Falcons Teach Raiders a Few Lessons on Education Day

Tuesday, December 12

Dayton, Ohio

11 a.m.

Bowling Green State University

6-2,0-0MAC

Wright State

6-4,1-1Horizon

Bowling Green

Wright St.

Morgan Sharps (0) had a game-high 19 points, including 16 in the third quarter alone

Photo by: Lexi Hutchinson, WSU Athletics

December 12, 2023 | Women's Basketball

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Syllabus Items Include a Dziekan Double-Double & a Sharps Third-Quarter Scoring Outburst in a 69-48 Road Win

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

DAYTON, Ohio – Morgan Sharps exploded for 16 of her game-high 19 points in the third quarter alone, helping the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to a 69-48 victory over Wright State University on Tuesday morning (Dec. 12).

The non-conference game was played in front of a crowd of 7,574 at WSU's Nutter Center.

Sharps was one of four double-digit scorers for the Falcons (6-2). Lexi Fleming had 14 points in the win, with Sophie Dziekan scoring 12 and Amy Velasco 11.

Dziekan also had a game- and career-high 10 rebounds, recording the first double-double of her collegiate career.

On Education Day at the Nutter Center, the Raiders (6-4) got double-figure scoring games from a pair of Mid-American Conference transfers. Layne Ferrell (Akron) had 16 points to pace the hosts, while Rachel Loobie (Central Michigan) added 14.

The BGSU defense held Alexis Hutchison, WSU's leading scorer, to just two points on 1-of-10 shooting. Hutchison scored 32 points in the Raiders' previous game, a win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday, and was named the Horizon League Player of the Week on Monday.

The Falcons allowed WSU to go just 6-of-33 from the field in the first half, as BGSU opened up a 26-14 lead at the intermission. Both teams heated up from the field in the third quarter, with Sharps scoring 16 points in the period. She had BG's last 13 points of the quarter, including a three-pointer in the final seconds that gave the Falcons a 54-40 lead, and that lead never dropped below 12 points in the fourth period.

Sharps scored on each of BGSU's final five possessions of the third quarter, with 13 points in a span of less than three minutes.

BGSU hosts #1 South Carolina next Tuesday (Dec. 19) - get your tickets now!

B!G CROWDS!
• The Falcons' last game, at #4/4 Iowa on Dec. 2, was played before a crowd of 14,998, the highest attendance at a BGSU game in program history.
• On Tuesday, BG and Wright State played in front of a crowd of 7,574, the largest home crowd in WSU's history (and the 13th-largest crowd ever to see a BGSU game).

B!G CROWDS II: SIX DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON
• Prior to Tuesday, Wright State's largest-ever home attendance was 4,762 back on Dec. 31, 2001. On that date, the Raiders hosted Connecticut, the number-one team in the country.
• UConn, led by Sue Bird, captured a 97-39 win in that 2001 contest. Bird was among the 14,998 in attendance at the Falcons' game at Iowa 10 days ago.

MO BUCKETS!
• Morgan Sharps, as mentioned, had 16 points in the third quarter alone on Tuesday. That total was just one shy of matching the school record for points in a quarter, set by Carly Santoro in November of 2017. The complete list...
BGSU RECORD BOOK: MOST POINTS, QUARTER
17 Carly Santoro vs. Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 10, 2017 – second quarter)
16 Angela Perry vs. California Baptist (Nov. 30, 2019 – third quarter)
16 Morgan.Sharps at Wright State (Dec. 12, 2023 – third quarter)
15 Four times
14 Five times (including Amy.Velasco vs. Florida [March 27, 2023 – third quarter])

ALSO NOTEWORTHY
• The Falcons shot 50 percent from the field in the win, going 27-of-54 from the floor, and BG was 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the three-point line.
• BGSU held Wright State to a 28.6% success rate on the day, as the Raiders were 18-of-63 from the floor. That included a 4-for-22 effort (18.2%) from the arc.
• The teams combined for 40 points in the first half, before scoring a total of 54 points in the third period alone.
• The Falcons went 21-of-38 (55.3%) from the floor over the game's final three quarters.
• Wright State shot 66.7% (10-of-15) in the third quarter, but went just 8-for-48 16.7%) in the other three quarters combined. The Raiders were 2-of-15 from the field in both the second and fourth periods.
• Sophie Dziekan made the first start of her Falcon career on Tuesday. She scored 12 points, just two away from her career best, and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds in the win. The double-double was the first of her BGSU career.

