With the Mid-American Conference tournament just over a week away, every game is crucial. Teams are battling for position, trying to knock each other down the ladder and grab the higher seeds in their final regular season games.
The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team takes their fight for seeding on the road when they take on the Kent State Golden Flashes tomorrow afternoon at 2p.m in Kent, Ohio. The Falcons (11-14, 4-10 MAC), currently hold the 11th seed in the MAC. Head coach Curt Miller is not disappointed with where his rebuilding team stands at this point in the season.
“Of course we would like to be higher, but with the program and the rebuilding, the five year process that we set out to do I’m not totally shocked on where we’re at,” Miller said. “The program is headed in the right direction, we have made great strides from last year to this year.”
The Falcons notched their first victory in a MAC road game last Saturday in Akron with a 65-62 victory over the University of Akron Zips. With his team being the underdog tomorrow in Kent and guaranteed to be on the road for the first round of the MAC tournament, Miller hopes that obtaining a previously illusive conference road victory will give his team some confidence heading into the final stretch of the season.
“I think that victory was important because we played terrific on the road during the non-conference [games], but we could not quite seem to get over the hump during the conference play on the road,” Miller said. “Even though we did not play well in the final five minutes of that game [against Akron], a win’s a win because you feel more confident after a win.”
The Golden Flashes, (13-11, 8-5 MAC), went into last night’s game against Ball State holding onto the fourth seed in the MAC. They dropped their previous two games to Marshall, (62-47) on Feb.19, and Miami, (78-71 in overtime), on Feb. 23. At this point in the season they are guaranteed to host the first round of the MAC tournament and have an outside chance of receiving a first round bye.
The Flashes will be honoring their senior players tomorrow afternoon. The senior class includes guards Morgan O’Hara and Valerie Zona, and forwards Katalin Kollat and Jamie Rubis. Kollat and Rubis are three-time letter winners. O’Hara is a two-time letter winner and Zona has earned one letter in her collegiate career. “Kent State has four very talented seniors that have meant a lot to their program, and it’s going to be their senior night,” Miller said. “We have to be ready because they are going to bring their A game in their last collegiate game at Kent.”
The Falcons are coming off of a 69-50 loss to Marshall on Wednesday night in Anderson Arena. The Falcons had an all-around poor shooting effort in the game, shooting 35 percent from the floor (21-60). They also shot poorly from three-point land (3-16) and struggled at the free-throw line (5-12). Miller hopes his team can just forget about that game and concentrate on Kent State.
“We just have to bounce back, you have to have a short memory in college basketball,” Miller said. “If you don’t have a short memory in college basketball, you get yourself into trouble.” Going up against all the emotion of Senior Day in Kent, Miller hopes for his team to have a quick start in order to counter all the emotion.
“If we can play with them early, it’s a team that I think we can really make work for a victory,” Miller said. “But, if we get off to a tough start and hang our heads, it could be a quick evening with all the emotion that will be in the gym for them that night.”
