In last year’s Mid-American Conference championship, Eastern Michigan took down the Bowling Green women’s basketball team in fine tournament fashion.

That is why after last night’s 51-48 loss to the Eagles in front of a rowdy crowd, BG head coach Curt Miller knows what his team needs to do.

“We played a game of what a tournament game should feel like,” he said. “And that’s the type of game we need to win in order to beat Eastern Michigan.”

After two home games this season in which the Falcons drew a little over 500 fans, the atmosphere was welcomed from the Falcons.

In a Monday press conference, Miller said he hoped that the Falcons’ recent success would bring out a bigger crowd and it did. There were 1,055 fans at the game, nearly twice as many as BG has averaged this season.

In fact, the crowd almost gave BG the boost they needed to pull out a win over Eastern.

“The crowd was fantastic tonight,” Miller said. “We felt that if we could get a lead tonight that we could pull out a win.”

For Eastern Michigan coach Suzy Merchant and her team, Anderson Arena has been unkind.

In the history of BG-EMU basketball, the Eagles had managed just three wins in 23 tries coming into last night’s game.

To come away with a win for Eastern was a huge boost for them.

“It’s hot in there, it’s loud in there,” Merchant said. “They’re just right on top of you in there.”

From a gameplan point of view, the crowd also made a difference.

At times in the second half, the crowd was deafening, especially when the Falcons made their numerous second- half runs.

Add in the fact that the lead never got past eight points and the crowd really had an initiative to be loud.

And they were.

“It always feels like the intensity is so high in there because the crowd is so loud,” Merchant said. “The crowd certainly made a difference.”

But from a players’ point of view, the crowd factored in even more.

BG forward Ali Mann was held scoreless in the first half before scoring nine points down the stretch. She made some huge free throws down the stretch as BG tried to make it over the hump.

“The atmosphere was great tonight,” She said. “The crowd was really amazing when we tried to make our run.”

In the end, the crowd was almost the difference between a win and a loss, right down to when a Mann three-point attempt bounced off the rim, giving the Eagles the road victory.

“They really motivated us to play harder,” Mann said. “We definitely benefited from the crowd.”

The Falcons will get to go into another hostile environment this weekend.

But this time the crowd will be cheering against them when they hit Savage Hall to take on Toledo.