Sharps Scores a Game-High 25 vs. South Carolina

Tuesday, December 19

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

6-3,0-0MAC

South Carolina

11-0,0-0SEC

South Carolina

Bowling Green

Photo by: Scott W. Grau

December 19, 2023 | Women's Basketball

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Falcons Fall, 93-62, to the No. 1 Gamecocks at the Stroh

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Morgan Sharps erupted for a game-high 25 points as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team battled the number-one ranked team in the country Tuesday evening (Dec. 19). The University of South Carolina, however, rode a hot-shooting start to a 93-62 win over the Falcons at the Stroh Center.

The Gamecocks (11-0) began the game by going 10-for-10 from the field, opening up a 28-10 lead in the process. But, the Falcons (6-3) ended the first quarter on an 8-0 run, and forced the visitors to miss six-straight shots after those 10 consecutive makes.

Over the game's final 33-plus minutes, the Gamecocks outscored the Falcons by just 13 points, 65-52.

Sharps' point total was just one away from matching her career best. She knocked down seven three-point shots to tie her career standard, and she was just one triple away from tying the school single game record.

Lexi Fleming joined Sharps in double figures for the Falcons, with 11 points on the night. Chloe Kitts had 21 points to pace four double-digit scorers for the Gamecocks. The visitors got 18 points from Bree Hall, 12 from Te-Hina Paopao and 11 from Kamilla Cardoso.

BGSU's total of 62 points was the highest allowed by South Carolina in seven games vs. unranked teams this season to date. The Gamecocks surrendered an average of just 37.5 points in the first six contests vs. unranked foes this season.

B!G CROWD
• Tuesday night's attendance was 4,195, marking the largest crowd ever to see the women's basketball Falcons play a game at the Stroh Center.
• The crowd was the second largest home attendance figure in BGSU women's basketball history. The list...
BGSU RECORD BOOK – HIGHEST SINGLE-GAME HOME ATTENDANCE
1. 4,408  Florida – March 17, 1993 (NCAA Tourn.; Anderson Arena)
2. 4,195  South Carolina – Dec. 19, 2023 (Stroh Center)
2. 4,155  Columbia – March 29, 2023 (WNIT; Stroh Center)
3. 4,144  Loyola Chicago – Nov. 20, 2018 (Stroh Center)
4. 4,130 Xavier – Dec. 6, 2017 (Stroh Center)
5. 4,100 Cincinnati – March 15, 1989 (NCAA Tourn.; Anderson Arena)
6. 4,013 Toledo – Feb. 19, 1992 (Anderson Arena)
7. 3,788 Florida – March 27, 2023 (WNIT; Stroh Center)

NOTEWORTHY
• Morgan Sharps, as mentioned, fell just one point shy of matching her career scoring high. She had 26 points in a win at Southern Indiana last season (Nov. 19, 2022).
• Sharps, who was named Mid-American Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday morning, went 7-of-12 from three-point range vs. the Gamecocks on Tuesday evening, tying her career best. She hit seven triples in the aforementioned Southern Indiana game.
• The school record for three-point field goals made in a game is eight. That record was set by Whitney Taylor in 2008 and was matched by Tracy Pontius (2009), Morgan McMillen (2018) and Caterrion Thompson (2020).
• Lexi Fleming joined Sharps in double figures in the scoring column, with 11 points. Fleming now has scored 901 points in her BGSU career.
• Amy Velasco, after scoring in double digits in each of the Falcons' first eight games of the season, had nine points and tied for game honors with six assists on Tuesday night.
• Olivia Hill had eight points and a game-high three steals, tying her career best in the latter category. Erika Porter also had eight points, and Porter and Fleming tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.
• Porter played over 21 minutes, and had a plus/minus rating of +1 in the contest.
• The Gamecocks shot 58.7 percent from the field on the night, going 10-of-16 (62.5%) in the first quarter and 10-of-15 (66.7%) in the second.
• BGSU had a 36.4% field-goal rate on the night. The Falcons, led by Sharps, were 11-of-29 (37.9%) from the three-point line, while the Gamecocks went 9-of-16 (56.3%) from the arc.
• South Carolina had a 36-29 rebounding advantage, while BGSU had a 33-26 lead in bench scoring.

