The Bowling Green women’s basketball team went into halftime Saturday with an 18 point lead over the 16-9 Eastern Michigan Eagles.
They had played a picture-perfect first half which included 15 points from sophomore Kelly Kapferer, and a 16-0 run to begin the game. It was a familiar script for the Falcons. BG, who has led each home conference contest they have played by halftime, but are 3-4 in those games, held on for a 78-62 win over the Eagles. The victory gives the Falcons back-to-back wins heading into Saturday’s first-round MAC tournament game.
The Eagles posted back-to-back wins of their own over conference front-runners Toledo and Ball State, but came into Anderson Arena Saturday a different team.
Perhaps it wasn’t so much Eastern’s lack of desire to play as it was BG’s stifling defense and emotion. The game marked Senior Day, an honor belonged to only one Falcon Dana Schuka. BG honored its lone senior with a pre-game ceremony and from that point on, it was BG’s defense who dictated the play.
From the opening tip, the Falcons swarmed Eastern, who, much like the Falcons, rely heavily on their three-point shooting. BG scored the first 16 points of the game and forced the Eagles into 1-13 three-point shooting in the first half. The Falcons led 42-24 at halftime.
“What helped us in the first half was that we were able to knock down shots and get into the defensive sets we wanted to be in,” BG coach Curt Miller said. “We play a make or miss defense that is, if we make we play one defense, and if we miss we play another.”
The Falcons made quite a bit more than they missed the entire game, which, as Miller alluded to, allowed them to do what they wanted on the defensive end. BG shot 54 percent for the game and a scorching 63 percent in the first half.
“We were willing to force them to hit threes,” Miller said. “Fortunately for us, they didn’t. We wanted to shut down Abby Wiseman and make her get rid of the ball, which we did well. I think we took away some of the things that they wanted to accomplish.”
The Eagles missed their first 10 shots and for the game only connected on 34 percent from the field, including a dismal 16 percent from behind the three-point arc.
“We just didn’t show up today,” Eastern coach Suzy Merchant said. “I had a bad feeling about this game, like we thought we could just come in here and win this game without playing well.”
“When you can’t score for 11 minutes of the game, it’s just ridiculous,” Merchant continued. “We didn’t come to play. I give Bowling Green credit. They had more enthusiasm, they out-hustled us, out-rebounded us, outworked us and we just didn’t show up.”
Merchant also said that senior Kris Kachaturoff “had been carrying her team of late.” Kachaturoff scored just nine points on 2-12 shooting.
