Bowling Green State University Athletics
Saturday, January 14
Akron, Ohio
2:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
14-2,3-1MAC
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Akron
12-3,3-1MAC
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Bowling Green
15
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Akron
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Elissa Brett led the Falcons with 16 points, and went over the 1,000-point mark for her career
Photo by: Jeff Harwell
Frenetic Fourth-Quarter Flurry Fuels Falcon Comeback Win, 71-66, at Akron
January 14, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Brett surpasses 1,000-point mark; BGSU outscores Zips, 31-13, over final 10 minutes
AKRON, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team battled back from a double-digit deficit to stun the University of Akron, 71-66, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 14). The Mid-American Conference thriller was held at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Morgan Sharps single-handedly matched Akron's scoring output in the fourth quarter, while Elissa Brett reached a milestone in the win.
Brett scored 16 points to pace four double-digit scorers for the Falcons (14-2, 3-1 MAC). And, with a three-point field goal midway through the second quarter, Brett became just the 30th player in program history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau.
Allison Day had 14 points and a team-leading seven rebounds for the Orange and Brown, with Sharps scoring 13 and Jocelyn Tate 12.
Sharps had all 13 of her points in the fourth quarter, matching the entire Akron team's offensive output in the final 10 minutes.
BG outscored the Zips (12-3, 3-1 MAC) by a 31-13 count in that fourth period.
Molly Neitzel led the hosts with 20 points, with Dominique Camp adding 14 and Reagan Bass 11. The Zips, who entered the day alone in first place in the MAC, saw a seven-game winning streak snapped.
BGSU shot just 25 percent from the floor in the first half, and trailed by nine points at the intermission. The Falcons began the second half with a 7-0 run, but the Zips answered with a run of their own, extending the lead to 14 on a Rachel Martindale three-point play with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
Four free throws in the final minute gave the Zips a 13-point lead, 53-40, after three quarters, but a 9-0 run early in the fourth period got the Falcons within four.
Neitzel got a putback, then answered a Day layup with a three-pointer to give UA a 60-53 lead with 5:46 on the clock. But, after a Tate layup, Sharps hit a triple to put the Falcons within two.
With the score stuck at 60-58, BGSU missed four-straight shots with a chance to tie or take the lead. But, Sharps drained another long-distance try to give BG a 61-60 lead with 3:12 to go.
Bass countered with a layup, but Sharps hit a pull-up banker to give BG the lead once again with 2:42 left.
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QUOTING COACH FRALICK
"Today was a great example of playing through for the full 40 minutes. A lot of credit to Akron; they are a very good team, and they are stingy defensively. But, we just kept battling. In the fourth quarter, I thought we played with great effort and toughness.
"Nothing today was easy. We had to work hard on every possession, even in the fourth quarter when we were able to make a run. I'm really proud of the team's grit, toughness and stick-with-it-ness to finish the game and come away with a win today."
(On Elissa Brett surpassing the 1,000-point mark for her career)
"I'm just so proud of Elissa. She came across the ocean and joined us all the way from Australia. For two years, her family couldn't even come see her because of the pandemic. In her freshman year, she shot 55 percent from the free-throw line, and now, when other teams get technical fouls, she's the kid we're putting at the free-throw line. That's just a small example of the way she has continued to improve.
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"She has a great work ethic, she's a great competitor and she is a true two-way player. Her getting her 1,000th point is a true testament to her investment in her craft."
QUOTING ELISSA BRETT
"I wasn't exactly sure (that she had reached 1,000 points) until I heard the crowd going wild, but it was an awesome feeling. It's an accomplishment I'm very proud of. In my freshman year, you would have never guessed that I would be a 1,000-point scorer. It was a great feeling."
FIRST QUARTER
• The Falcons, as mentioned, shot only 25% from the floor in the first 20 minutes of Saturday's game. The Zips surged out to a 7-2 lead with just over one minute gone. Allison Day, who had assisted Jocelyn Tate for BG's first bucket of the afternoon, hit a layup of her own, but a Molly Neitzel three-point play was followed by two Layne Ferrell free throws, giving UA a 12-4 lead.
• Sophie Dziekan countered by putting back a teammate's miss, and Elissa Brett knocked down a left-wing three-pointer, but Faith Stinson answered with a triple that gave the Zips a 15-9 lead.
