After falling behind early, the Bowling Green women’s basketball team was never able to mount a legitimate comeback.
The Falcons got an 8-7 lead at the 15:42 mark in the first half, but Ohio finished on a 29-15 run to lead 36-23 at halftime. The Bobcats stretched the lead even further in the second half en route to a 67-47 Mid-American Conference win over the Falcons [9-18, 2-14].
The loss was the Falcons’ ninth in a row, with their last win on Jan. 14 against Northern Illinois.
BG was unable to string together a couple of buckets while struggling with its shot for the entire game.
The Falcons shot 8-for-24 from the field and uncharacteristic 3-for-5 from the charity stripe in the first half. BG didn’t get any better after the break, shooting 7-for-22 and 6-for-9 from the field and free throw line respectively.
BG was able to find its shot behind the arc, shooting 8-for-21 from behind the arc.
“We tried to implement some new things offensively, and executed, but didn’t quite execute to a finish, but we got some good looks in both halves,” said head coach Jennifer Roos.
The near 40 percent shooting from deep was canceled out with an abundance of turnovers. The Falcons gave the ball away 17 times, while the Bobcats gave it way just 10 times.
“We had way too many turnovers, so we just didn’t get a lot of additional opportunities,” Roos said.
BG was able to score eight points off of those turnovers compared to the six points that Ohio scored on the 17 BG turnovers.
It didn’t matter however, as Ohio was able to knock down shots more consistently and efficiently than the Falcons did all game.
Ohio opened the game with near 50 percent from the field [15-for-31] including 5-for-14 from deep.
“[Ohio] shot the ball well at the arc. I thought we gave up too many 3s in the first half and it gave them a lot of momentum,” Roos said. “They were either getting a 3 or a layup today.”
The Bobcats didn’t slow down much in the second half, shooting 10-for-26 from the field and 5-for-12 behind the arc.
With the win the Bobcats clinched its first Mid-American Conference regular season title since the 1994-95 season. BG’s loss keeps them in last of both the MAC East and entire conference.
The Falcons finish their regular season with two homes games, March, 4 against Buffalo and March, 7 against Akron on senior day.
