The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team made big plays down the stretch on Wednesday night, rallying for a 65-64 win over Central Michigan University in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams inside McGuirk Arena.
BGSU freshman Paige Kohler exploded for 28 points, the highest total of her young career, for the Falcons (7-4, 1-0 MAC), who picked up the first MAC victory of the Fred Chmiel Era.
The Chippewas led by as many as nine points on several occasions, the last at 60-51 after a reverse layup by Karrington Gordon with 8:20 to go in the fourth quarter. Believe it or not, that would be CMU’s final field goal of the night.
BGSU proceeded to go on a 10-0 run, with Keiryn McGuff hitting a pair of free throws and Olivia Hill scoring the game’s next five points. Hill cut down the lane and took a Morgan Sharps pass for a transition layup, then stepped outside the arc and hit a long-distance shot to cut the Falcons’ deficit to two points.
Kohler found Erika Porter for a layup midway through the quarter, and Amy Velasco’s free throw with 3:59 remaining gave BGSU a 61-60 lead.
Gordon split a pair of free throws to snap the run, but Kohler hit a long straightaway triple with 2:20 to go. Gordon got back to the line and knocked down a pair of shots, and neither team would score again until Nadége Jean split a pair of free throws to tie the game, 64-64, with 36.6 seconds to go.
BGSU missed a shot and the ball went out of bounds to CMU. But, Velasco stole the ensuing inbounds pass, was fouled and hit what would prove to be the game-winning free throw with 30.7 seconds to go.
The Chippewas used nearly the entire shot clock on the next possession, before Gordon shot a left-side jumper that hit off of the rim and went out of bounds, with possession remaining with the home team. The referees reviewed the play and added half a second to the game clock, giving the hosts 0.8 seconds to work with.
Central inbounded the ball to Gordon, but she was unable to get a shot off before the game clock expired, and the Falcons had the road win.
Kohler was the only Falcon to score in double digits on Wednesday night. Porter had eight points and Hill seven, with three teammates – Velasco, Sharps and McGuff – scoring six apiece.
McGuff had a team-high seven rebounds, and fellow freshman Taya Ellis had four points and five boards in the win.
Taylor Anderson had 16 points to pace the Chippewas, with Gordon adding 11. Jean had 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
