BG Battles Back, Bests Ball State

Wednesday, March 1

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

25-4,14-3MAC

Ball State

23-7,13-4MAC

OT 1

Ball St.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

March 01, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score BGSU-BSU Stats Photo Gallery

Falcons pick up 81-76 overtime win to set up Saturday showdown at UT

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Lexi Fleming scored nine of her 19 points in overtime, helping the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to an 81-76 win over Ball State University in a Mid-American Conference showdown Wednesday night (March 1). The #MACtion midweek thriller took place at the Stroh Center.

Elissa Brett led the Falcons (25-4, 14-3 MAC) with 20 points, adding nine rebounds. Fleming also had nine rebounds to go along with her 19 points, while Allison Day and Jocelyn Tate had 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Marie Kiefer led the way for the Cardinals (23-7, 13-4 MAC), with 22 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Kiefer was a perfect 9-for-9 from the field. Ally Becki scored 19 points and Anna Clephane 15 for the visitors.

After surging out to a 22-8 lead after one quarter, BGSU led by as many as 15 points early in the second period. But, the Cardinals battled back to within four points later in the second quarter, and took the lead for the first time in the final minute of the third period.

BSU went ahead by six points early in the fourth quarter, before a quick 6-0 BGSU run tied the score. The margin was two points or less for the final six-plus minutes of regulation, and a Nyla Hampton free throw with just 1.2 seconds left sent the game to overtime.

The Cards scored the first five points in the extra session, but the Falcons responded with an 11-2 run – scoring nine of those 11 points at the free-throw line, to take control. Fleming went 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the extra session, singlehandedly outscoring Ball State in the OT period.

The Falcons' win sets up a Saturday (March 4) showdown. BGSU, now in sole possession of second place in the MAC, meets league-leading Toledo in the Glass City this weekend. The Orange and Brown will enter the final day of the regular season one game behind the Rockets, and a BGSU win would give the Falcons a share of the league regular-season title along with the number-one seed for next week's conference tournament.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• Wednesday's game was aired on ESPNU. It marked BGSU's first nationally-televised contest since the 2021 MAC Tournament championship game, which was shown on CBS Sports Network (March 13, 2021).
• It was the Falcons' first regular-season game to be televised nationally in over 14 years, since a Feb. 7, 2009, game at Western Michigan was on ESPNU.

QUOTING COACH ROBYN FRALICK
"It was a great basketball game, literally back and forth through that whole second half and overtime. After Saturday (a loss to Buffalo), we just talked a lot about getting back to who we are. When we're at our best, toughness is our thing. This was a great win. Ball State is a really good team. This was a big, big win. We had a lot of kids step up, and we made a lot of 'toughness' plays."

FIRST QUARTER
• The Falcons were strong early, scoring the game's first seven points and taking a 14-point lead after 10 minutes. Elissa Brett fed Jocelyn Tate for a jumper, before hitting a three-pointer for an early five-point advantage. Nyla Hampton's driving layup gave the hosts a 7-0 lead with just over two minutes gone.
• Ally Becki, who was 4-for-4 from three-point range on the night, connected from beyond the arc to get her team on the scoreboard, but Tate hit a free throw, and after Marie Kiefer made a layup, Brett took a Hampton pass and knocked down a long three-pointer for an 11-5 lead.
• Then, after a miss by the Cardinals, Tate grabbed the rebound and went coast to coast for a layup. The visitors used a timeout, but out of the break, the Falcons forced the Cards into a shot-clock violation, and Brett's driving layup gave BG a 15-5 lead.
• Anna Clephane made a free throw, then a bucket, but the Falcons responded with a 7-0 run to end the quarter. Tate hit a second-chance layup, before Sophie Dziekan pulled down an offensive board and flipped a pass to Brett for a layup. Then, in the final seconds of the period, Brett's 'extra pass' resulted in a corner three by Lexi Fleming, giving the Falcons a 22-8 lead after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• Madelyn Bischoff's corner three began the second-quarter scoring, but the Falcons turned defense into offense, stealing back-to-back inbounds passes from Alex Richards. Hampton stole the first pass and fed Brett for a jumper. Then, the Falcon's defensive pressure forced Richards to throw a pass into the Ball State bench. Brett was fouled and hit a pair of shots from the stripe for a 26-11 advantage, BG's largest of the game.
• A Bischoff bucket, however, was followed by a Kiefer triple, and after Brett connected from the arc, Becki followed suit. Several minutes later, a steal and layup by Estel Puiggros cut the Falcons' lead to six points, 29-25, before Kiefer's layup made it a four-point game. BG sprinkled three free throws around a Kiefer turnaround jumper to take a 32-27 lead into the locker room.

