| (Photo: Larry Clapper) |
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 É 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) 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.
"I’m proud of our team’s effort especially on the defensive end of the court É 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 É Prochaska was
BG’s only player in double figures, finishing with 13 points, seven below her average É Kent State held
a 34-31 rebounding edge with Humes pulling down a game-high nine rebounds É The two teams combined for
42 turnovers, 23 by Kent State É Steffen had four of BG’s nine steals É The Falcons play at Buffalo
Tuesday.
