Despite a strong second half performance this past Saturday, the Bowling Green State University womens basketball team could not overcome a deadly 3-point attack by the Cleveland State Vikings. Playing at Quicken Loans Arena, the Falcons gave up 11 3-pointers in the first half, leading to a 69-48 loss.

“It was one of our worst performances since I’ve been at Bowling Green. We scored thirteen points in twenty minutes,” head coach Jennifer Roos said. “The first three possessions were turnovers, of the first six possessions we had four out of six turnovers, and of the first ten possessions we had seven out of ten turnovers. But they played harder than we did and they ran their motion offense better than we could defend.”

The Vikings shot 11-20 in the opening half, going on an early 15-0 run to open up an 18-7 lead by the end of the first quarter. After scoring five of the first eight points of the second quarter on a Rachel Myers 3-pointer and a Lauren Tibbs put back layup, CSU went on a 19-0 run. Sydney Lambert split a pair of free throws with 1:28 left to play, but CSU finished the half on a 7-0 run to take a commanding 47-13 lead.

BG struggled to run any offense, committing 13 turnovers in the first half alone. BG also shot 21 percent from the field in the opening two quarters, while allowing the Vikings to shoot 55 percent from behind the arc.

“I was disappointed that their three point shots were open. We want to contest every outside shot and they had open looks,” Roos said. “Throw that in with a poor shooting performance of 21 percent, and 40 percent from the foul line on 25 attempts, it equates to coming up short significantly.”

The Falcons put up a fight in the second half, outscoring CSU 35-22 while shooting 46.2 percent from the field for the final two quarters. BG also held the Vikings to only 6 field goals on 25 percent shooting in the second half, but the lead was too large to overcome.

Despite a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were never down more than 20. CSU walked away with a 69-48 win when the final buzzer sounded, their second of the year. It was the Falcons third loss, dropping them to 4-3.

The Falcons are traveling this week to face ACC opponent Virginia, one of the toughest matchups of their non-conference schedule. Virginia, a WNIT team last season, is 6-3 after rattling off five straight wins to start the season.

Bouncing back at the free throw line and on the glass will be a must for the Orange and Brown, as they have shot better than 69 percent from the free throw line in their four wins this season while outrebounding opponents by an average margin of +6.6 per game. BG will look to communicate better on the defensive end in the face of a large and potentially raucous crowd at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“We’ve got a long trip ahead of us, with short preparation for ACC opponent UVA. We’ll have to work on communication first and foremost, especially at the defensive end,” said Roos. “If we don’t communicate it’s going to be a struggle to get consecutive stops, which is what we’re looking for in each game. We need to sure some things up defensively, or we’ll come out on the short end.”

The game will tip at 11 a.m. on Dec. 8. It will be the Falcons last contest until Dec. 21.