• Tate quickly hit a driving layup at the other end, but Dominique Camp went coast-to-coast and threw up a shot that went through the hoop, and Stinson's floater with the shot clock winding down gave the hosts an eight-point advantage.
• BGSU got two Brett free throws and a short one-hander from Day, but two Ferrell tosses gave UA a 23-15 lead after 10 minutes.
• That opening period saw the Falcons attempt twice as many shots as the Zips, but make one fewer basket than the hosts. BG was 6-for-20 from the floor, while UA went 7-of-10.
SECOND QUARTER
• The teams combined for just 17 points in the second quarter, with Akron shooting 26.7% and BG just 18.8% from the field.
• UA opened up a 13 point lead with a Ferrell layup and Camp's three-pointer. Meanwhile, the Falcons did not score until nearly halfway through the period. BG's first points of the quarter came when Amy Velasco's 'extra pass' resulted in a Brett three-pointer, putting her over the 1,000-point mark for her career.
• After a stop and a rebound by Day, Lexi Fleming flipped a pass to a trailing Brett for another trey that cut the Akron lead to 28-21. Camp banked home a pull-up jumper, though, and after Fleming drove the baseline for a reverse layup, Alexis Stewart's layup gave UA a 32-23 lead at the intermission.
• Brett scored six of BGSU's eight points in the quarter, while Camp had five of Akron's nine.
THIRD QUARTER
• The Falcons had a hot start to the third quarter, scoring the first seven points. After getting a stop at the defensive end, BG opened the second-half scoring on a Tate floater in the paint. Then, Tate found Brett for a pull-up three-pointer with BG on the run. When Nyla Hampton converted a driving layup, the Akron lead was just 32-30 as the Zips used a timeout.
• But, after that timeout, the hosts answered with a run of their own. Akron scored the next five points to begin a 14-2 surge. After a Reagan Bass putback, the Zips scored five-straight points at the free-throw line, wrapped around a Hampton layup. Bass found a cutting Neitzel for a layup, then made a layup of her own, and Rachel Martindale's three-point play gave the hosts a 14-point lead, 46-32, with just over 14 minutes of regulation remaining.
• Day scored BGSU's next eight points, with three layups and a pair of free throws in a span of just over two minutes. Her last layup in that stretch cut the Akron lead to 49-40, but Ferrell and Bass each got to the line and made two free throws in the final minute of the quarter, upping the margin to 13.
FOURTH QUARTER
• After scoring 40 points in the first three quarters, the Falcons scored 31 in the fourth. BG got a stop on the first possession, and Tate found Brett for a run-out layup. Neitzel put back a teammate's miss, but Morgan Sharps hit a three-pointer at the 8:48 mark. Sharps, who was held scoreless through three periods, had 13 fourth-quarter points.
• The Falcon fun continued, as Day found Tate for a layup, and Sharps stole the ball and fired a pass to Hampton on a 2-on-1 break. When Sharps rebounded an Akron miss and whipped the ball to an open Tate for another layup, BGSU had a 9-0 run, and the Zips' lead was just four points.
• Neitzel got another putback, and after Hampton spotted Day for a layup, Neitzel knocked down a three-point try, giving Akron a 60-53 lead with 5:46 to go.
• Tate drove the baseline and hit a pull-up jumper, then came up with a steal. The ensuing possession saw both Day and Hampton pull down offensive rebounds, and Hampton kicked the ball out to Sharps for a three-pointer. Akron's lead was down to two points.
• Tate had another steal, but the Falcons could not convert. In fact, BGSU missed four-straight shots with a chance to tie or take the lead. But, during that time, BGSU forced a bad pass by the Zips, and Day drew a charge.
• With 3:12 on the clock, Day's pass resulted in another Sharps three-pointer, and the Falcons led for the first time in the game. Akron broke the BG press, with Bass hitting a layup, but Sharps immediately countered with a floater off glass, giving the Falcons a 63-62 lead with 2:42 remaining.
• On the next possession, Day went high into the air to steal a UA entry pass, and Hampton hit a contested layup try, putting the visitors up by three. Neitzel's open layup cut the lead to one, and a BG miss gave the ball back to the Zips. But, Fleming stole the ball from Ferrell near midcourt, passing the ball to Hampton before taking a return pass for a layup and a 67-64 lead with 1:18 to go.
