The BG women’s basketball team will travel to Columbus to participate in the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge at Value City Arena this weekend.
The Falcons will face Marist College Friday at 5:30 p.m., Old Dominion on Saturday at 6 p.m. and host Ohio State on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
The Falcons head to Columbus with a record of 4-0 on the early season.
Marist College enters Friday’s matchup 0-3 on the year, with losses coming to Kentucky at home, and Albany and Princeton on the road. Marist has had a great deal of success in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, winning 10 consecutive MAAC regular-season championships and eight-straight league tournament titles under head coach Brian Giorgis. Marist brings back 11 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year’s team that went 26-7 overall and 18-0 in the MAAC. Last year’s squad also advanced to the NCAA Championships for the eighth consecutive year. The Red Foxes have a 1-0 advantage in the overall series with the Falcons. The only match between the two came in 2009 where Marist won 70-65.
Saturday is the first-ever contest between the Falcons and Old Dominion for women’s basketball. The Lady Monarchs are 2-1 overall heading into Columbus and will face Ohio State on Friday in the challenge prior to their game with BG the next day. ODU has played all home games thus far, and clinched wins over Delaware State and Radford and lost to Virginia Tech. Old Dominion welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from a 2012-13 edition that finished 19-12 overall and 10-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association. This year, ODU is a member of Conference USA.
Ohio State enters the weekend with a 3-1 record on the year so far. OSU defeated West Virginia on the road to open the season, claimed two home wins over Florida Atlantic and VCU, and dropped a 53-49 loss at Georgia on Sunday (Nov. 17). The Buckeyes face ODU on Friday and Marist on Saturday prior to their matchup with the Falcons on Sunday. Ohio State returns 11 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year’s team that went 18-13 overall and 7-9 in the Big Ten. OSU leads the series 14-1 over the Falcons, with the last matchup coming in 2009 where the Buckeyes won 91-72. BG’s only victory in the series came in 1975 with a 56-50 win over the Buckeyes.
Head coach Jennifer Roos said it is “a great honor” to be invited to such a “prestigious tournament.”
She added that she knows this weekend’s games will be a tough stretch, facing teams with a great deal of post-season experience as well as “unbelievable traditions” in their programs.
“There’s no better analogy than ‘March Madness in November,’” Roos said. “It will be a March feeling in November.”
Following their trip to Columbus, the Falcons will face Monmouth on Sunday, Dec. 1 in Springfield, Mass. Sunday’s game is a continuation of the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge. The game will begin at 10 a.m.
