Back-to-Back Brett Buckets Hinder Huskies' Hopes

Saturday, January 28

DeKalb, Ill.

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

18-2,7-1MAC

Northern Illinois

10-9,2-6MAC

Bowling Green

NIU

Photo by: Scott Walstrom, NIU Athletics

January 28, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-NIU Stats

Falcon senior’s game-high 21 points include two key third-quarter hoops in 66-50 win at NIU

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

DeKALB, Ill. – Elissa Brett hit three-pointers on back-to-back third-quarter possessions, helping lift the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to a 66-50 win at Northern Illinois University on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 28). The Mid-American Conference matchup was held at the Convocation Center.

Brett had a double-double for the Falcons (18-2, 7-1 MAC), who have won seven-straight games. She led all players with 21 points on the afternoon and also had 10 rebounds and a game-high four steals.

Jocelyn Tate had another well-rounded game, with 15 points, six boards, a team-leading four assists and three steals. Nyla Hampton and Lexi Fleming each scored eight points, while Allison Day had six points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

No player reached double digits in scoring for the Huskies (10-9, 2-6 MAC). Laura Nickel and Sidney McCrea each had nine points, Emily Meinert eight and Jayden Marable seven.

The Falcons never trailed on Saturday, and BGSU broke an early 3-3 tie – the game's only tie – with a 15-0 run. The Huskies never let the Falcons run away and hide, but BG never let the lead drop below 10 points over the game's final 32-plus minutes.

A McCrea layup early in the fourth period got the hosts within 10, and both teams then went scoreless for nearly three minutes. But, Fleming found Brett for a corner three, and after an NIU turnover, Brett's trailing three-pointer gave the Falcons a 60-44 lead with just over five minutes to go.

NOTE OF THE DAY
• With the win, the Falcons are now 18-2 on the year. BGSU has surpassed the overall win total for all of last season, when the Orange and Brown went 17-16.
• And, BGSU has more than doubled last season's road victory total. The 2022-23 Falcons are now 9-2 in true road games and 10-2 in all games away from home. Last year's club went 4-7 in road games and 8-11 in road and neutral-site games combined.

QUOTING COACH FRALICK
"I'm proud of our two wins in a tough road stretch this week. I thought we did an excellent job defensively today, and we also shared the ball well. Credit Elissa Brett again today; she had some really big and really timely baskets for us. But as a team, I loved our toughness and I loved our grit."

FIRST QUARTER
• Elissa Brett opened the game's scoring, hitting a three-point field goal after an Allison Day offensive rebound. The Huskies' leading scorer, Chelby Koker, knocked down a shot from beyond the arc just over two minutes into the contest. But, BGSU would answer with a 15-0 run.
• Jocelyn Tate fueled the start of that run. The sophomore had back-to-back buckets to break the 3-3 tie, with a nifty spin move leading to a short jumper, before a driving contested layup.
• Tate came up with a quick steal and found Brett on the break for a layup and a 9-3 lead, and a Tate offensive rebound led to a Lexi Fleming three-pointer.
• Neither team scored for nearly three minutes, before Sophie Dziekan kicked the ball out to Amy Velasco for a triple. When Fleming flipped a pass to a trailing Brett for another three-pointer, the Falcons had an 18-3 lead.
• A steal led to a Koker layup, but Tate's putback gave BG a 20-5 lead. Sidney McCrea hit a corner three, but Nyla Hampton's floater in the final seconds of the quarter put the Falcons up, 22-8.

SECOND QUARTER
• Day scored the first four points of the second period, with a layup after making several nifty post moves, then a runout after a Brett defensive rebound. BGSU's lead was 26-8.
• A pair of Velasco free throws gave the Falcons a 19-point lead, at 29-10, and a Brett layup was followed by Hampton's cutting layup from a Day pass. BG had a 33-13 advantage.
• But, the Huskies would score the game's next eight points, with Grace Hunter's corner three making it a 33-21 game. Tate broke BG's scoring drought with a running layup, and the Falcons took a 35-22 lead into the half.

THIRD QUARTER
• A Tate handoff resulted in a driving layup by Brett on the opening possession, and Fleming's left-side three-ball gave BG a 40-22 lead just two minutes into the second half. But, the Huskies scored the next five points, including a Tara Stauffacher three with the shot clock very close to zero.
• Dziekan grabbed an offensive board, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws. Then, Tate's entry pass resulted in a quick layup by Day, and Tate then kicked the ball out to Fleming for a long-range make and a 47-29 lead.
• Fleming hit a pair of free throws, and Hampton made a floater, but the Huskies were scoring at the other end, and it was a 12-point game before a Dziekan free throw with just 0.1 seconds left in the period.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Hunter's three-pointer in the first minute of the period cut the BGSU lead to 10 points, the closest it had been since BG's first-quarter run. Tate's nifty drive and layup put the Falcons back up by 12, but McCrea's back-door cut resulted in a layup that knocked BG's lead down to 10 again, at 54-44.
• NIU then went scoreless on the next four possessions, and after Hunter missed a layup, Brett grabbed the rebound. The ensuing possession saw Fleming drive the baseline and whip a pass to Brett for a corner three and a 13-point lead with 5:31 remaining.
• The next possession saw an errant NIU pass thwack off the backboard and head toward the sideline near the media table across the court from the Huskie bench. McCrea made a diving effort to successfully save the ball from going out of bounds, but the ball went to Brett as McCrea tumbled over a row of chairs. Brett passed the ball to Tate, who hurried downcourt as the Falcons had a 5-on-4 advantage. Tate drove into the paint, turned and passed the ball to the trailing Brett, and Brett's three-point try found nothing but net, giving the Orange and Brown a 60-44 lead with 5:05 to go.
• For all intents and purposes, those Brett triples sealed the win. NIU got a layup by Laura Nickel, but Hampton's two free throws and a sweet reverse layup by Tate gave BGSU an 18-point lead with 3:38 on the clock.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• The Falcons shot just over 42 percent from the field, but held NIU to just a 32.3% field-goal rate. BGSU was 8-of-21 (38.1%) from the arc,while the Huskies were 6-of-28 (21.4%).
• Brett hit more than half of BGs three-pointers, going 5-for-10 from the arc.
• Tate was 7-of-10 from the field in the win.
• BG had a 42-37 rebounding advantage, with Day grabbing 11 boards and Brett 10.
• For just the second time this season, the Falcons committed more turnovers than the opponent. BGSU had 17 turnovers, while NIU had 14.
• But, for the 19th time in 20 games this year, BGSU had the lead in points off turnovers. On Saturday, the Falcons had a 16-14 advantage in that category, and BGSU also had leads in points in the paint (30-26), second-chance points (11-9) and fast-break scoring (9-5).
• After going 19-42 overall and 5-31 in MAC play in head coach Robyn Fralick's first two seasons at the helm, the Falcons are 56-26 overall and 31-15 in the league over the last two-plus years.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons return home to begin the month of February with a pair of games at the Stroh Center. BGSU will meet Western Michigan on Wednesday (Feb. 1), with the National Girls and Women in Sports Day contest set to tip off at 7:00 p.m.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will host Miami next Saturday (Feb. 4), on Title IX Day / Alumnae Day at the Stroh. That game is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.

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