Head coach Curt Miller set his team’s magic number at 70 for last night’s game against Eastern Michigan, and 70 it was.
The Falcons needed every one of their 70 points to upset the Eagles on senior night in Anderson Arena. The Falcons held off a furious Eagle rally in the final minutes and the senior class walked off the Anderson Arena floor for the final time with a 70-69 win. “Hey no prophets, but Kevin Eckert deserves credit for the scout. He did a great job,” Miller said. “Stats don’t lie, they have not won yet getting to 70. It was a race to 70 and fortunately we got there first.”
For the second consecutive season, the Falcons have knocked the Eagles down in the MAC tournament seedings by upsetting them on senior night in Anderson Arena.
“Bowling Green came ready to play, and Eastern Michigan played 20 minutes tonight,” Eastern Michigan head coach Suzy Merchant said. “You will not win on somebody’s senior night on their home floor playing for 20 minutes against 40. It’s not going to happen.”
Leading the way for the senior class and the Falcons was forward Francine Miller, who scored 22 points while shooting 6-12 from the field and 10-11 from the foul line. Miller raised her career total to 1,553 points, good for third place on the Falcons all-time scoring list.
“We came out saying before the game that we were not leaving here without a win,” Miller said. “It does not matter who you play on senior night. You have the most motivation. You have everything inside of you, you just want to leave with a win.” The Falcons grabbed the momentum early in the game. Trailing 9-4 with 16:30 remaining in the first half, the Falcons held the Eagles without a basket for the next 7:42 to open up a 17-12 lead. The Falcons kept the momentum for the rest of the half and took a 31-18 lead into the locker room.
The Eagles came out rejuvenated in the second half, led by Ryan Coleman. Coleman had 23 of her 26 points in the second half. Sparked by Coleman, the Eagles chipped away at the Falcon lead, finally overtaking the Falcons at 44-43 with 9:58 remaining. However, that would be the only Eagle lead of the second half as the Falcons capitalized on clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to hold off the Eagles. The Falcons converted 14-15 foul shots in the final 10:41 and 21-23 for the game.
The Eagles refused to go away. They put together a 13-3 run to close the gap to one at 66-65 with 19 seconds remaining. After a pair of free throws by Francine Miller put the Falcons back up by three, Coleman made a lay-up to cut the Falcon lead to one with 8 seconds left. Kim Reich sank a pair of foul shots to once again put the Falcons up by three at 70-67.
The Falcons were determined to make someone other than Coleman beat them, double teaming her for the final seven seconds. Erika Ford got the ball in the final seconds and passed on the tying three pointer and instead drove to the basket for a lay-up as time expired.
“It was a bad play,” Merchant said. “It was a bad decision and a poor choice for a point guard to make.”
The Eagles and Falcons will get one more chance at each other, this time on the Eagles’ homecourt. The two teams meet in the first round of the Mid American Conference tournament this Saturday at 7p.m.
