The Bowling Green women’s basketball team displayed a solid offensive second half in a win over the University of Cincinnati on Sunday.
There was a big difference between the two halves as both teams struggled in the first. After nine collective points scored, there was a five minute gap with no made field goals. In particularly, Bowling Green was 1-14 from the three-point line.
“With the age of this team, we’ve got to do something different. It can’t be a good try mentality because we’ve set the bar very high with what we want to do offensively,” head coach Jennifer Roos said. “But we are still giving them the freedom to shoot. I have no idea when the lid is going to come off, but I’m confident that it is. We still as a coaching staff have to give this team confidence to shoot throughout the game.”
Following the drought the Falcons turned to Erica Donovan to jump-start the offense. After two straight lay-ups from Donovan, the team went on an 8-0 run to take the lead on the Bearcats. By the end of the half the Falcons were leading 27-24 but were shooting 30.3 percent from the field to Cincinnati’s
33.3 percent.
The second half was a big turnaround for the Falcons. To start the half, the team went on a 10-0 run behind made three’s from Donovan and Rachel Konieczki along with four points from Abby Siefker.
“The lid finally came off the basket,” senior Deborah Hoekstra said. “Erika came right out and hit a big shot for us. That three from the corner is her spot and it really got everybody going.”
Cincinnati would fight to close the gap but never got within six for the rest of the game. The Bearcats took nine offensive rebounds in the second half, but were only able to score four second-chance points.
The Falcons sealed the game with under two minutes left when a technical foul was called on Cincinnati that sent Hoekstra to the line. After going 1-2 at the stripe, Bowling Green would take the ball out under their own basket. Miriam Justinger sent a full court pass to Donovan, who converted a lay-up after an intentional foul. Donovan hit the two free throws for a four point play that put the Falcons up 62-51.
“That really brought the crowd to their feet,” Roos said. “It took the air out of a potential comeback. We had to make some free throws down the stretch after that but that stuck out to me as the most important.”
The Falcons improved their shooting in the second half, shooting 40 percent and going 4-9 from three. They also shot 21-26 from the free throw line on the game.
“I really looked at this game as a must-win because this is our only home game in December so you want to play well in front of your home crowd,” Roos said. “Obviously going 21-26 on foul shots was a big key as well compared to their 9-11. We had to make those shots down the stretch because they cut it to single digits with eight minutes left.”
One other point of emphasis was the Falcon defense. Cincinnati’s Jasmine Whitfield and Ana Owens average 50 percent of their scoring. Bowling Green was able to hold them to 10 collective points, 20 less than their 30 points per game average.
The team will be back in action next on Saturday, Dec. 13, against Saint Francis.
