BGSU women’s basketball (10-6, 3-2) aims to ride momentum entering Saturday’s late afternoon showdown against the Miami (OH) RedHawks (13-4, 5-0), looking to win its third consecutive game in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
Falcon Media Sports Network’s broadcast tandem of Trey Kennedy and Lucas Kleinmeyer will be calling the game, tipping off at 4 p.m. at the Stroh Center on WBGU 88.1 FM.
Matchup History
Bowling Green heads into Saturday’s game hopeful of avenging Miami, which defeated BG in their last meeting in January of last year, 78-63, at Millet Hall in Oxford, Ohio.
Despite that one loss, the Falcons are 7-3 against the RedHawks in their last 10 meetings. On top of that, the Orange and Brown have a record of 58-36 against the RedHawks in the two schools’ history.
The first matchup between the two institutions occurred on Feb. 2, 1974, with BGSU easily winning by a final score of 63-34. The largest point differential occurred on Feb. 9, 2014, as Bowling Green cruised to a 91-45 victory, and the smallest margin of victory unfolded on March 12, 2004, as Bowling Green won 75-74.
Bowling Green
While the Falcons are riding this two-game winning streak, the team’s offensive efficiency has been extremely inconsistent, to say the least.
Although the Orange and Brown shot 45% from the field en route to their win against Northern Illinois, there were times when the team continued to find itself in numerous dry spells offensively.
Following BG’s win against the Huskies, they battled against Western Michigan, and outside of the team’s massive third-quarter offensive lapse, Bowling Green battled more stretches of inconsistent play, as they shot 41% from the floor Wednesday night.
Compounding this issue, turnovers became a massive talking point for BGSU against Western Michigan, as they totaled 20 errors on the night; sophomore guard Johnea Donahue led the team with four total giveaways.
Aside from the team’s offensive woes, sophomore forward Lauren Gerken had by far her best performance of the season against Western Michigan. She scored 15 points off 4-for-9 shooting, with all four of those shots being 3-pointers.
Additionally, senior guard Kaia Woods also scored 15 points against the Broncos, while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing four assists.
Miami (OH)
The RedHawks are currently carrying a six-game winning streak as they approach their matchup against the Falcons this Saturday, including five of those six wins coming against MAC opponents.
Miami’s offense is led primarily by forward junior Amber Tretter, who leads the RedHawks in points scored per game, averaging 14.1 points per contest while posting a 52.4% field goal percentage. Furthermore, Tretter leads the team in rebounds per game as well, logging 8.1 rebounds per game.
At this point in the season, Miami ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage as it posts a 45.4% on on average, behind Ball State, which posts a shooting clip of 45.5% this season.
Moreover, the RedHawks also rank second in the MAC in 3-point percentage. As a team, Miami shoots a 34.4% clip from distance during this season.
With turnovers becoming an issue as of late for the Falcons, ball security against the RedHawks will need to be emphasized even more, with opponents logging 21.1 turnovers every matchup against Miami.
Falcon Four Players to Watch
Lauren Gerken (Bowling Green No. 22 sophomore forward)
Coming off a performance where she drained four crucial triples for BG against Western Michigan, it can give this Orange and Brown offense a lot of confidence against a RedHawks defense that allows a 3-point percentage of 30.3% to opposing offenses.
Paige Kohler (Bowling Green No. 10 junior guard)
Kohler scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in 40 minutes of play against the Broncos this past Wednesday. Kohler shot 4-of-12 from the field and also converted three triples for Bowling Green. BGSU needs Kohler to become a facilitator against Miami to put themselves in a position for success.
Nuria Jurjo (Miami (OH) No. 17 junior guard)
Nuria Jurjo scored 16 points off an efficient 5-for-6 shooting from the floor, while also knocking down two 3-pointers. She is one of the RedHawks’ most prolific 3-point artists on the team with a 46.5% 3-point percentage on the season.
Amber Scalia (Miami (OH) No. 1 senior guard)
Amber Scalia is fresh off a performance against Eastern Michigan in which she scored 15 points, while also hauling in four rebounds and producing six assists to her teammates. She averages the second-most points per game on the RedHawks offense, averaging 13.6 points per contest with a 44.5% field goal percentage.
