The BGSU women’s basketball team mounted an 18-point comeback to defeat the Dayton Flyers 77-76 in the consolation bracket of the WNIT.
“I thought tonight’s game embodied the things that I have been so proud of this season. I thought we had a lot of fight,” BGSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “We had so many kids step up and kids come off the bench who were in different roles or played different minutes.”
Sophomore guard Olivia Trice provided a huge spark to the Falcons as she hit four three-pointers and finished with a team high 17 points off the bench. Trice’s high school teammate, Nyla Hampton had another solid game as she had 16 points on another efficient game going 6-of-8 from the field.
“She (Trice) was outstanding on both ends of the court. They had a really big kid who was a tough matchup for us and I thought she did a really good job of seeing help. She took a charge and she hit some big shots,” Fralick said.
In the first quarter, the Falcons missed their first eight shots of the game and saw Dayton jump out to a 16-0 lead. Despite Dayton jumping out to the double-digit lead, the Falcons were able to climb back into the game and were only down seven after the first 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, Dayton once again came out the gates strong and jumped out to a 30-19 lead. Olivia Trice nailed a corner three as the shot clock was winding down and that sparked an 8-0 to end the half. The Falcons and Dayton were all tied up at 39.
The third quarter BG as able to continue their momentum from the second quarter and they took their first lead of the game. The Falcons were able to outscore Dayton 25-18 in third and took a 64-57 lead after the first 30 minutes.
In the fourth, the Falcons were able to extend the lead to 10 with six minutes to go. Despite a comeback effort from Dayton the Falcons were able to pull out the narrow victory.
“Something that our team has done all year is we fight. If something doesn’t go our way or our back have been against the wall, we’ve shown a real pattern of fighting and finding a way to claw our way back into a game,” Fralick said.
The Falcons will wrap up their season on Monday against Drake at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) in the WNIT Consolation Final.