The women’s basketball team didn’t quite know how they did it, but on Saturday, they stretched their win streak to 20 games.
The Falcons, now 20-2 (9-0 Mid-American Conference), traveled to Kalamazoo to meet Western Michigan (5-17, 1-8 MAC).
On paper the game was a no-brainer. It looked as if BG would rip through another weaker opponent and then switch their attention right to the next game, but that wasn’t the case.
“I still don’t know how we won that game,” coach Curt Miller said. “It’s really hard to look the other team in the eyes.”
Miller’s bunch was pushed to the brink throughout regulation, needing a comeback late to push the game into overtime.
WMU dominated BG on the boards all game long, out rebounding the Falcons 43-38, including 24-14 on the offensive end.
“We’re not a great rebounding team,” Miller said.
The absence of Niki McCoy, who was suspended by the team last week, was evident on Saturday.
“The strengths that Niki McCoy has aren’t the strengths that your backups have,” Miller said.
McCoy, the team’s third leading rebounder with 5.6 per game, no doubt plays an important role in the category.
Jen Uhl started her first game of the season in place of McCoy and did very well, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds.
However, thanks largely in part to their rebounding struggles, the Falcons let WMU start the game on a 11-2 run. BG kept the game close throughout, and even had some instances where it looked as though they would pull away. Each time though, WMU would come storming back.
BG trailed 70-68 late in the game when Tracy Pontius scored on a drive. Pontius had been held in check for most of the game, because of the stellar play of WMU’s Tiera Delahoussaye.
The next time down the floor for WMU, Ebony Clearly sank a shot to put the Broncos ahead 72-70.
Pontius would once again come up huge for the Falcons, as she drove and hit an off balance shot in close with just one second to play.
Following a timeout, WMU missed three shots in the paint before the buzzer went off, signaling the end of regulation.
In the overtime period, defense and foul shooting propelled the Falcons to the victory.
On the game, BG shot 17-21 from the line, while WMU only shot 9-19.
In the overtime period, Lauren Prochaska, the nation’s second best free throw shooter, went to the line four times, hitting all four shots.
Her last successful free throw, with four seconds left in overtime, solidified the BG win by putting them up 79-75. WMU would score one more time to put the final score at 79-77.
Prochaska, besides coming up big in the overtime period, led the Falcons offensively all game long, finishing with 27 points to lead all scorers.
Tara Breske came up huge for the Falcons as well. Knowing she needed to pickup the slack in the absence of McCoy, Breske finished the game with a double-double, scoring 11 points and hauling in 14 rebounds.
Free throws were the difference at the end of the game. BG was outdone in just about every statistical category except free throws, where they’ve been great all season.
Next up will be home game against Toledo on Thursday night. Toledo is currently one of the top teams in the MAC West division, and should be a good test for the Falcons, who will look to make it 21 in a row.
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Contact assistant sports editor Jason Jones at [email protected].