FIRST QUARTER
• The Gamecocks jumped out to a 4-0 lead, before Olivia Hill took a Paige Kohler pass and hit a corner three. Hill knocked down a pair of free-throw tries just over 20 second later, and Amy Velasco's floater put BG within three points, at 10-7.
• But, the visitors countered with a Te-Hina Paopao three-pointer and a transition layup from Chloe Kitts. When Kitts converted a three-point play, the Gamecocks had an 18-7 lead with just over three minutes gone.
• The run continued as Raven Johnson knocked down a triple try. Velasco hit a pair of charity tosses, but moments later, Bree Hall made a long-distance shot before MiLaysia Fulwiley's layup gave the Gamecocks a 28-10 lead.
• But, after the visitors went 10-for-10 from the field to begin the game, the Gamecocks then missed six-straight shots. Meanwhile, the Falcons began to connect at the other end.
• After the Fulwiley bucket, Velasco found Morgan Sharps for a three-pointer. Sharps drove and skipped a pass to Erika Porter for a layup, and when Velasco found Sharps for another long-range hoop, the Falcons had an 8-0 run.
• BGSU got six consecutive defensive stops to end the quarter, and the Falcons trailed by 10 points (28-18) after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• The Gamecocks, however, began the second quarter with eight-straight points, with a Johnson steal and layup giving the visitors a 36-18 lead. Sharps answered with a floater, but a Paopao triple was followed by a Kitts step-back jumper that gave SC a 41-20 lead.
• Sharps hit a pull-up jumper, and Velasco knocked down a turnaround jumper just before the shot clock hit zero. Fleming cut along the baseline, took a back-door pass from Sharps and hit a jumper, and Kohler found Sharps for a triple from the left wing. But, Paopao's three-ball in the waning seconds of the half gave the Gamecocks a 52-31 lead at the intermission.
• Sharps had 13 first-half points, including seven of BG's 13 points in the second period.

THIRD QUARTER
• Fleming knocked down a three-point try just over a minute into the second half, and the guard then found Hill for a triple. Velasco knocked down a long-range attempt, from another Fleming assist, to cut the visitors' lead to 21 points.
•Velasco found Sharps for a triple, but a pair of Hall hoops were followed by a Fulwiley layup that made it a 71-43 game.
• Sharps hit another triple after Jasmine Clerkley corralled an offensive rebound. But, an Ashlyn Watkins began a 7-1 run for the visitors, with another Watkins hoop giving the Gamecocks a 78-47 lead after three quarters.

FOURTH QUARTER
• The Gamecocks scored the first nine points of the final period, taking an 87-47 lead on a Paopao triple. BG chipped away at that deficit, as a long Velasco pass found Fleming ahead of the pack for a layup. Two Porter free throws gave the Falcons a 4-0 mini-run heading into the game's final media timeout.
• Sharps knocked down three-point tries on back-to-back possessions, with Velasco assisting both shots, and Porter converted a nifty reverse layup. When Fleming scored on a drive, BG had a 7-0 run.
• Sophie Dziekan capped the game's scoring with a late free throw.
• After scoring 13 points in the first half, Sharps had 12 more in the second. She scored at least six points in each of the four quarters.

UP NEXT
• BGSU hits the road to face yet another nationally-ranked team. The Falcons meet Indiana University on Friday evening (Dec. 22). That game will begin at 6:00 p.m. at IU's Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The Hoosiers are currently ranked #15 in the USA Today Coaches poll and #16 in the Associated Press rankings.

• Then, after a break for the holidays, the Falcons will begin Mid-American Conference play at Central Michigan on Wednesday, Jan. 3. BG will open the home portion of the MAC schedule three days later (Sat., Jan. 6) against Western Michigan.

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.