BGSU Steals a Win at Western, 65-53

Saturday, February 18

Kalamazoo, Mich.

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

23-3,12-2MAC

Western Michigan

10-15,5-9MAC

Bowling Green

Western Mich.

Falcons Win at WMU - Moore, Tate, Hill, Dziekan

Photo by: Ashley Huss, WMU Athletics

February 18, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-WMU Stats

Falcons’ frenetic third-quarter defense sets the stage for a dominant fourth frame

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Shots weren't falling for the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 18), so the Falcons turned defense into offense, picking up a 65-53 win at Western Michigan University.

Elissa Brett scored a career-high 27 points for the Falcons (23-3, 12-2 Mid-American Conference), including 18 in the second half. Brett had 11 in the fourth quarter alone.

Amy Velasco scored 16 points in the Falcons' win. Velasco was 7-of-9 from the field, and led all players with a plus/minus rating of +24.

Velasco (10) and Brett (six) accounted for all of the points in a 16-0 run that spanned two-thirds of the fourth quarter.

The win, combined with a Ball State loss at Northern Illinois later Saturday afternoon, moved the Falcons back into a tie for first place in the MAC. BGSU, BSU and Toledo are deadlocked atop the conference with four regular-season games remaining.

The Broncos (10-15, 5-9 MAC) led by as many as 14 points midway through the third quarter before the Falcons' comeback began.

A Brett three-pointer began the comeback, and late in the quarter, the Falcons forced five Bronco turnovers in just 73 seconds.

BGSU cut the Bronco lead to just two points after three periods, and a Brett jumper tied the score in the first minute of the final quarter. The hosts took a 51-49 lead on a Taylor Williams layup with 7:26 to go, but the Broncos would not score again until the game's waning seconds.

Velasco's floater tied the game once again, and also began the aforementioned 16-0 BGSU run over the next seven-plus minutes. Brett hit a shot, then found Velasco for a three-pointer and a 56-51 lead midway through the quarter, and the Falcons were on their way.

The Falcons, after shooting just 27 percent in the first three quarters, went 9-for-13 (69.2%) in the fourth.

BGSU forced WMU into 29 turnovers, including 19 in the second half alone. BG had 20 steals – just one shy of the school single-game record – in the win, with Nyla Hampton and Jocelyn Tate coming up with seven apiece.

Williams led the Broncos with 18 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, with Hannah Spitzley adding 14.

NOTE OF THE DAY
• The Falcons, as mentioned, had a team total of 20 steals, just one shy of the school single-game record. Nyla Hampton and Jocelyn Tate each had a career-high seven steals.
• Saturday's game marked the first time in school history that two Falcons have had seven or more steals in the same game.

QUOTING COACH ROBYN FRALICK
"I"m really proud of our win today. We went down 14 in the second half today, and I thought our team's respond was outstanding. We were able to make some adjustments, and our kids did a great job of executing during that comeback."

"We turned up the pressure, and we were able to force some turnovers and change the tempo of the game. And, we asked our kids to do that for a long time. I was really proud of their toughness and their effort."

FIRST QUARTER
• The Falcons shot just 18.8 percent from the field in the first quarter, going 3-for-16, while the Broncos shot over 63% (7-of-11). Still, BGSU had the lead until just over one minute left in the period.
• Elissa Brett opened the game's scoring with nearly two minutes gone, knocking down a three-point try. After Taylor Williams answered with a layup on the next possession, nearly team scored for over two more minutes. Finally, Amy Velasco drove and hit a pull-up jumper. And, after a steal by Nyla Hampton, Brett was fouled and hit two free throws for a 7-2 BGSU lead.
• Then, however, WMU ended the quarter on a 16-6 run. Williams hit another layup just before the media timeout, and three-pointers by Hannah Spitzley and Maggie Stutelberg gave the Falcons an 8-0 run and a 10-7 lead.
• BG retook the lead on a pair of Lexi Fleming free throws and a Jocelyn Tate layup. The final minute of the quarter, however, saw Stutelberg hit her second triple, and Gabi Saxman also connected from beyond the arc, giving the Broncos an 18-13 advantage.
• Western went 4-for-6 from the arc in the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER
• BGSU sandwiched a pair of buckets – Brett's pull-up banker and Allison Day's step-through layup – around a Williams turnaround jumper, and after Velasco ran the floor, took a long pass from Brett and hit a layup, it was a one-point game. A Fleming free throw gave the Falcons a 7-2 start to the quarter (for the second-straight quarter).
• After Lauren Audino scored for the hosts, Fleming dished a nifty pass to Sophie Dziekan for a layup that tied the score. And, when Olivia Hill drove and banked a shot off glass and in, the Orange and Brown had a 24-22 lead. But, the Falcons would not score again in the opening half.
• BGSU went scoreless for the final 5:35 of the period. After beginning the quarter by going 5-of-6 from the floor, the Falcons went 0-for-5 and had five turnovers in that 5:35 span.
• Meanwhile, BG held the hosts scoreless for over four minutes, but after a turnover, Spitzley's run-out layup tied the game, and a Megan Wagner three-pointer gave Western a 27-24 advantage. Another turnover led to another Spitzley run-out before the half was over.

