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The old cliche goes, it’s not whether you win or lose it is how you play the game. This certainly applied last night in the Falcons 77-55 victory over Saint Francis, Penn., and BG coach Curt Miller has the broken chair to prove it.
The coach was not satisfied with his team’s effort in the latter stages of the first half, despite the fact BG went into the locker room up by 13.
“I was unhappy at halftime,” Miller said. “I was disappointed in our effort … I try to teach my team that we really need to put a team away when we have a chance and I didn’t think we did.”
So, in addition to letting his team know verbally that their effort wasn’t where it needed to be, he showed them physically with the help of a vintage Bowling Green wooden chair.
“I didn’t like that chair anyway,” he deadpanned.
The team took the message to heart and came out in the second half more aggressive and wanting to push the ball up the floor.
“I knew he wasn’t happy going into halftime,” said Ali Mann, who led the Falcons with 21 points. “He just wanted to prove a point … He wanted to break it, but it took him a few times. I think he needs to come lift with us tomorrow.”
Those are the kind of jokes a team can make when they win by 22 points. But the games are going to get harder and both the Falcons and their coach know there are elements of the game they need to improve upon to remain a championship caliber team.
The Falcons had 18 turnover in the game, including 11 from the bench. They also shot terribly from the 3-point arc, making four of 24 shots.
Luckily for them, as in their first game against IPFW, the Falcons were incredibly efficient in front of the arc, shooting 65 percent. They were also able to convert 13 of 16 free-throw attempts into points.
Mann’s play was able to offset the struggles of frontcourt partner Liz Honneger, who hit only two of seven shots, including one of six 3-point attempts.
Fellow starter Casey McDowell was also a nonfactor in the game offensively, missing both her field goal attempts in 28 minutes.
But Mann didn’t mind shouldering much of the offensive burden.
“Every night you’re going to have people struggle and people who are on and tonight was just my night,” she said. “Our outside shots were pretty horrendous this game, but once we got the ball pushed up the court we were getting lay-ups.”
A big reason the Falcons were able to push the ball was the quick hands of two freshmen, Jasmine McCall and Lindsey Goldsberry, who had four and two steals, respectively.
“We love our new freshmen coming in, they’re a lot of fun,” Mann said. “Lindsey Goldsberry gets her hands on more balls than anyone I’ve ever played with.”
And Miller was glad to see McCall rebound from a rough first game where she shot 0-for-5 and had three turnovers. Against St. Francis, McCall shot 4-for-5 to go with her four steals.
“I think you saw flashes of how truly explosive and fast she really is,” Miller said. “On the offensive end you saw more of her explosiveness that you’re going to see throughout the year.”
