Women’s Basketball
The Lady Falcons improbable season, with aspirations of making it to the NCAA tournament, came to an end on Saturday, as they were taken down by Central Michigan 77-72 in a revenge win in the MAC championship. The Falcons defeated Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinals on Thursday and Buffalo in the semifinals on Friday. Elissa Brett gave it everything she had, scoring 18 points, as well as Lexi Fleming scoring 13 points and adding nine rebounds. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the Chippewas, as Micaela Kelly and Molly Davis of Central Michigan scored a combined 52 points in the victory.
Despite the disappointing loss, the Falcons did get some good news as they were selected as an automatic bid for the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Falcons will play in Rockford, Illinois on Friday at 3 p.m. EST against Creighton. The team is guaranteed at least two games on the weekend. The last time the Falcons were in the WNIT was 2014, where the Falcons lost in the Quarterfinals to Rutgers, who went on to win the tournament.
Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team fell in the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament, bowing out to No. 3 seed Akron 74-67. The Falcons fell way behind early, and struggled to shoot the ball, but did make a strong comeback and tied it up at one point in the second half. However, without star Justin Turner at full strength, who was dealing with an injury, the Falcons were unable to down the Zips. Daeqwon Plodwen played fantastic, scoring 26 points. BGSU will compete in the College Basketball Invitational after not receiving a bid for either the NCAA Tournament or the National Invitational Tournament. Their first game of the eight-team tournament is set for Monday at 11:30 a.m. EST against Stetson. The tournament is taking place in Daytona Beach, Florida. This is the first appearance for the Falcons in the tournament.
Hockey
The Falcons likely ended their season this weekend, as they were shockingly upset by Northern Michigan in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The Falcons dropped a close one 4-3 Friday night, before winning easily Saturday 5-0. That set the stage for a winner-take-all Sunday affair that was never really close, in a 5-1 loss. There is a remote chance they could snag an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament which will be announced next Sunday.
