AKRON – Erika Porter had a monster game and Morgan Sharps surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career as the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team picked up a 74-68 road win over the University of Akron Wednesday in a Mid-American Conference game at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Porter had game-high totals of 22 points and 16 rebounds for the Falcons (13-11, 7-6 MAC), pacing four double-digit scorers. Amy Velasco had 18 points, with Sharps scoring 15 and Paige Kohler 10.

The Zips (9-15, 4-9 MAC) got 17 points from Lanae Riley, with five of her teammates scoring between eight and 11 points.

With the win, the Falcons move into a tie for fourth place in the MAC standings. BGSU is tied with Buffalo, as the Bulls fell to Northern Illinois (BG’s next opponent) on Wednesday.

The Falcons trailed for a total of just 17 seconds in the game, and Akron never led in the final 35-plus minutes. BGSU led by 10 points on several first-half occasions, but the Zips battled back to within three at the intermission.

The visitors moved the lead back out to 10 points on a Porter hoop midway through the third quarter, but again the hosts responded, tying the contest on a pair of Riley free throws late in the period.

A three-pointer by Sharps gave the Falcons a 65-60 lead with 6:41 to go, but the Zips scored the next five points, with a Riley triple knotting the score with 5:18 on the clock. BG responded, however, with a Kohler free throw, followed by layups from Kohler and Porter to push the lead back out to five.

Another Riley trey made it a 70-68 game with 2:30 remaining, but Porter responded with a layup, and the Falcons held the Zips scoreless the rest of the way. Velasco iced the contest with a pair of late free throws.

BGSU shot an even 50% for the game, and the Falcons had a 38-31 rebounding lead.