• Camp saw a low-percentage shot drop, and the lead was again a single point, and a BGSU missed shot along with a double foul gave the ball back to the Zips with 41.9 seconds remaining. Martindale missed a three-point attempt, and Fleming was fouled as she dove to the floor for the rebound. Her free throws with 26.5 seconds left gave BG a 69-66 lead.
• Fleming then blocked a step-back three-point try by Ferrell, and Sharps was fouled after grabbing the rebound. Her tosses gave BG a five-point lead, and Day rebounded another Akron miss in the final seconds.
ÂGallery: (1-14-2023) 011423 WBK at Akron - Jeff Harwell
STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• Akron shot 40.7% from the field, while BGSU had a 36.4% success rate. The Falcons went 7-of-27 (25.9%) from three-point range, while UA was 4-for-18 (22.2%) from the arc.
• The Zips went 18-of-20 at the stripe, where BG was a perfect 8-for-8.
• The Falcons had a 42-39 rebounding advantage, and BGSU had 18 offensive boards.
• BG had advantages of 42-30 in points in the paint, 16-13 in points off turnovers, 11-8 in second chance points and 15-8 in fast-break points.
• The Falcons were 12-of-22 (54.5%) from the field in the fourth quarter, with Akron going 6-for-14 (42.9%) in that time.
• BGSU forced Akron into eight fourth-quarter turnovers, and the Falcons did not commit a turnover in the final 10 minutes.
• Hampton had four assists in the fourth quarter alone, while Sharps scored all 13 of her points in the final quarter.
• For the game, BGSU had nine turnovers, and forced Akron into 18. It marked the 16th time in as many games this season that BG had fewer turnovers than the opponent.
UP NEXT
• The Falcons return home for the next two games, beginning with Wednesday's (Jan. 18) "Battle of I-75" matchup vs. Toledo. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. for Wednesday's Orange-Out at the Stroh Center.
• Then, the Orange and Brown will once again be at the Stroh next Saturday (Jan. 21), taking on Kent State in a 1:00 p.m. start.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on...
• Facebook | @BGWBB
• Twitter | @BGAthletics and @BGSUwbb
• Instagram | @bgsuwbasketball
• Snapchat | BGSU Falcons
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Morgan Sharps single-handedly matched Akron's scoring output in the fourth quarter, while Elissa Brett reached a milestone in the win.
Brett scored 16 points to pace four double-digit scorers for the Falcons (14-2, 3-1 MAC). And, with a three-point field goal midway through the second quarter, Brett became just the 30th player in program history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau.
Allison Day had 14 points and a team-leading seven rebounds for the Orange and Brown, with Sharps scoring 13 and Jocelyn Tate 12.
Sharps had all 13 of her points in the fourth quarter, matching the entire Akron team's offensive output in the final 10 minutes.
BG outscored the Zips (12-3, 3-1 MAC) by a 31-13 count in that fourth period.
Molly Neitzel led the hosts with 20 points, with Dominique Camp adding 14 and Reagan Bass 11. The Zips, who entered the day alone in first place in the MAC, saw a seven-game winning streak snapped.
BGSU shot just 25 percent from the floor in the first half, and trailed by nine points at the intermission. The Falcons began the second half with a 7-0 run, but the Zips answered with a run of their own, extending the lead to 14 on a Rachel Martindale three-point play with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
Four free throws in the final minute gave the Zips a 13-point lead, 53-40, after three quarters, but a 9-0 run early in the fourth period got the Falcons within four.
Neitzel got a putback, then answered a Day layup with a three-pointer to give UA a 60-53 lead with 5:46 on the clock. But, after a Tate layup, Sharps hit a triple to put the Falcons within two.
With the score stuck at 60-58, BGSU missed four-straight shots with a chance to tie or take the lead. But, Sharps drained another long-distance try to give BG a 61-60 lead with 3:12 to go.
Bass countered with a layup, but Sharps hit a pull-up banker to give BG the lead once again with 2:42 left.
