Saint Mary's Stops BG, 76-67

Saturday, March 19

Lexington, KY

2:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

16-16,10-10MAC

Saint Mary's

17-15,9-9WCC

Saint Mary's (CA)

Bowling Green

Amy Velasco led the Falcons with 16 points vs. Saint Mary's

Photo by: Paul Hokanson, Buffalo Athletics

March 19, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-SMC Stats Support Our Student-Athletes

BGSU will wrap up the '21-22 season on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Taycee Wedin scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the second half, helping Saint Mary's College to a 76-67 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (March 19). The Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) semifinal was held at the Clive M. Beck Center.

Freshman Amy Velasco led the Falcons (16-16) with 16 points, while redshirt sophomore Morgan Sharps had 15.

BGSU will close the 2021-22 season on Sunday (March 20), taking on Nevada in the WBI's third-place game. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m.

Wedin went 6-of-9 from three-point range as the Gaels (17-15) shot over 50 percent from the arc as a team. SMC led by a single point at the half, but slowly opened up the lead in the first few minutes of the third period. Then, Wedin hit triple tries on back-to-back possessions to give her team a 10-point lead just over four minutes into the quarter.

BGSU pulled as close as six points on several occasions, and got to within five points late in the third quarter. But, the Gaels extended the lead, and when Wedin again knocked down back-to-back triples in the fourth quarter, it gave SMC a game-high 16-point advantage. The Falcons could not whittle that deficit under double digits until less than a minute remained in the contest.

SMC outscored BGSU, 28-18, in the third period, and the Gaels shot 65% from the floor in that quarter. After committing 14 first-half turnovers, Saint Mary's had only four in the second half, with none in the third quarter.

SATURDAY'S WBI SCORES
Austin Peay 73, Furman 59
Saint Mary's 76, BGSU 67
Davidson 90, Northeastern 65
Cleveland State 58, Nevada 50

FIRST QUARTER
• The first quarter was closely contested, with neither team leading by more than four points. BGSU came up with steals in each of SMC's first two possessions, and Elissa Brett hit a layup before finding Kadie Hempfling for a three-pointer and a 5-2 lead moments later.
• The Gaels took the lead on a pair of hoops in the paint before Morgan Sharps scored five-straight points. The redshirt soph hit a floater, then took an Amy Velasco pass and pulled up for a three-pointer and a 10-6 BGSU lead just under halfway through the period.
• SMC responded by scoring six consecutive points, with Taycee Wedin's triple giving the Gaels a 12-10 lead. But, Jocelyn Tate hit a free throw, and Hempfling found Brett for a corner three and a 14-12 BG advantage after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• Ali Bamberger went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line in the first two minutes of the quarter, but Velasco responded with a driving layup, then two free throws of her own.
• The charity tosses gave the Falcons an 18-16 lead and sparked an 8-0 run. Madisen Parker found Sophie Dziekan for a nifty shot off glass, and Dziekan repeated the feat on BG's next trip down the floor. When Velasco hit a foul-line jumper, the Orange and Brown had a 24-16 lead as the Gaels used a timeout.
• After going nearly nine minutes without a field goal (8:53, to be exact), the Gaels finally ended the drought when Makena Mastora hit a corner three after SMC had nearly turned the ball over. Tate hit a free throw moments later, and after Wedin scored from the arc, Nyla Hampton answered with a trifecta of her own, giving BGSU a 28-24 lead with 2:56 left in the half.
• SMC scored the next six points, however, with Bamberger's layup giving the Gaels the lead with 1:13 left in the period. Sharps countered with a three-pointer, but Tayla Dalton's jumper gave her team a 32-31 lead at the half.
• BGSU forced 14 turnovers in the first half, but the Falcons scored just seven points off of those turnovers.

THIRD QUARTER
• the teams traded points in the early going, with Hampton scoring on a nifty drive and one-handed scoop, and Hempfling banking in a floater. But, the Gaels were answering at the other end, and when an SMC defensive stop was followed by a Mastora triple, the Falcons trailed by six.
• Velasco got herself to the line and converted both shots, and Sharps drove and hit a reverse layup, but Wedin hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 49-39 lead at the 5:39 mark, prompting the Falcons to use a timeout.
• Hampton scored off of a baseline drive out of the break, and Tate's bucket made it a six-point game once again. A Kenzie Lewis three-point play cut the Falcons' deficit to five with 2:23 to go, but that was as close as BG would get. SMC scored nine of the game's next 12 points to take a 60-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Hempfling found Velasco for a long-distance make before hitting a layup with two minutes gone, but Bamberger's bucket in the paint sparked an 8-0 SMC run. When Wedin made back-to-back treys, the Gaels owned a 70-54 lead with nearly half of the quarter gone.
• Sharps converted a three-point play, then made a sweet up-and-under layup, but it was not enough.
• The final two minutes saw BG look to mount a rally, as a pair of steals led to a Velasco trey and a Brett layup, but the latter bucket came with just 38.3 seconds to go, and the Falcons could draw no closer than that nine-point gap.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• Wedin led all players with 24 points, going 9-of-17 from the field and 6-for-9 from the arc. Bamberger had 18 poitns and nine rebounds, while Madeline Holland had 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Tayla Dalton added 10 points for the Gaels as well.
• Velasco and Sharps scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the Falcons. Velasco had three assists and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, while Sharps had five rebounds in the game.
• Brett scored eight points and had a game-high five of BGSU's 10 steals, and Both Hempfling and Hampton had seven points.
• BGSU had a 14-5 edge in points off of turnovers, and the Falcons also led in fast-break points (16-9) and bench scoring (26-14).
• SMC outscored BGSU, 28-18, in the third period, and the Gaels shot 65% from the floor in that quarter. After committing 14 first-half turnovers, Saint Mary's had only four in the second half, with none in the third quarter.

UP NEXT
• BGSU will end the 2021-22 season on Sunday (March 20), playing Nevada in the WBI's third-place game. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m.
• Log on to BGSUFalcons.com for all of the latest news and updates re: the 2021-22 Falcons.

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