After shooting lights out against Akron to regain first place in the MAC East, the BG women’s basketball team faced a tough test on the road, losing to the Miami Redhawks in Oxford, Ohio by a margin of 76-61.
Miami’s impressive shooting performance took control of BG in much the same way the Falcons did against Akron on Wednesday. The RedHawks were 29 of 52 for the game, which accumulated to a 56 shooting percentage.
Miami was just as impressive from behind the three-point arc, making nine of 19. Miami’s Courtney Osborn made seven of the team’s nine three-pointers and had a game-high 33 points.
“We ran into a team that was the hunters today and we were the ones being hunted. With us being one game up on Miami in the East that gave them a sense of urgency to come out and beat us,” coach Jennifer Roos said.
“At the end of the day, we got beat by a really hot shooting team that needed this win in order to also be in the running for the east division championship, so they needed this game.”
Falcons point guard Jillian Halfhill finished as the second-highest scorer. Halfhill shot 50 percent from the field while posting 23 points and seven rebounds.
Her individual performance was not enough to overcome a poor shooting effort by the Falcons. BG shot 30 percent from the field as a team.
“We are not going to think about this one, I told the team to walk out of the locker room with their heads held high and start thinking about Buffalo. But, we will need to get in the gym on our off day and take some shots because you can’t go down the stretch and expect to win shooting in the 30 percent range,” Roos said.
This game marked the first time the Falcons lost to the same team twice in a season since losing to Eastern Michigan twice back in the 2004-05 season. It was also the Falcons’ worst loss in conference in over five years.
For the Redhawks, it was an all around good day as Courtney Osborn, who is already the school’s all-time leading scorer, surpassed the 2,000 point mark. The win also puts them one step closer to the MAC East division crown.
With a record of 16-10 (8-5), Miami are now tied with BG for second place in the East.
