The Falcons overcame a drought from the field to defeat High Point University Thursday night by a score of 72-62 to advance to the second round in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
At one point the Falcons were shooting just 12.5 percent from the field while High Point was shooting 40 percent, allowing the Panthers to get out to an early lead in the start of the game.
BG head coach Jennifer Roos called this the worst start her team has had all year long.
“High Point took it to us at the beginning of the game,” Roos said. “Rattled, discombobulated aren’t even words or verbs that could describe the beginning of that game with how we played and that was attributed to High Point.”
Sophomore Miriam Justinger led the Falcons with a career-high 22 points after missing two games near the end of BG’s season due to an illness. She attributed her successful night to her teammates’ ability to get her the ball.
“I’m most proud of the win and how we played as a team tonight in that second half,” Justinger said. “It’s a great atmosphere. We are very lucky to have a program where they support women’s basketball as much they do and that’s what I’m most proud of, to play for Bowling Green.”
Justinger said High Point gave them a battle Thursday night. She said now that it is tournament time, teams have to show up ready to play.
After a rough first half, Justinger said Roos came into halftime saying the game was no longer about X’s and O’s, but about heart. Both Justinger and Roos said they were proud of the way the team came out of halftime and executed in the second half.
“I told the team at halftime, I said the elephant in the room is we’re not in the NCAA tournament,” Roos said. “The elephant in the room is we’re in the WNIT, and I want to take that and I want to play as hard as we can.”
Roos said that the key to the Falcons winning the game came off of turnovers and defensive stops that led to offense. She also said that getting to the free throw line more than the other team was important since the Falcons only shot 40 percent from the field for the game.
“The momentum of getting a stop or a turnover and then scoring … was key to our spurts in the second half,” Roos said.
With the win, the Falcons will advance to the second round of the WNIT to face the winner of Friday’s matchup between Saint Bonaventure and Charlotte.
Once the first round of the tournament is complete, remaining teams then have the chance to bid for home-court advantage for the second round. The date, site and time of the Falcons’ next match is to be determined.