THIRD QUARTER
• Fleming took a pass from day and knocked down a long three-point try, but Bischoff answered with a triple. After Tate converted a driving layup, Becki scored from the arc, but Hampton's driving layup gave the Orange and Brown a 39-33 lead.
• Allison Day was whistled for her third foul with just over two minutes gone in the third period, but Kiefer picked up her third foul just 11 seconds later, with Tate hitting two free throws for a 41-34 lead.
• But, Clephane scored to begin an 8-1 run for the visitors. After a Hampton free throw, Becki scored on a driving layup. Then, Sydney Shafer put back a teammate's miss, then made a transition layup after a BG miss, and the score was tied at 42-all.
• Hampton found Day for a shot off glass, snapping a scoreless stretch of nearly four minutes for the Falcons. But, Becki and Kiefer each made a pair of shots from the stripe, and BSU had the lead for the first time, 46-44.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Brett scored on a scoop shot, but Kiefer's layup gave BSU the lead once again. And, that shot began a personal 6-0 run for Kiefer, putting the Cardinals head, 52-46. With 7:08 to go, the Falcons used a timeout.
• Out of the timeout, BGSU scored three baskets in roughly one minute. Day took a pass from Brett and hit a baby hook, then harassed Bischoff into an over-and-back violation at midcourt. Tate banked a shot high off the glass and in, and after a BSU miss, Fleming drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup, tying the score at 52 as the Cards used a timeout with 6:06 to go.
• Kiefer scored in the paint with the shot clock winding down, but Brett again found Day for a hook shot. Kiefer cut to the basket, with Bischoff finding her for a layup, but Day's three-point play gave BGSU a 59-58 lead with 4:40 remaining.
• Becki, with a defender's hand in her face, drilled a corner three, but Hampton's driving layup tied the score. A Becki bucket was answered by Amy Velasco's driving layup, and after Fleming took a charge on Annie Rauch, Day scored off a Brett pass yet again, giving BGSU a 63-61 lead.
• Thelma Dis Agustsdottir spun and hit a jumper with 2:08 to go, and after Fleming took a Hampton handoff and made a driving layup, Clephane drained a three-point try to give BSU a 66-65 lead with 1:20 left. Day hit a layup, but Clephane threw an off-balance shot off glass and in with 57.7 seconds remaining. Her free throw was no good, but the Cards had the lead once again.
• BGSU turned the ball over on the next possession, but Day knocked the ball away from Kiefer as the BSU post player prepared to go up for a shot. But, an offensive foul gave the ball back to the Cardinals with just 13.0 seconds on the clock.
• The Falcons trapped Becki near midcourt and the Cards used a timeout. Then, after BSU successfully inbounded the ball, Becki was fouled and went to the line. She missed both free throws, with Day rebounding the second miss and calling a timeout with 7.9 seconds left.
• Hampton drove and was fouled by Becki with just 1.2 seconds left. The BG junior missed her first free-throw attempt, but made the second to tie the score, and the teams headed to overtime.

OVERTIME
• Clephane banked home a three-point try on the first possession of extra time, and after a BG miss, Dis Agustsdottir was fouled, and sank both shots to give BSU a five-point lead, 73-68, with just over a minute gone in the period.
• Fleming was fouled on a drive and made both shots. Then, Brett stole a Bischoff pass, but BG turned the ball back over with 3:12 left.
• But, a Hampton steal resulted in Fleming finding Day for a shot off glass. Day, however, was whistled for her fifth foul exactly halfway through the period, and Clephane's charity tosses made it a 75-72 game.
• Clephane fouled Fleming, who hit both shots, and Brett deflected a Kiefer pass, and Kiefer fouled Fleming, who again knocked down a pair of shots. With 2:04 to go, BGSU had a 76-75 lead, and the foul was Kiefer's fifth.
• Then, Tate stole Rauch's inbounds pass, getting a deflection before diving to the ground for the ball. She was fouled, and split her two tosses. But, Fleming stripped the ball away from Clephane and was fouled – Clephane's fifth – before making two more shots for a 79-75 lead with 1:39 left.
• The teams traded missed shots before Becki was fouled with 54.7 seconds remaining. She missed her first charity toss before making the second. But, BG used nearly all of the shot clock on the next possession, and Velasco was fouled on a drive to the bucket, making one free throw to push the lead back to four points with 26.7 seconds left.
• Bischoff's driving layup would not drop, and Velasco grabbed the rebound. The Cardinals could not catch Velasco or her teammates as BGSU took time off the clock. Finally, Dis Agustsdottir fouled Fleming with just 7.2 seconds to go, and Fleming's free throw capped the scoring. Puiggros missed a shot and Velasco grabbed the redound as the final seconds ticked away.

STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• The Cardinals shot 49.1 percent from the field, compared to 37.5% for the Falcons. But, BGSU attempted 15 more field goals than the Cardinals.
• BSU went 9-for-21 (42.9%) from the arc, while the Falcons were 5-of-16 (31.3%) from long range. BG was 22-of-31 (71.0%) at the free-throw line, while BSU was just 11-for-25 (44.0%), including a 1-for-10 effort from the stripe in the first half.
• BGSU had a 44-41 rebounding advantage, with Brett and Fleming pulling down nine boards apiece and Day eight.
• The Falcons were +10 in the turnover department, forcing BSU into 22 turnovers while committing 12 themselves. BGSU had 14 steals, and the Falcons enjoyed a 23-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
• BG shot just 11.8% (2-of-17) from the floor in the second period and 25% (4-for-16) in the third. But, the Falcons went 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the field in the fourth period.
• Ball State shot 72.7% in the second quarter and 76.9% in the fourth.
• Brett scored 10 points in the first quarter, outscoring BSU (eight) all by herself. She had 18 of the Falcons' 32 points in the opening half.
• Day had 11 point in the fourth quarter, going 5-for-6 from the field and adding a pair of steals in the final 10 minutes of regulation.
• Fleming had nine points, all from the free-throw line, in the overtime period. She was 9-of-10 from the stripe in the extra session.
• 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 63-28 overall and 38-17 in the league over the last two-plus years.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons will end the regular season by making a short trip north to face Toledo on Saturday afternoon (March 4). That contest will begin at 2:00 p.m. at Savage Arena.

• BGSU then will prepare for the MAC Tournament, which begins next Wednesday (March 8), with quarterfinal-round matchups at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland. The Falcons' quarterfinal-round opponent and tipoff time are TBA, and will be determined by the outcomes of this week's games around the conference.

Gallery: (3-1-2023) 030123 WBK v BSU - Hiser

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