A slow first quarter offensively doomed the BGSU womens basketball team as they fell on the road to Mid-American Conference rival the Toledo Rockets by a score of 74-59 on Saturday night.
The Falcons are 2-10 against MAC opponents and have lost four straight games to the Rockets with the last win dating back to the 2013-2014 season.
Senior center Abby Siefker led all scorers with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Also contributing for the Falcons was junior guard Haley Puk and senior forward Ashley Tunstall with 11 points each.
“It was a tale of two halves and I’ve said that multiple times this year,” said Head Coach Jennifer Roos. “Slow start, but credit for them they were very aggressive, and we got punched in the face. It’s very hard to win when you’re behind by that much and, we dug ourselves in a hole too early.”
In the first four minutes of the game, UT went on an 8-0 by getting baskets in the paint and also getting early foul calls as well as forcing turnovers.
BG finally got points on the board as Abby Siefker got an up-and-under layup by making the score 10-2 with six minutes left. UT kept attacking the paint and BG only made two more baskets for the rest of the quarter as UT led 20-8 after the first quarter.
In the second, BG would got the free throw line early, but UT kept matching with jump shots and layups.
BG did not convert a field goal until the 6:46 minute mark as junior guard Rachel Myers made a jump shot.
UT led 32-13 with four minutes left in the half, but Haley Puk scored the team’s last eight points to end the half as the Falcons trailed by a score of 38-21 at the half.
UT shot 50 percent from the field at the half, while BG shot 25 percent from the field.
In the third quarter, the tables turned as BG was the aggressor from the start as they got off to a 9-0 run in the first four minutes by forcing fouls, attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line.
However, UT went on a quick 5-0 run to keep the lead up to 13 points. Despite BG making shots, they could not cut the lead into single digits going into the final quarter as BG still trailed by a score 58-44.
In the final quarter, each team traded baskets for the first five minutes of the game as UT continued to lead 65-50.
BG inched closer around the 2:34 mark as they went on a quick 5-0 run following baskets from Siefker and sophomore guard Sydney Lambert as the deficit was cut to 10 points.
However, BG was in the penalty and UT took advantage by drawing fouls and went 10-13 on the free throw line in the final two minutes of the game keeping the game out of reach for BG.
“I’m proud of our effort,” said Roos. “We knew what they were going to run and came out with a bit of jitters, but like I said we got punched in the face early on. We’re better than our record shows and we got a big game on Wednesday so we got to be ready for that.”
The team will be back at the Stroh Center on Wednesday as they take on the Western Michigan Broncos with tipoff beginning at 7 p.m.
