Losses in eight of its last 10 games, the shooting woes for the BG women’s basketball team continue.
Coming off of an encouraging 13-point home victory on Saturday, BG [9-10, 2-6] fell victim to poor shooting once again en route to a 67-50 loss.
Having shot over 40 percent from the field in their win over Miami, the Falcons managed just 34 percent [17-of-50] from the field and an even worse 26.1 percent [6-of-23] from behind the arc.
The Falcons’ start to the game was just a preview for the struggles that were to come as the game progressed.
BG began the game missing seven of its first eight shots and quickly falling
behind, 9-2.
The Falcons’ misfortune continued for the entire 20 minutes as they trailed 36-21 at halftime.
“We shot only 28 percent in the first half, and could not have been any colder,” said head coach Jennifer Roos. “But, a lot of that was due to Northern [Illinois], and they were the exact opposite; they were white-hot.
Senior guard, Amanda Corral picked apart the BG defense en route to 16 first half points on 7-of-9 shooting including 2-of-2 from deep. Corral played all 20 minutes in the first half.
BG opened the second half with a nice play to Miriam Justinger for a layup with contact and a trip to the line for an old-fashioned three-point play. Justinger converted for three quick points and finished as one of three Falcons in double-digits, with 13 points.
Deborah Hoekstra and Rachel Myers also finished in double-digits with 14 and 10 points respectively. Despite the combined 37 points between the trio, they shot just a combined [12-of-33], but accounted for five of the six 3-pointers for the team.
However, the Falcons missed their next three shots as they saw their deficit jump to 21 points [45-24], just over 3 minutes into the half.
NIU began to miss some shots as BG mustered up a run good enough to get them back within five with 7:03 remaining; the closest BG had been since the 13:33 mark in the
first half.
“We wanted to give a better and a more concerted effort at both ends of the floor in the second half, and I thought we did that,” Roos said. “We had a chance to cut their lead to four points with seven minutes to go, and I’m pleased with that effort.”
BG was unable to ultimately capitalize on the run as the Huskies began another run of their own.
NIU ended the game on a 17-5 run including six more from Corral. She finished with 30 points on
12-of-15 shooting.
“They were able to make a run of their own, and their senior All-MAC player, Amanda Corral, led that run,” Roos said. “We wanted to contain her, but that kid could not be contained tonight. She’s a very determined scorer, and she stepped up tonight.”
BG falls below .500 again with the loss as they sit behind the eight ball in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons are 10th of 12 MAC teams including 4th of 6 in the
East Division.
The Falcons now shift their focus toward another conference game as Toledo comes to the Stroh on Saturday, Jan. 31 for a rivalry game.