After netting a double-double in her first game with BG, junior Maggie Hennegan said being a Falcon was everything she imagined it would.
The transfer from St. Louis University led the Falcons with 14 points and 12 rebounds in an 80-50 exhibition win against Findlay, and said despite having just one exhibition game with the team, being slotted into the starting lineup shouldn’t be a problem.
‘Not at all,’ Hennegan said. ‘We’re so tight on and off the court, and I think that’s going to help us a lot this year.
‘There’s definitely some areas I need to improve on.’
Coach Curt Miller said the system Findlay runs was part of her success last night and expects her to get better as time goes along.
‘I think she can play better,’ Miller said. ‘We had some mismatches inside so Maggie was a recipient of that.’
The rest of the Falcons had no problem introducing Hennegan and senior transfer Tamika Nurse into a lineup that went 29-5 last season, including a Mid-American Conference regular season title and two WNIT games.
Nurse had 14 points, including 8-of-11 from the free throw line. But it wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing throughout the first half as Findlay held a lead as late as 13 minutes into the game.
The Falcons were able to stifle them, holding the undersized Oilers to 10 points for the first 12 minutes of the second half and taking as much as a 31-point lead during a 20-minute, 48-19 run.
In the second half, BG’s defense held Findlay to 18.9 percent shooting from the field, and the Oilers missed 19 three-pointers in the game.
‘I think Findlay will go back and realize they missed a bunch of shots they are capable of making,’ Miller said. ‘But I thought we did a good job contesting.’
Like last season, rebounding was also a challenge for the Falcons. Despite outrebounding Findlay 43-39, Miller said the team needs to improve before the season-opening game against Chicago State in the preseason WNIT on Nov. 13.
‘We gave up entirely too many second chances,’ Miller said. ‘Rebounding remains a concern and an Achilles heel for this program.’
Hennegan said the game should open the team’s eyes to their rebounding struggles.
‘Rebounding is a mind-set, so I think this game could be a really good wake-up call for us,’ Hennegan said.
Sophomore Jessica Slagle – who said she feels 100 percent following offseason knee surgery – said Miller has been preaching to the team that they would find mistakes once they played someone besides themselves.
‘Coach is always talking about how you’re never going to realize until you play somebody else,’ Slagle said. ‘Obviously we see we have a lot of stuff to work on.’
Junior Lauren Prochaska has a lot to work on as well after missing several days of practice with the flu and mono. She did not start last night because Miller knew she wasn’t 100 percent physically ready yet.
‘Lauren was in fantastic shape [before getting sick],’ Miller said. ‘I played her a little bit longer than we had planned because I wanted to see what her conditioning level was at.’
Miller does not know if she will start against Chicago State.’
