Falcon women down Ohio (3-9-11)

CLEVELAND – The 3-point shot can be fickle.
Make some threes and life is good.
Miss the shot from the arc and you’re struggling.
Bowling Green played a half on both ends of the 3-point spectrum in the Mid-American Conference
quarterfinals against Ohio University Wednesday afternoon in Quicken Loans Arena.
In the first half, the Falcons were 4-of-15 from the arc and trailed 28-27 at the break.
In the second 20 minutes, BG was 5-of-11 on threes with Chrissy Steffen and Tracy Pontius each making
two.
Success from the 3-point line sparked the Falcons to a 66-57 victory. BG, now 26-4, plays Central
Michigan in the semifinals Friday at noon.
“Even if you miss a couple of shots, you have to keep shooting,” Steffen said. “Once the first one falls
in, it gives you confidence.”
In the span of 3:23 in the second half, the Falcons made four straight 3-pointers, two from Steffen and
one each by Pontius and Jessica Slagle. Slagle’s three with 12:11 to play in the game, put BG up eight,
46-38.
“We believe we are one of the best shooting teams in the country. But we can get trigger-happy from the
three,” BG head coach Curt Miller said. “When we started to make some shots, you could see some of the
weight (come) off their shoulders and that we were going to be OK.”
“We were doing a nice job with stops (on defense) or not letting them have any kind of big run,” Miller
added. “We thought if we could have one run, we could break the game open. That happened with some
shooting.”
In addition to the 3-point shot, the Falcons did a better job of moving the ball in the second half,
making 11-of-25 shots from the field with assists on nine of the 11 field goals.

“We didn’t move very well in the first half,” BG’s Danielle Havel said. Havel came off the bench to hit
two big baskets in the second half and added three assists, two rebounds and a steal for the game. “We
knew in the second half they were staying out on our shooters, so the inside game was there and we
started to take advantage of it.”
“In the second half we started making some shots and it really did fire us up,” Havel added.
The Falcons continued to control the game although Ohio got to within six, 57-51, after a jumper from
Shavon Robinson, a member of the All-MAC freshman team, with 4:32 left to play.
Bowling Green then closed the game out at the free-throw line with Pontius going 6-of-8 and Lauren
Prochaska making 3-of-4 in the final 4:24.
“I’m proud of our veteran team being able to regroup at halftime and have a little bit better ball
movement (in the second half),” Miller said. “They got us on our heels and in more foul trouble than
normal. I thought their zone defense got us out of rhythm, very similar (to what happened) down in
Athens.
“We did what we needed to do. This group is tough and they have learned a lot through the culture passed
down. That’s now our eighth straight year that we’ll advance into at least the semifinals,” Miller
added.
Ohio head coach Semeka Randall also gave credit to BG’s veterans. The Falcons’ six seniors accounted for
44 points Wednesday.
“Their seniors came out and played hard,” Randall said. “They just came out and did what they were
supposed to. They have been in this situation a ton of times and their players stepped up and made
plays.”