Broncos Down BGSU, 72-64

Wednesday, February 16

Kalamazoo, Mich.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

12-11,7-7MAC

Western Michigan

14-9,8-6MAC

Bowling Green

Western Mich.

Freshman Amy Velasco had a team-high 18 points on Wednesday night

Photo by: Ashley Huss, WMU Athletics

February 16, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-WMU Stats

Falcons return home for Saturday's Senior Day matchup with Ohio

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – In a game of runs, host Western Michigan University had one more run in them than Bowling Green State University on Wednesday night (Feb. 16). The Broncos captured a 72-64 victory in Mid-American Conference women's basketball action at University Arena.

Freshman Amy Velasco led the Falcons (12-11, 7-7 MAC) with 18 points, while sophomore Nyla Hampton added 10. Freshmen and sophomores combined to score 53 of BGSU's 64 points.

BGSU, playing for the third time in five days, got eight points from Jocelyn Tate and seven from Kenzie Lewis. Tate was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and added six rebounds and a game- and career-high six steals.

Lewis went 3-of-4 from the floor and had a team-high eight rebounds. Both Lewis and Tate dished out three assists.

Hampton blocked three Bronco shots to tie her career high.

For Western (14-9, 8-6 MAC), Taylor Williams had game-high totals of 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Lauren Ross and Maddie Watters added 17 and 14 points, respectively.

BGSU had an early 6-0 run, but WMU put together a seven-point run later in the first quarter. In the second period, the Broncos scored 10-straight points to take a 37-25 lead, but the Falcons responded with a 10-0 run of their own, getting within two points on a Hampton layup.

Williams, though, scored the final two hoops of the first half and the opening bucket of the second. A Ross layup gave WMU an 8-0 run and a 10-point lead. BG crept within six points on Velasco's three-point play at the end of the third quarter, but Watters opened the fourth period with back-to-back three-pointers, and BG could get no closer than seven points the rest of the night.

QUOTING COACH FRALICK
"This was a disappointing one tonight. We need more consistency across the board moving forward."

FIRST QUARTER
• In a game which featured a slow-scoring start at both ends of the court, the Falcons put together a six-point run. After BG forced a shot-clock violation, Amy Velasco hit a driving layup, and Elissa Brett fed Kadie Hempfling for a short-corner jumper. Jocelyn Tate's offensive rebound and layup ended a two-minute scoring drought and gave the Falcons a 6-3 lead midway through the quarter.
• Lauren Ross knocked down a long three-pointer, ending a scoreless stretch of over four minutes for the home team, but a Kenzie Lewis cross-court pass resulted in a Velasco triple at the other end.
• But, Hannah Spitzley hit a wide-open layup, Maddie Watters drained a shot from the arc and Ross somehow threw one in the hoop to give the home team a seven-point run and a 13-9 lead.
• Velasco converted a pair of driving layups in the final 1:20 of the period, with her second bucket coming in the waning seconds and cutting the WMU advantage to 17-14.

SECOND QUARTER
• The teams traded free throws before Taylor Williams drained a shot from the top of the arc. Watters hit a triple at the shot-clock horn, and a Megan Wagner trey gave the Broncos a 10-0 run and a 27-15 lead as the Falcons used a timeout at the 5:26 mark.
• Out of the timeout, Tate scored on a driving layup, and Nyla Hampton kicked the ball out to Velasco for a three-ball. Velasco came up with a steal and hit a free throw, and Brett stole the ball and scored after a nifty crossover move. When Tate came up with yet another BG steal and fed Hampton for an easy layup, the Falcons had a 10-point run of their own, and had cut the WMU lead to two.
• But, Williams scored the last four points of the period with a quick layup, then a steal and a transition bucket that gave the Broncos a 31-25 lead at the intermission.

THIRD QUARTER
• Layups by Williams and Ross gave the Broncos an eight-point lead with just under a minute gone. Zoe Miller and Hempfling made layups for the Falcons, but the home team had an answer on each occasion, as Wagner made a floater and Ross hit a deep three-pointer for a 40-29 Western lead.
• Miller got to the line and hit a pair of free throws, but Williams answered with a triple. Tate cut the Bronco lead to 10 with two charity tosses, and a quick 5-0 run saw Hampton hit a trailing three-pointer, then find Brett for a transition layup. Both possessions had begun with steals by Tate, and the Brett hoop cut the Western advantage to seven, 45-38, at the 3:52 mark.
• Tate fed a cutting Lewis for a layup with just under two minutes to go in the quarter, making it a seven-point game once again, and a Velasco three-point play with just 6.6 seconds left in the period cut the Broncos' lead to six, at 49-43.

FOURTH QUARTER
• BG could not score on the first two possessions of the final period, despite a pair of offensive rebounds by Lewis on the latter possession, and Watters pulled up and hit a three-pointer on Western's second trip down the floor in the quarter. Then, after a BG miss, a long pass downcourt found Watters for another three, and the Bronco lead was 55-43 with 8:37 to go.
• The lead reached 14 points, the largest margin of the game, when Ross hit a layup, but the Falcons responded with a 7-0 run. Hampton hit a mid-range jumper, and Lewis and Brett combined to force a 10-second violation. Then, Brett found Lewis for a layup, and Hampton immediately forced a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass. Lewis spotted Morgan Sharps at the top of the arc, and a Sharps three-pointer cut the Western lead to 57-50 with 6:15 on the clock. BGSU scored those seven points in a span of just 42 seconds.
• But, the Falcons could get no closer. Williams scored inside, and after a Velasco layup, shots in the paint by Williams and Ross gave WMU an 11-point lead with 4:15 remaining.
• The Falcons got within eight points several times in the late going, first on a Tate bucket and again after a pair of Madisen Parker free throws, and a Sharps jumper cut the deficit to seven, but there were only 11.3 seconds to go.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• The Broncos shot 52 percent from the floor, going 26-for-50. BGSU had a 39.3% success rate on the night.
• Western went 10-of-18 from three-point range, while holding the Falcons to a 4-for-15 effort from the arc.
• BGSU had a 36-30 rebounding advantage, including 14 offensive boards. The Falcons committed 17 turnovers, but forced Western into 19 miscues.
• BG had slim advantages in points off turnovers (27-24), points in the paint (36-32) and bench scoring (21-17), and the Falcons had an 8-2 lead in second-chance points.
• Jocelyn Tate and Kenzie Lewis combined to go 6-for-7 from the field, and that duo also combined for 14 rebounds and six assists (three apiece). Tate, as mentioned, had a career-high six steals as BG had a team total of 13.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons return home to face Ohio University on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 19). That contest is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Stroh, with Senior Day festivities prior to tipoff.
• Then, the Brown and Orange will return to the road for a Monday (Feb. 21) matchup with Kent State, before hosting Akron two nights later.
• Log on to BGSUFalcons.com for all of the latest news and updates re: the 2021-22 Falcons.

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