The BG women’s basketball team defeated UW-Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon by a score of 87-64, thanks in part to multiple contributors for the Falcons.
At the start of the game, both teams traded baskets, which led to four early lead changes and two instances in which the score was tied. However, Deborah Hoekstra’s three-pointer at the 11:38 mark elevated the Falcons to a 14-10 lead that held for the remainder of the half. Since the bucket, the Falcons never trailed the rest of the half and built up to a 20 point lead.
Both teams came out strong again at the start of the second half, but the lead BG built in the first half was too much for Milwaukee to overcome. The Falcons held around a 20 point lead for the remainder of the game and cruised to the win.
Hoekstra led the Falcons with a career-high 19 points. Alexis Rogers also came up big for the Falcons with a double-double consisting of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Jill Stein had a near double-double herself, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. Jasmine Matthews added 12 points, and Erica Donovan finished with 11 points, rounding out to double-digit scorers for BG.
Hoekstra said that one of her team’s biggest strength is their versatility and unselfishness. She added that with how well her team moves the ball, anyone could be their leading scorer, but recently she has been the one to reap the benefits.
“I mean, it could really be anyone on the team,” Hoekstra said. “We always say one more pass, and it’s been me recently, but it could be anybody. I think that that’s one of our strengths. We’re all so versatile and really it could be anyone coming out.”
Along with the offensive contributions for BG, Miriam Justinger helped secure the win for the Falcons on the defensive end as well. Justinger was assigned to guard Milwaukee’s Angela Rodriguez, who leads the team win scoring with 20.0 points per game and also in assists at 5.1 per game. Rodriguez was contained to seven points and nine assists on the night.
BG head coach Jennifer Roos said containing Rodriguez was a huge factor in the team’s win. She said Justinger proved to be a “tenacious” and “smart” defender on Rodriguez.
“I think everybody saw today how good of a player Angela Rodriguez is,” Roos said. “Even though we held her to seven points, she had nine assists and played the majority of the game. That’s a top-40 scorer in the nation. I thought Miriam Justinger drew that assignment early on and really did a good job of disrupting her.”
The Falcons will return to the Stroh Center next Sunday, Dec. 15. They will face the University of Massachusetts with tipoff set for 2 p.m.