Falcons Lead From Wire to Wire in 69-57 Win Over EMU

Wednesday, January 10

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

9-4,3-0MAC

Eastern Michigan

4-9,1-2MAC

Eastern Mich.

Bowling Green

Morgan Sharps at Indiana - Dec. 22, 2023

Photo by: IU Athletics

January 10, 2024 | Women's Basketball

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BGSU Improves to 3-0 in MAC Play

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team led from wire to wire on Wednesday night (Jan. 10), remaining unbeaten in Mid-American Conference play with a 69-57 win over Eastern Michigan University at the Stroh Center.

(Attendance: 1,897 // Ziggyville Population: 303)

Four players scored in double digits for the Falcons (9-4, 3-0 MAC), who are one of four MAC teams with a 3-0 league ledger.

Paige Kohler led BG's balanced attack with 15 points, while Morgan Sharps added 14 and Amy Velasco 13.

Freshman Taya Ellis rounded out BGSU's double-digit scorer with 10 points, the highest total of her young career. Ellis made her first five shot attempts and finished 5-of-6 from the floor on the night.

Erika Porter just missed a double-double, with nine points and a team-leading 10 rebounds in the win. Velasco (six) and Sharps (five) combined for 11 assists, and Velasco also had a game-high four steals.

Tayra Eke led the Eagles (4-9, 1-2 MAC) with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Cali Denson and Lachelle Austin each added nine points.

NOTEWORTHY
• Freshman Taya Ellis entered Wednesday night's game having scored a total of 12 points on the season. Ellis nearly matched that total against EMU, with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
• Ellis had doubled her previous career scoring high (four points) by halftime on Wednesday, as she had eight points in the opening half vs. the Eagles. All eight came in the second quarter, as she accounted for BGSU's first four successful field goals of the period.
• After averaging 0.9 points per game during the non-conference portion of the schedule, Ellis has 4.7 ppg in the three MAC games to date.

ALSO WORTH NOTING
• The Falcons shot 45 percent from the field in the win, including a 69.2% success rate (9-of-13) in the second quarter. EMU shot 37% for the contest.
• BGSU went 6-of-20 from three-point range, while the Eagles went just 4-for-17 (23.5%) from long distance.
• BG had a 40-32 rebounding lead, and the Falcons had a 32-24 margin in points in the paint. The home team had 11 offensive rebounds and a 16-4 advantage in second-chance points.
• All 10 BGSU players that saw action in the game had at least one rebound in the win.
• BGSU now leads the series with Eastern Michigan, 57-20, and the Falcons have won six-straight meetings. BG is 31-6 all-time in home games vs. Eastern.

FIRST QUARTER
• The Falcons led for 39:19 of the game's 40 minutes on Wednesday. Morgan Sharps found Erika Porter for an easy layup on the game's opening possession, and after Cali Denson tied the score just over a minute later, Amy Velasco assisted on three-point buckets by both Paige Kohler and Sharps, giving the Orange and Brown an 8-2 advantage.
• After Lachelle Austin knocked down a triple try for the visitors, the league fluctuated between three and five points for the next few minutes. Then, after a BGSU turnover, ZaNiya Nelson's jumper got the Eagles within a single point, 14-13, with 1:50 left in the quarter.
• EMU forced another Falcon turnover, but a potential go-ahead shot was off the mark, and Sharps rebounded the miss and found Velasco for a three-pointer in transition. Then, after Taya Ellis blocked an Eastern layup attempt, Velasco rebounded the ball and spotted Sharps for a fast-break trey that gave the hosts a 20-13 lead after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• After BGSU got a stop, Ellis took a pass from Sharps and hit a short-corner jumper. The visitors answered, but Ellis countered with a foul-line jumper.
• Ellis continued her success at the offensive end, with a nifty fake and a Euro step shot off glass and in. When she drove the baseline, spun and converted a nifty one-hander, the Falcons had a 29-17 lead midway through the period.
• EMU's Tayra Eke made a pair of free throws out of the media timeout, but Porter's three-point play put the Falcons up by 13. Moments later, Sharps fed Olivia Hill for a corner three and a 36-23 lead, and Kohler's driving reverse layup put the Falcons ahead by 15. Eke hit a layup, but Jasmine Clerkley's putback gave the Falcons a 40-25 lead and prompted an EMU timeout.
• Sharps hit a layup in the final minute of the half, but the Eagles scored the last four points of the period, with a pair of Denson free throws in the final seconds cutting BG's lead to 11, at 42-31.
• The Falcons shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) in the opening half, and had a 19-9 rebounding lead.

THIRD QUARTER
• EMU scored the first four points of the third quarter, with Eke's layup giving the visitors an 8-0 run that spanned the halftime break and cutting the BG lead to seven. But, the Falcons countered with a 6-0 run.
• Kohler drove and scored, and Velasco rebounded an Eastern miss and fired a long pass ahead to Sharps for a fast-break layup. When Sharps hit a floater, the Falcons had a 48-35 lead. That lead ballooned to 17 points after Hill made a layup and Velasco stopped at the top of the arc and hit a triple. BGSU had an 11-1 run and a 53-36 lead as the Eagles burnt a timeout.
• EMU looked to rally, but another driving layup by Kohler and a Velasco jumper kept the visitors at arm's length. Ellis put back a teammate's miss, and after four-straight Eastern points cut the BG lead to 10, another Kohler layup capped the third-period scoring.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Kohler sank a pair of free-throw tries early in the final period, and a Velasco charity toss gave the hosts a 64-49 lead with exactly nine minutes to go. Then, however, neither team scored for over three minutes. Keiryn McGuff grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled, knocking down a charity toss for a 16-point lead.
• Denson made two free throws with 5:29 on the clock, for the Eagles' first points of the quarter, but Velasco hit a floater with 4:23 to go – marking the first successful field goal by either team in the period.
• Ashley Hassett sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a Porter putback, but it was too little, too late, and the Falcons had a double-digit victory.
• Each team made just two field goals in the final quarter, with BGSU going 2-for-13 (15.4%) and EMU 2-of-16 (12.5%).

Gallery: (1-10-2024) 011024 WBK v EMU - Brenna Orton

UP NEXT
• BGSU will hit the road this weekend, taking on Ball State on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 13). That contest is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Worthen Arena.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will return home to meet Akron next Wednesday night (Jan. 17), in a 7:00 p.m. start at the Stroh.

WEDNESDAY'S SCORES AROUND THE MAC
at Bowling Green 69, Eastern Michigan 57
at Ball State 67, Buffalo 62
Northern Illinois 67, at Ohio 62
Kent State 69, at Miami 38
at Akron 70, Central Michigan 62
at Toledo 82, Western Michigan 55

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.