FIRST QUARTER
• Sophie Dziekan opened the day's scoring with a putback just under 90 seconds into the game, and after Jada Tate scored for the Raiders, Lexi Fleming knocked down a three-point try, and BGSU led for the remainder of the contest.
• Dziekan blocked a Kacee Baumhower shot to end the next WSU possession, and Dziekan's offensive rebound kept the ensuing possession alive, before Paige Kohler's driving layup gave the Falcons a 7-2 lead.
• Olivia Hill lobbed a pass inside to Erika Porter for a layup, and a Porter handoff led to a Fleming layup and an 11-2 advantage.
• The Raiders began the game by making just 1-of-12 shots from field before Rachel Loobie hit a three-pointer. Kohler answered with a layup for a 13-5 BG lead, but Layne Ferrell scored the game's next five points, with her triple cutting the Falcons' lead to 13-10 after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• Makiya Miller threw a shot off glass and in, giving the Raiders a 7-0 run early in the second quarter. But, Amy Velasco answered with a short jumper, sparking a 10-0 run for the Falcons. After a defensive rebound, Velasco whipped a long pass ahead to a streaking Fleming for a quick layup, and Kohler found Dziekan for a layup just before the shot clock reached zero.
• Kohler scored herself, and Dziekan defensive board led to a Velasco jumper from the foul line extended, giving the Falcons a 23-12 lead.
• Loobie put back a teammate's miss to snap that 10-point BGSU run, but Kohler spotted Velasco for a three-point try from in front of the WSU bench. When that long-range attempt found nothing but net, the Falcons had a 26-14 lead.
• BGSU shot 44.4% (12-of-27) from the floor in the opening half, while holding WSU to that 6-for-33 effort.

THIRD QUARTER
• WSU opened the third-quarter scoring, but Velasco lobbed the ball inside to Dziekan for a nifty left-handed finish, and after another Dziekan defensive rebound, Velasco was fouled on a drive to the hoop, with her free throws giving BGSU a 30-16 lead. Then, Velasco hit Fleming for a transition layup.
• Dziekan hit a pair of charity tosses, then converted a reverse layup. But, the Raiders were answering at the other end, with Ferrell's hoop making it a 36-22 game.
• Two more Velasco free throws were followed by a Sharps triple, and BGSU had a 41-23 advantage. But, a Loobie layup and a Ferrell triple cut the lead to 13, and two Ferrell free throws gave the hosts a 7-0 run. WSU went back to the line with a chance to cut the BG lead into single digits, but Miller missed both attempts before Sharps knocked down a three-point try.
• After hitting that shot from the right wing, Sharps drained a long-distance shot from the left wing on BG's next possession. Loobie responded with a three-point play.
• Sharps drove and put a left-handed shot off glass and in, and after Cara VanKempen hit a triple for the hosts, Sharps took a Jasmine Clerkley pass and knocked down a long two-point try.
• Baumhower scored at the other end, but Sharps took a Velasco pass and beat the third-quarter buzzer with another triple. She scored BGSU's final 13 points of the period.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Clerkley opened the fourth-period scoring with a shot off glass, and Porter scored several minutes later.
• Sharps took a Dziekan handoff and drilled her fifth three-pointer of the contest, and Dziekan's layup made it a 64-48 game with just over three minutes to go.
• BGSU held WSU without a point for the final 4:15 of the contest. A nifty bounce pass by Sharps found Fleming cutting along the baseline, and Fleming's reverse layup made it a 66-48 game. Then, Fleming capped the game's scoring with a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down, extending the lead to over 20 points for the first time.

UP NEXT
• Up next for the Falcons? A home game against the team currently ranked number-one in the country.
• BGSU will host South Carolina next Tuesday (Dec. 19), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center. A limited number of tickets for the game are still available.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on Facebook (@BGWBB), Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUWBB) and Instagram (@bgsuwbb), as well as right here at BGSUFalcons.com.