KENT – The inability to make shots down the stretch doomed Bowling Green Saturday afternoon in a matchup
of two of the top women’s teams in the Mid-American Conference.
The Falcons made only three baskets in the final eight minutes of the game as Kent State held on for a
44-43 victory. The loss broke a 15-game winning streak for the Falcons, now 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the
MAC. Kent is 14-3, 4-0.
“I’m disappointed with the loss, but I think (it’s) a great learning lesson. A lot of credit goes to Kent
State’s defense and the way they pressured us,” BG head coach Curt Miller said. “We didn’t have anything
easy all night.
“We let a few opportunities slip by down the stretch on a couple of missed layups,” Miller added.
It’s not like the Falcons didn’t have any chances as their better shooters missed shots from both close
range and beyond the arc. In the final eight minutes of the game BG was 2-of-8 on 2-pointers and 1-of-5
on 3-pointers.
“What happens when you play against a team like Kent State … that when you finally become open it’s
almost like a deep breath,” Miller said. “All of a sudden when you come open like that, you’re a little
shocked and you relax for a second and now you are not intense and focused to make those easy plays.”
And still the Falcons had two shots in the final seconds to secure the win.
With 12.6 seconds left, the Falcons got possession on a held ball as Chrissy Steffen made the steal.
During the time out after the steal, Miller drew the play up for Steffen and she drove to the basket from
the left side, but her shot hit the rim and bounced away.
“I give Chrissy a lot of credit, she tried to make that game-winning play,” Miller said. “It was a tough
shot and she had the courage to take it as a sophomore (and) it just didn’t get it to go.
“Chrissy is probably our best 1-on-1 player (going) to the hole. It was run exactly the way we drew it
up. We just didn’t get the shot to fall.”
Bowling Green then fouled Jamilah Humes, but she missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4.9 seconds left.
Maggie Hennegan got the rebound for BG, but Tracy Pontius’ three-quarter court heave hit the right side
of the rim and bounced away as the final buzzer sounded.
“We didn’t feel like we played well enough to win,” Miller said. “We had a chance to steal a victory we
probably didn’t deserve to have and we came up short.
“You can’t imagine how many times Tracy Pontius throws in half-court shots in practice,” Miller added.
“It would not have shocked any of us if it went in because she is very, very talented at that.”
After Kent State ran out to an 11-2 lead just five minutes into the game, points became very precious.
The Golden Flashes were up 20-18 at the half.
There were five ties and eight lead changes in the second half and the biggest lead by either team was
four points.
The Falcons got their four-point lead, 32-28 with 9:22 to play, on a basket by Jen Uhl after a steal and
assist by Pontius.
Humes, who finished with a game-high 16 points, scored twice in the lane with the second hoop making it
32 all with 8:12 left.
Humes and her teammates were successful in getting in the lane and scoring late in the second half.
“They went to her (Humes) multiple times in a row. She was able to make some big plays and make good
shots for them,” BG’s Lauren Prochaska said.
Pontius nailed a 3-pointer with 7:53 remaining to put the Falcons back on top by three, 35-32.
Kent State’s Stephanie Gibson and Tayler Stanton countered with two-point baskets over the next two
minutes.
Hennegan then scored on a layup with 5:30 remaining to put BG up 37-36 with 5:30 left.
Humes and Uhl traded two free throws each and then Taisja Jones’ basket in the lane with 4:37 left put
Kent State ahead to stay.
Humes and Gibson scored around a jumper by Prochaska as there were three baskets in a 40-second span as
Gibson’s hoop gave Kent State a 44-41 edge with 3:08 left.
Uhl made two free throws with 1:36 left to account for the final margin.
“I’m proud of our team’s effort especially on the defensive end of the court … We gave ourselves a chance
to win by doing what we did on the defensive end,” Kent State Bob Lindsay said. “I told our players this
had to be a low possession game that we couldn’t win an 85-80 game, so we had to try to defend and hold
the score down which fortunately we did.”
BG was 14-of-49 from the field (28.6 percent), 7-of-20 on threes (35 percent) and 8-of-11 from the
free-throw line (72.7 percent). Kent State was 19-of-47 (40.4 percent), 2-of-15 on threes (13.3 percent)
and 4-of-5 from the foul line (80 percent).
Miller called the contest a “tournament-type game” because of how hard the teams played defense.
“What reminds me of a tournament game is that each and every possession is big,” Miller added. “You
didn’t see players taking off any possessions. They played hard at the offensive end and both teams
tried. Both teams didn’t want to be in the 40s.
“Both teams were dialed in defensively and tried to make everything as difficult as possible.”
NOTES: Bowling Green had won 13 straight games from Kent State before Saturday’s loss … Prochaska was
BG’s only player in double figures, finishing with 13 points, seven below her average … Kent State held
a 34-31 rebounding edge with Humes pulling down a game-high nine rebounds … The two teams combined for
42 turnovers, 23 by Kent State … Steffen had four of BG’s nine steals … The Falcons play at Buffalo
Tuesday.