THIRD QUARTER
• Day put back a teammate's miss on the first possession of the second half,but the Broncos responded with the next 11 points. Two Williams layups and a corner three by Spitzley gave the hosts a 10-point lead, and after several scoreless minutes, Spitzley hit two free throws, and Williams drove and scored to make it a 40-26 game as the Falcons used a timeout.
• BG nearly turned the ball over out of the timeout, but that possession resulted in a Brett triple. Velasco hit a layup, and after Wagner answered with a layup, Tate banked home a shot to cut BG's deficit to 42-33 with 3:31 left in the period.
• The Falcons turned the ball over with 2:59 on the clock, but then, BGSU turned up the defensive intensity. Fleming stole the inbounds pass, was immediately fouled and hit both free throws (2:57 left in the quarter). Then, Hampton forced another WMU turnover – the Broncos' second in a four-second span – and as the ball went out of bounds to BG, the Broncos used a timeout (2:55).
• BGSU missed three shots on the next possession, but Fleming grabbed an offensive rebound, and Tate pulled down a pair of boards, putting the ball back up and in after the second one.
• Hampton grabbed a wayward Western pass (2:20) and Brett was fouled and hit a pair of free throws (2:19). The Broncos' lead was down to three points.
• After another steal, this time by Brett (1:57), Hampton was fouled and split a pair of shots at the stripe. WMU then got the ball over midcourt against the Falcons' press, but then threw the ball away (1:44) and the hosts used another timeout.
• BG missed a potential go-ahead three-point try, with WMU rebounding. The Broncos nearly threw the ball away once again, but were bailed out by a Falcon foul, and Spitzley hit a pair of free throws.
• Another turnover led to two Brett shots at the stripe, cutting the Broncos' lead to 44-42.
• WMU committed seven turnovers in the final three minutes of the period.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Wagner's three-pointer on the first possession of the period gave WMU a five-point lead, but Brett came right back with a triple of her own, and after a Hampton steal, Brett's short-corner jumper tied the game, 47-47, with 9:01 left.
• Williams hit a pair of layups, but BG had an answer each time. After the first, Tate scored inside, and after the second, Velasco drove and made a floater, tying the score once again.
• That Velasco bucket would begin a 16-0 run for the Falcons. After the Williams hoop with 7:26 to go, Western would not score again until just before the final horn sounded.
• After Velasco's game-tying hoop, the BG defense forced a shot-clock violation, and Brett hit a pull-up jumper with 6:05 left to give BG a 53-51 lead. The Falcons would not trail again.
• A Tate steal led to Brett finding Velasco for a corner three at the 5:07 mark, and after another BG steal, Brett was fouled and hit a pair of shots for a 58-51 lead. The Broncos committed another shot-clock violation with 3:52 to go. BG turned the ball over, but Fleming ripped it away from Saxman,and that possession ended with a driving layup by Velasco. A Brett steal and layup gave the Falcons a 62-51 advantage.
• Velasco hit a shot off glass with the shot clock winding down, then converted a free throw on BG's next possession for the Falcons' final points. Western broke a scoring drought of nearly seven and a half minutes when Williams put back her own miss as the final horn sounded.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• Brett scored a career-high 27 points, while Velasco was 7-of-9 from the field en route to 16 points.
• That duo went a combined 8-for-9 in the fourth quarter, as Brett scored 11 points and Velasco 10.
• Western Michigan took a 14-point lead, the Broncos' largest of the game, midway through the third quarter. At that point, WMU was shooting 48.4% (16-of-33) on the day, while BGSU had shot just 25% (9-for-36). Both teams had 12 turnovers.
• Over the last 15-plus minutes, the Falcons shot 52%, going 13-of-25, while Western shot 38.4% (5-of-13). In that time, however, BGSU committed just four turnovers, while forcing the Broncos into 17.
• And, as mentioned, WMU had seven turnovers in the final three minutes of the third quarter. Then, the Broncos committed 10 more turnovers in the fourth period.
• In all, BGSU forced WMU into 29 turnovers on the day. The Falcons had 16 turnovers, but also had a 31-6 lead in points off turnovers.
• BGSU shot just 36.1% for the game,while WMU shot 45.7% from the floor. BG took 16 more shots than the Broncos, and the Falcons had a 36-32 rebounding advantage.
• The Falcons were 17-of-24 at the free-throw line, while Western went 4-for-6.
• 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 61-27 overall and 36-16 in the league over the last two-plus years.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons hit the road again in a few days, heading to Mount Pleasant for a midweek MAC matchup in mid-Michigan. BGSU faces Central Michigan on Wednesday (Feb. 22), with start time set for 7:00 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will return home for a contest vs. Buffalo next Saturday (Feb. 25). That game will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center, with Senior Day festivities taking place prior to tipoff.

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