Last night, the BGSU women’s basketball team (9-9, 3-4) was defeated by the Western Michigan Broncos (8-9, 5-2), 63-60.
Head coach Fred Chmiel described the loss as a “tough pill to swallow; we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.”
Fifth-year forward Erika Porter started the scoring and each team traded triples shortly after to make it 8-5 WMU two minutes in. However, after that the defenses ran superior, with each team scoring just one point throughout the next three minutes.
Out of the first media timeout, junior guard Mariana Asensio knocked her third three of the game to make it 12-8.
Minutes later, senior Amy Velasco knocked down her second three of the game, then sophomore Paige Kohler created one opportunity to make it 15-14 BG with 90 seconds left in the first.
To stall the momentum, redshirt freshman Evyn Carrier gave the Broncos back the lead, but it was short-lived as junior Kendall Moxey hit a layup, putting the score at 17-16 Falcons after the first 10 minutes of gameplay.
To open the second, Carrier gave WMU back the lead at 18-17. After a few buckets on both sides, Asensio knotted the game at 21 by burying her third three.
Heading into the second media timeout, Western Michigan held a 23-21 lead. At that point, both defenses allowed 11 combined points through the first five minutes of the second.
In the ensuing moments, fifth-year guard Lexi Fleming sparked Falcon momentum as she picked up a steal and made a breakaway layup which was followed by another takeaway and a sophomore Keiyrn McGuff basket, 25-23 BG.
Before the expiration of the second quarter clock, redshirt sophomore Jasmine Fearne buried a three, and junior Allie Carlson hit a driving layup making it 28 all at the intermission.
Despite switching sides after the 15-minute break, Asensio picked up right where she left off, hitting her sixth shot of the game.
Down 32-28, Kohler and Fleming each responded by knocking down back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to give BG the 34-32 advantage.
From that point, each team knocked down a pair of shots over the next few minutes. After the mid-quarter stoppage, Porter extended the Falcons’ razor-thin lead to 40-37.
Already up five, Erika Porter extended the Orange and Brown lead to a game-high eight at 48-40 in the waning moments of the third by converting an and-one opportunity.
The start of the fourth quarter brought a combined six fouls through the first four minutes and a Western Michigan 7-2 run, making it 50-47.
Amy Velasco then put the lead back at two scores by sinking a pull-up jumper. On the following possession, she made it 54-47 with a layup, which warranted a WMU timeout.
After the timeout, the Broncos went on an 11-4 run, including a grad student Hannah Spitzley made three to even the ledger at 58.
After a Falcon timeout, each team scored to make it 60-60 with 38.3 seconds to play, forcing coach Chmiel to use his last timeout.
Velasco was unable to make a layup on the following possession. Porter committed a regular foul and an intentional foul giving the Broncos four free throw attempts with 17.9 seconds to play. They hit three of them to make it 63-60.
On BGSU’s last possession of the game, both Velasco and Fleming had open three-point chances, but could not hit them, so 63-60 ended up being the final tally.
The Falcon’s next game comes on Saturday, Jan. 25 against Toledo at Savage Arena. Falcon Media Sports Network’s Lucas Kleimeyer and Kaden Knapp will call the game starting at 1:45 for pre-game and 2 p.m. for tip-off on WBGU 88.1 FM.
