 22.5 per game, while committing just 131 (11.9 per game) themselves.
• After posting an overall record of 19-42 in head coach Robyn Fralick's first two seasons at the helm, BGSU has gone 48-25 over the last two-plus seasons.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons now take a break for the holidays, before wrapping up the non-conference schedule vs. Findlay on Friday, Dec. 30. That contest is set for a 2:00 p.m. start at the Stroh Center.
• Then, the Mid-American Conference schedule begins with a game at Ball State on Jan. 4, 2023.

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