Second-Quarter Struggles Sink Falcons at #12/13 West Virginia Tuesday Night

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After an evenly-played first quarter, nationally-ranked West Virginia University took advantage of second-period struggles by the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to take control of Tuesday night's (Nov. 19) game. at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers went on to a 78-47 win.

Senior Amy Velasco had 18 points to lead the Falcons (2-3) on the night. She made 6-of-10 shots from the field, including three three-pointers in five attempts.

Jordan Harrison had 20 points for the Mountaineers (5-0), ranked #13 in the country in this week's Associated Press poll and #12 in the USA Today Coaches poll. Ja'Naiya Quinerly scored 15 and Celia Riviere 11 for the hosts.

The game was tied four times in the first quarter, the last at 15-15 after a Kendal Moxey layup in the final minute of the period. The Mountaineers scored the final three points of the quarter to take an 18-15 lead after 10 minutes.

BGSU shot 63.6 percent from the field in that period, going 7-for-11, but things unraveled in the second period as WVU took advantage of BG missed shots and turnovers. The Mountaineers outscored the Falcons by a 19-4 count in the second quarter to take a 37-19 lead into the half.

The Falcons shot an even 40 percent on the night, and lost the rebounding battle by just two, 31-29. But, WVU had a 36-12 advantage in points off turnovers, as the Falcons had 27 turnovers to the hosts' 16. West Virginia shot 52.9% from the field in the contest.

Gallery: (11-19-2024) wbk at West Virginia - Tim Goodenow

FIRST QUARTER
• Erika Porter scored the Falcons' first four points of the night, with an offensive rebound and layup followed by a driving shot off glass. The latter bucket tied the score at 4-4.
• A three-pointer by Jordan Harrison gave the hosts an 8-4 lead, but Amy Velasco drove and scored with the shot clock winding town. A layup by Ja'Naiya Quinerly put WVU up, 11-6, but a Porter putback was followed by a Johnea Donahue steal, with Velasco's back-door pass finding Paige Kohler for a layup to make it an 11-10 game.
• Kohler scored again, answering a WVU layup with one of her own. After starting the game by missing two shots, the Falcons made six of their next eight.
• Donahue's free throw tied the score at 13-all, then found Kendal Moxey for a layup with the shot clock nearing zero, and the game was tied at 15-15. A free throw and a late layup by Celia Riviere gave WVU an 18-15 advantage at the end of the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER
• Jordan Thomas scored on the first possession of the second period, and Quinerly's layup made it a seven-point game. Riviere backed her defender down and hit a layup before Velasco's floater stopped a 9-0 run by the hosts.
• But, a turnover led to a Tirzah Moore layup. Lauren Gerken got an offensive rebound and scored, but Riviere's left-wing three-pointer gave the Mountaineers their first double-digit lead, 29-19.
• A Moore layup and a Quinerly triple were followed by a Harrison trey, and it was a 37-19 score at the break.

THIRD QUARTER
• The Falcons got steals by Taya Ellis and Donahue, respectively, on WVU's first two possessions of the quarter, but could not take advantage. A layup put the home team ahead by 20 points for the first time.
• Ellis hit a jumper, and after a traveling call on the Mountaineers, Ellis found Moxey for a shot off glass that made it a 39-23 game. The hosts hit two free throws, but after the second, a disqualifying foul was called on WVU's Sydney Shaw with 7:15 left in the quarter. Velasco hit two free throws, then proceeded to knock down three-point tries on back-to-back trips. In all, the senior scored eight points in just over a minute's time, and it was a 44-31 game.
• But, Kylee Blacksten hit a layup, then ran the floor after a BG miss and made another layup to put her team ahead, 50-31.
• Velasco would hit another three-ball before the quarter was done, and Donahue split a pair of free throws, but BGSU trailed by a 55-35 score after the third quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Velasco answered a foul-line jumper by the hosts with a jump-stop, and-1 layup as the shot clock neared zero, with her free throw cutting the WVU advantage to 19, at 57-38. But, the home side made a run, scoring the game's next 15 points.
• Donahue took a Velasco pass and hit a nifty pull-up jumper, and Laila Harrison made a driving layup. Gerken's jumper capped the game's scoring.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons again hit the road to face a nationally-ranked foe this weekend. BGSU will travel to Columbus for a Sunday (Nov. 24) matchup with Ohio State. The Buckeyes are ranked #12 in this week's AP poll and #11 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
• Sunday's game will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center.
• Then, the Orange and Brown will head to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the Thanksgiving holiday, concluding the November slate with a pair of games in Florida, at the Daytona Beach Classic. The Falcons will face Stetson (Nov. 29) and Arkansas (Dec. 30) in that invite.

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.

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