Despite two losses in the past two weeks, the BG women’s basketball team is still in the run for a Mid-American Conference title.

Part of that success may be due to the emergence of freshman Bailey Cairndruff, who scored 18 points against Eastern Michigan on Sunday.

Cairndruff’s minutes have fluctuated throughout the season, but the player has always shown potential, head coach, Jennifer Roos said.

“With Bailey, she always has the ability to score at the offensive end,” Roos said. “She was known as an offensive threat in high school on the AAU circuit and I’m glad she brought that shooting capability today.”

Cairndruff said that like other freshmen, she needs to work through the low moments.

In the loss to Toledo, BG scored 38 points and shot 22.4 percent from the field. However, it had more success in its loss against Miami, scoring 54 points and shooting 37 percent.

The Falcon’s next opponent is Akron, who are 12-7 on the season and 3-3 in the MAC East. Their most recent loss came against the MAC’s only unbeaten team in conference Central Michigan. The Zips were defeated 92-69, in a game that Central Michigan shot 53.6 percent from the field.

Defense has been a problem for Akron. In their seven losses they have given up an average of 81.4 points per game. Also, in four of their seven losses they have given up over 80 points per game.

Players to watch are juniors Hanna Luburgh and Rachel Tecca who are averaging 15 and 18 points per game respectively. The duo also leads the team in scoring percentage: shooting over 45 percent from the field.

Both BG and Akron have had struggles with the MAC’s better teams as the Zips lost to Toledo and Central Michigan, while the Falcons also lost to Toledo and MAC East leading Miami.

A win against Akron on Thursday will bring the Falcons one step closer to the top of the conference standings.