Despite the smiling faces and dancing on the sidelines, the BG gymnastics team tumbled to a loss against the Texas Women’s University Pioneers on Saturday 191 to 191.75.
“The bright spot tonight was the balance beam; it was nice to see them,” head coach Kerrie Beach said. “Even when they had some stumbles early on, [they] were able to gain some composure and finish out the meet pretty well.”
Another highlight for the Falcons was former Mid-American Conference freshman of the year, Jamilah Ali.
“She’s a dynamite athlete. What is special about her is her ability to compete well no matter what happens in the week,” Beach said. “She has an amazing ability to block noise out and if our team is not playing well she is able to block that out and step up.”
Ali scored among the highest in the vault, beam and floor routine for BG.
“I felt like I did pretty good, but there are certain things that I need to work on to get better scores for our team,” Ali said.
Beach knows that the team needs confidence and was disappointed with the outcome of the meet.
“This team is full of potential, and the mistakes were purely focus errors,” Beach said. “We expected to get a win tonight and not getting it, I think that they will regroup and rebound.”
BG falls to a 0-2 record on the year with their loss on Saturday and in their first meet against Ohio State.
The next meet will be played on Jan. 19 in DeKalb, Ill., against MAC opponent Northern Illinois.
“They will be hungry for a win next week,” Beach said.
