Oh, what a difference a week can make.
Last Wednesday, the Bowling Green women’s basketball team played arguably their worst game of the season, shooting just 26.2 percent from the floor in a 62-53 loss to Kent State.
But this Wednesday, the Falcons rolled past Northern Illlinois, holding them to just 27.8 percent shooting, the lowest field goal percentage BG has held an opponent to all season.
“This team gets some notoriety because we are versatile, can shoot 3’s and score points,” BG head coach Curt Miller said. “But the success of this year’s team, clearly, has been defense. Our stops get us hyped up, defensively, but also give us more confidence at the offensive end.”
The Falcons (13-6, 6-2) will have to use that confidence when they host Ohio (9-10, 5-3) tomorrow afternoon.
While Ohio may not have the superstars of the Eastern Michigans and Kent States of the league, they do have quite a few weapons.
Kristin Kirkpatrick leads the Bobcats with 11.5 points per game and is the only player that is in double digits scoring. But along with her, Ohio has nine players that average 4.9 points per game or better. On top of that, the Bobcats have 11 players that put in over 10 minutes per game.
Needless to say, Ohio has some depth and the ability to give the Falcons some fits.
But according to Miller, everyone in the Mid-American Conference has a chance to give Bowling Green headaches.
“There’s no team that’s dominant [in the MAC],” he said. “There’s no team, on paper, that’s clearly better than everyone else.”
And that parity in the league makes every game in the conference an interesting one.
“There’s a game or more a week that will surprise you,” Miller said. “It’s always fun but you can go from a top team to the ninth or 10th team in a hurry.”
With a 6-2 record in the MAC, the Falcons are hoping to be one of the teams that earn a first round bye in the conference tournament come March. They know that winning games like tomorrow is detrimental in achieving that goal. Winning games at Anderson Arena is of utmost important to the Falcons posting a solid regular season record in the MAC, Miller said.
Tip-off for the game is set for 2 p.m. tomorrow. Fans are advised to wear as much orange as possible as this game is being touted as an “Orange Out” at the Arena. But even if you can’t make it to the game, it will be featured as the MAC Game of the Week on FOX Sports-Ohio.