BGSU women’s basketball (2-2) ended their two-game losing streak Saturday afternoon, earning their second win of the season, defeating the 1-2 St. Bonaventure Bonnies at the Stroh Center.
With a 51-point margin, this win marks Bowling Green’s largest victory ever against an NCAA Division I opponent in program history.
The Falcon offense was fluid to start the game, spreading out the scoring and getting some clean looks at the basket.
Freshman forward Lauren Gerken makes two tough threes at the end of the first quarter, with BG remaining up by a score of 29-15.
Falcons scoring leaders through one were Gerken, junior forward Kendal Moxey, and senior guard Amy Velasco with six. St. Bonaventures scoring leaders were freshman guard Hannah Richardson and Haskell with five.
The second quarter opened up with missed shots by both teams and offensive mistakes, but the two teams quickly heated up.
Halfway through the quarter, Bowling Green remains with the lead at 35-21. A travel by sophomore guard Paige Kohler led to a timeout by Bonnies head coach Jim Crowley.
With two minutes left in half, Kohler converts an and-one and puts the Orange and Brown up 42-23. She now leads the Falcons with 12 points on 4-7 shooting.
Velasco and Kohler led both teams with 12 points going into halftime. The Falcons are up 44-25 on the Bonnies.
Three-pointers tell the story through the first half of the play. While BG is 3-7 from deep, the Bonnies are settling for low-percentage shots and are paying the price by shooting 2-13 from beyond the arc.
The second half started slow, with only total points scored through three minutes. Gerken changed that up with her third three-ball, 3-3 on the day.
Moxey gets herself a solid block halfway into the third quarter, with the Orange and Brown up 51-30 on the Bonnies entering the media break.
St. Bonaventure calls timeout after Kohler takes it coast to coast for a nice finger roll layup. She has 16 points on 50% shooting, and the Falcons lead 56-30.
BG keeps rolling despite the TO trying to stop their momentum. They would go on to score 23 unanswered points in the third, making their lead 69-30.
At the end of the quarter, the scoreboard reads 71-32 in favor of BG. Velasco led all scorers with 22, going 6-6 from the free-throw line.
Heading into the fourth Falcons head coach Fred Chmiel emptied the bench and gave his starters a much-needed rest.
At the media timeout marker, BG led by 48 points, 80-32, with St. Bonaventure not scoring yet in the quarter. The Falcons played great defense throughout the game but especially locked up the Bonnies in the second half.
With just over two minutes remaining in the game, freshman guard Taylor Wallace knocked down a contested three for her first-ever collegiate points.
Moxey had herself an incredible game, going perfect from the field and the free throw line, getting 11 points all from the paint. She also tallied a block and played great defense all game.
Amy Velasco made sure to sing her teammate’s praises after the game, “[Kendal] was playing hard, she was playing great defense.”
Velasco ended her game with 22 points in 26 minutes. The BG guard was perfect from behind the arc (2-2) and the foul line (6-6). She also had a team-high five assists.
The Falcons will look to start a winning streak as they head to West Virginia on Tuesday to take on the undefeated Mountaineers.
