The BG women’s basketball team defeated Tiffin University 91-48 in exhibition play on Saturday.
Eleven different Falcons saw action in the exhibition. All 11 players scored at least three points, with nine players scoring six or more points. The win came from both the inside and the outside for Bowling Green. The Falcons out scored the Dragons 34-18 in the paint and went 14-26 from the three-point line. Tiffin had a narrow 42-37 advantage on the glass over the Falcons.
BG went on an early run thanks to its three-point shooting and never trailed during the game. Tiffin cut the lead down to 14 going into halftime as they scored 11 of the final 14 points of the first half. The Falcons put the game away in the second half, scoring the first three possessions to open to the half and with a 13-0 run midway through.
The Falcons shot 50.8 percent from the field and shot 21-32 in the second half. From behind the arc, the Falcons went 53.8 percent on the day, including a 7-10 [70 percent] second half effort. Eight different BG players sunk at least one three-pointer.
BG senior forward Jill Stein said it was not her team’s plan to come out shooting the way they did, but that is the direction the game went.
“Good shooting is contagious, so once we got going it kind of just came into the flow and that came to be a big part of the game plan,” Stein said. “We just went with it. It wasn’t necessarily what we were looking to do, but we shot really, really well today, so that was encouraging.”
Head coach Jennifer Roos said rebounding has been an “Achilles’ heel” for this team. She added it was “difficult” to be out-rebounded by a team that was smaller inside. Roos said her team’s transition was a big part of today’s game.
“I thought today’s big key, if you had to ask me, [was] transition points,” Roos said. “We had 30 total, only nine in the first half, and we were able to get out and run a lot more in the second half.”
Both Stein and Roos said that the Falcons will have to focus on defense with the new rule changes such as the hand-check rule being added to the women’s game. Stein said her team will have to be much more disciplined defensively to avoid picking up fouls with the new rules. Roos added that they also need to be less “timid” on defense despite the rule changes as well.
“This is a game we will learn a lot from, more so defensively than offensively,” Roos said.
The Falcons head to New York to open regular-season play next weekend in the Iona Tip-off Tournament. They will face Michigan on Friday, Nov. 8 at 4 p.m. and either Arizona or Iona on Nov. 9.
