The BG women’s basketball team defeated the Southern Methodist University Mustangs in a tight match in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, 76-70.
“Welcome to March,” coach Jennifer Roos said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the NCAA or the WNIT— March brings a lot of excitement.”
With the win, the Falcons will move on to the second round of the WNIT and will play the Duquesne Dukes Saturday.
Duquesne defeated Mid-American Conference opponent Akron 71-66 on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
The game against the Dukes will be at the Stroh Center on Saturday at 5 p.m.
BG started the first half dominant on both sides of the ball. Forward Alexis Rogers scored the Falcons’ first points in their second possession. The team kept the Mustangs scoreless in its first six possessions, but SMU guard Keena Mays scored a three-point basket just under two and a half minutes into the game.
Rogers, along with guards Jillian Halfhill and Miriam Justinger, kept the Falcons ahead of the Mustangs for the first four minutes of the game by hitting five of their eight shots.
With 10 minutes left, guard Katrina Salinas made a three-point shot to end SMU’s long run. Salinas’ basket would start a long run for the Falcons.
BG went on a 19-point run that allowed the Falcons to lead by a game-high 13 points, which was the score difference at halftime. The Falcons prevented the Mustangs from scoring for over eight minutes from which SMU would not recover.
The second half would showcase an offensive explosion, which included a combined point total of 93 points in the second half alone.
SMU never led during the second half, but they were able to tie the game after making eight three-point shots.
SMU guard Alisha Filmore made five three-pointers and scored 20 points after only scoring two in the first half.
Filmore had competition on the other side of the ball though, as BG guard Halfhill made seven shots from the field and made all nine of her 10 free-throw attempts. Halfhill amounted to 17 points during the second half and 23 points in the game.
“[SMU’s defense] opened up a lot of drive-in lanes for myself,” Halfhill said. “Me and [Roos] talked about it at halftime and so I looked to execute more on the offensive end.”