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ELISSA BRETT with a corner 3, & she's the 30th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark! pic.twitter.com/9OD74xq6YP
— BGSU WBB (@BGSUwbb) January 14, 2023
QUOTING COACH FRALICK
"Today was a great example of playing through for the full 40 minutes. A lot of credit to Akron; they are a very good team, and they are stingy defensively. But, we just kept battling. In the fourth quarter, I thought we played with great effort and toughness.
"Nothing today was easy. We had to work hard on every possession, even in the fourth quarter when we were able to make a run. I'm really proud of the team's grit, toughness and stick-with-it-ness to finish the game and come away with a win today."
(On Elissa Brett surpassing the 1,000-point mark for her career)
"I'm just so proud of Elissa. She came across the ocean and joined us all the way from Australia. For two years, her family couldn't even come see her because of the pandemic. In her freshman year, she shot 55 percent from the free-throw line, and now, when other teams get technical fouls, she's the kid we're putting at the free-throw line. That's just a small example of the way she has continued to improve.
Â
"She has a great work ethic, she's a great competitor and she is a true two-way player. Her getting her 1,000th point is a true testament to her investment in her craft."
QUOTING ELISSA BRETT
"I wasn't exactly sure (that she had reached 1,000 points) until I heard the crowd going wild, but it was an awesome feeling. It's an accomplishment I'm very proud of. In my freshman year, you would have never guessed that I would be a 1,000-point scorer. It was a great feeling."
FIRST QUARTER
• The Falcons, as mentioned, shot only 25% from the floor in the first 20 minutes of Saturday's game. The Zips surged out to a 7-2 lead with just over one minute gone. Allison Day, who had assisted Jocelyn Tate for BG's first bucket of the afternoon, hit a layup of her own, but a Molly Neitzel three-point play was followed by two Layne Ferrell free throws, giving UA a 12-4 lead.
• Sophie Dziekan countered by putting back a teammate's miss, and Elissa Brett knocked down a left-wing three-pointer, but Faith Stinson answered with a triple that gave the Zips a 15-9 lead.
• Tate quickly hit a driving layup at the other end, but Dominique Camp went coast-to-coast and threw up a shot that went through the hoop, and Stinson's floater with the shot clock winding down gave the hosts an eight-point advantage.
• BGSU got two Brett free throws and a short one-hander from Day, but two Ferrell tosses gave UA a 23-15 lead after 10 minutes.
• That opening period saw the Falcons attempt twice as many shots as the Zips, but make one fewer basket than the hosts. BG was 6-for-20 from the floor, while UA went 7-of-10.
SECOND QUARTER
• The teams combined for just 17 points in the second quarter, with Akron shooting 26.7% and BG just 18.8% from the field.
• UA opened up a 13 point lead with a Ferrell layup and Camp's three-pointer. Meanwhile, the Falcons did not score until nearly halfway through the period. BG's first points of the quarter came when Amy Velasco's 'extra pass' resulted in a Brett three-pointer, putting her over the 1,000-point mark for her career.
• After a stop and a rebound by Day, Lexi Fleming flipped a pass to a trailing Brett for another trey that cut the Akron lead to 28-21. Camp banked home a pull-up jumper, though, and after Fleming drove the baseline for a reverse layup, Alexis Stewart's layup gave UA a 32-23 lead at the intermission.
• Brett scored six of BGSU's eight points in the quarter, while Camp had five of Akron's nine.
THIRD QUARTER
• The Falcons had a hot start to the third quarter, scoring the first seven points. After getting a stop at the defensive end, BG opened the second-half scoring on a Tate floater in the paint. Then, Tate found Brett for a pull-up three-pointer with BG on the run. When Nyla Hampton converted a driving layup, the Akron lead was just 32-30 as the Zips used a timeout.
• But, after that timeout, the hosts answered with a run of their own. Akron scored the next five points to begin a 14-2 surge. After a Reagan Bass putback, the Zips scored five-straight points at the free-throw line, wrapped around a Hampton layup. Bass found a cutting Neitzel for a layup, then made a layup of her own, and Rachel Martindale's three-point play gave the hosts a 14-point lead, 46-32, with just over 14 minutes of regulation remaining.
• Day scored BGSU's next eight points, with three layups and a pair of free throws in a span of just over two minutes. Her last layup in that stretch cut the Akron lead to 49-40, but Ferrell and Bass each got to the line and made two free throws in the final minute of the quarter, upping the margin to 13.
