Strong second-half leads Falcons to win over Broncos

Emma Tucker, Sports Reporter, FMSN

Last night, BGSU women’s basketball defeated the Western Michigan Broncos, 74-56, to open the month of February’s slate with their eighth straight win. 

Taylor Williams gave WMU a 7-2 lead in the first three minutes. Jocelyn Tate and Allison Day worked to close the gap, but the Broncos continued to push forward. With a late strike, Hannah Spitzley helped the Broncos tremendously, scoring seven points for the Broncos before time ran out on the first quarter.  At the first quarter buzzer, the Falcons trailed 25-14. 

After a quiet first three minutes of the second quarter, the Falcons got back on track, only trailing by one point after two minutes of strong offense.

From here, the Falcons went step for step with the Broncos. With three minutes left in the first half and Bowling Green down 32-28, Day and Tate closed the gap, both teams tied at 32 at the half.

Senior Elissa Brett started off the second half for the Falcons with a three-pointer just six seconds into play.

BGSU and WMU traded layups, but shortly after, Nyla Hampton found an opportunity and added another three points to the board, the Falcons now holding the lead at 40-34.

For a few minutes, the two teams took turns trading points, the Brown and Orange still having the upper hand. Amy Velasco jumped into action with a quick layup and a three-point shot on the next possession to give the Falcons a double-digit lead (11 pts).

BG went into the fourth and final quarter with a 57-48 lead.  

In the next few minutes, Bowling Green’ s offense took charge again, scoring 10 points in two minutes.

The Falcons, now holding a 14-point lead over Western Michigan, wouldn’t stop there.

With a brief break on scoring for both teams, Lexi Fleming joined the fun with a quick layup. With a quick response, Nyla Hampton would steal and charge the basket for another Falcon layup, the score now at 71-54. As the buzzer sounded, Bowling Green stood as the winner.

Head coach Robyn Fralick was pleased with how her team responded to early adversity.

“This was another tough conference game,” Fralick said. “Western game out and played really well. We were on our heels in that first quarter, but I thought we settled in, had a good second quarter, and really came out and played some good basketball in the second half.” 

Brett and Tate each scored 16 points on the night, while Day and Velasco added 11. 

The Falcons are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 5th, as Bowling Green takes on Miami with tipoff set for 1 p.m. in the Stroh. 

For more information about the team, visit the athletics webpage.