As if the Bowling Green women’s basketball team didn’t know what playing at Kent was all about, they learned yet again last night in a 62-53 loss to the Golden Flashes.
The Flashes have lost just 15 times in their last 146 games at the M.A.C. Center and the Falcons have not won there since the 1994 season.
In fact, BG hasn’t beaten the Flashes at all in the last eight years.
To say the least, Kent has had their way with BG for the last decade.
And Kent made that apparent early in the game and ran out to 35-17 halftime lead. The Falcons executed well and defended well throughout the first half, but their 18 percent shooting in the half was too much for the Falcons to overcome.
“This game was determined early,” BG head coach Curt Miller said. “I thought Kent State’s physical approach at the defensive end of the floor took us out of rhythm early and they frustrated us all night.”
On top of Kent’s play, the Falcons didn’t get the fundamentals of the game down.
“We missed a ton of layups and a ton of free throws,” BG assistant coach Jennifer Roos said. “Those were just a lot of gimmes.”
For Kent, they had to look no further than their two big time players, Melissa DeGrate and Lindsay Shearer, for points. The duo combined for 40 of Kent’s 63 points and did what they could to bury the Falcons.
“When their two big dogs step up we know we have to counter with our two leading scorers,” Roos said. “We were not able to do that tonight.”
BG’s normally reliable scoring duo of Liz Honegger and Ali Mann combined for just 15 points. Mann had 14 points and Honegger wasn’t able to hit a single field goal the entire game.
“I’d bet my dog, I’d bet everything I own that Liz Honegger would score a field goal in this game,” Roos said. “It’s something she’s going to beat herself up over, but this game is said and done.”
Even after having such a bad first half, BG was able to fight back in the second half.
Point guard Kate Achter stole the ball and took it the distance for a lay in that capped off a 6-0 BG run midway through the second half and bring the score 41-32. But Kent was able to hold them off as that was the only time BG was in single digits until the end of the game.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Miller said. “We didn’t quit tonight. We have played nearly two years of basketball without a MAC team beating us by double digits and it shows the character of our team that we did not quit tonight.”
But BG did have their share of bright spots in the game.
Forward Carin Horne scored 20 points on the night and was a key figure as BG made runs in the second half.
The Falcons showed their quickness, collecting 17 steals and forcing 26 turnovers.
And outside of the shooting, the game was closer than it looks on paper.
“We just needed to step up and make some shots,” Roos said. “We executed fine at the offensive end and defensively we held them under their scoring average.”
The loss brought BG into a tie for first place with several MAC West teams.
The Falcons have a day off Saturday and don’t play again until Wednesday when they welcome Northern Illinois to Anderson Arena.