FOURTH QUARTER
• After scoring 40 points in the first three quarters, the Falcons scored 31 in the fourth. BG got a stop on the first possession, and Tate found Brett for a run-out layup. Neitzel put back a teammate's miss, but Morgan Sharps hit a three-pointer at the 8:48 mark. Sharps, who was held scoreless through three periods, had 13 fourth-quarter points.
• The Falcon fun continued, as Day found Tate for a layup, and Sharps stole the ball and fired a pass to Hampton on a 2-on-1 break. When Sharps rebounded an Akron miss and whipped the ball to an open Tate for another layup, BGSU had a 9-0 run, and the Zips' lead was just four points.
• Neitzel got another putback, and after Hampton spotted Day for a layup, Neitzel knocked down a three-point try, giving Akron a 60-53 lead with 5:46 to go.
• Tate drove the baseline and hit a pull-up jumper, then came up with a steal. The ensuing possession saw both Day and Hampton pull down offensive rebounds, and Hampton kicked the ball out to Sharps for a three-pointer. Akron's lead was down to two points.
• Tate had another steal, but the Falcons could not convert. In fact, BGSU missed four-straight shots with a chance to tie or take the lead. But, during that time, BGSU forced a bad pass by the Zips, and Day drew a charge.
• With 3:12 on the clock, Day's pass resulted in another Sharps three-pointer, and the Falcons led for the first time in the game. Akron broke the BG press, with Bass hitting a layup, but Sharps immediately countered with a floater off glass, giving the Falcons a 63-62 lead with 2:42 remaining.
• On the next possession, Day went high into the air to steal a UA entry pass, and Hampton hit a contested layup try, putting the visitors up by three. Neitzel's open layup cut the lead to one, and a BG miss gave the ball back to the Zips. But, Fleming stole the ball from Ferrell near midcourt, passing the ball to Hampton before taking a return pass for a layup and a 67-64 lead with 1:18 to go.
• Camp saw a low-percentage shot drop, and the lead was again a single point, and a BGSU missed shot along with a double foul gave the ball back to the Zips with 41.9 seconds remaining. Martindale missed a three-point attempt, and Fleming was fouled as she dove to the floor for the rebound. Her free throws with 26.5 seconds left gave BG a 69-66 lead.
• Fleming then blocked a step-back three-point try by Ferrell, and Sharps was fouled after grabbing the rebound. Her tosses gave BG a five-point lead, and Day rebounded another Akron miss in the final seconds.
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STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• Akron shot 40.7% from the field, while BGSU had a 36.4% success rate. The Falcons went 7-of-27 (25.9%) from three-point range, while UA was 4-for-18 (22.2%) from the arc.
• The Zips went 18-of-20 at the stripe, where BG was a perfect 8-for-8.
• The Falcons had a 42-39 rebounding advantage, and BGSU had 18 offensive boards.
• BG had advantages of 42-30 in points in the paint, 16-13 in points off turnovers, 11-8 in second chance points and 15-8 in fast-break points.
• The Falcons were 12-of-22 (54.5%) from the field in the fourth quarter, with Akron going 6-for-14 (42.9%) in that time.
• BGSU forced Akron into eight fourth-quarter turnovers, and the Falcons did not commit a turnover in the final 10 minutes.
• Hampton had four assists in the fourth quarter alone, while Sharps scored all 13 of her points in the final quarter.
• For the game, BGSU had nine turnovers, and forced Akron into 18. It marked the 16th time in as many games this season that BG had fewer turnovers than the opponent.
UP NEXT
• The Falcons return home for the next two games, beginning with Wednesday's (Jan. 18) "Battle of I-75" matchup vs. Toledo. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. for Wednesday's Orange-Out at the Stroh Center.
• Then, the Orange and Brown will once again be at the Stroh next Saturday (Jan. 21), taking on Kent State in a 1:00 p.m. start.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on...
• Facebook | @BGWBB
• Twitter | @BGAthletics and @BGSUwbb
• Instagram | @bgsuwbasketball
• Snapchat | BGSU Falcons
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Team Stats
BGSU
UA
FG%
.364
.407
3FG%
.259
.222
FT%
1.000
.900
RB
42
39
TO
9
18
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
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