Pregame
Ohio (5-10, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) entered the game riding a three game MAC losing streak after suffering defeats to Akron, Buffalo, and Miami.
Bowling Green (11-5, 2-1 MAC) came into the contest after securing victories in eight of its last 10 games.
Kiyanna
Black has led the way in scoring for the Bobcats in MAC play as junior guard Shavon
Robinson, sophomore guard Mariah Byard
, and junior guard Erin Bailes
have all been hurt at one point during MAC play.
Chrissy
Steffen leads the way offensively for the Falcons, scoring 11.4 points per game.
Robinson and Byard
would both miss the game due to injury again.
First Half
Ohio's starters are as follows: Erin Bailes
, freshman guard Kiyanna
Black, senior guard Symone
Lyles
, senior guard Ashley Fowler, and senior forward Tina Fisher.
Bowling Green won the tip and converted on a Jillian Halfhill
layup.
Kiyanna
Black answered with a triple on the following possession and started her scoring early. The Bobcats missed a jumper on the next offensive possession but Fowler was quick to get a steal but couldn't convert. Danielle Havel
then made a layup for the Falcons.
The Falcons' Miriam Justinger
then hit a three to put BGSU
up 7-3.
Lexie
Baldwin came in around the 17 minute mark to replace Erin Bailes
, but she would quickly come back in the game for Tina Fisher.
After a the first media timeout, Ohio came out and ran a devised play but couldn't convert on a layup attempt.
Justinger
knocked down a three on the following possession to put the Falcons up 10-3 with 15 minutes left. She then converted on a layup to put BGSU
up 12-3 and force Ohio to take a 30-second timeout.
Lexie
Baldwin effectively defended a BGSU
layup attempt in transition, which led to a layup by Erin Bailes
on the other end of the court to make the score 12-5 in BGSU's
favor.
Black hit a jumper off the glass to give Ohio its next bucket and make the score 12-7 with 12:25 left. Bailes
picked up her second foul of the game on the ensuing Ohio defensive stand.
Allison Papenfuss
made one of two free throws to put BGSU
up 13-7.
Symone
Lyles
made a layup and one to cut the Falcons' lead down to three, but they would quickly answer back with a three from Chrissy
Steffen.
At the 11:14 mark, BGSU
led Ohio 16-10 as the Falcons were shooting 60 percent from the field.
After Deborah Hoekstra
drained a three to put the Falcons up 19-10 on the next possession, and after an Ohio miss, The Falcon's hit a jumper to go up 21-10.
Allison Papenfuss
made another layup moments later and the Falcons went up 23-10 with around 10 minutes left.
Bailes
and Black were strategically subbed in and out during the first half, presumably to accommodate for the lack of depth without Robinson and Byard
.
Jill Stein made a layup to build the Falcons lead to 25-10 as Ohio was failing to get stops on defense.
Black made one of two free throws for Ohio to make the score 23-11 and Alexis Rogers scored for BGSU
on a layup in transition on the ensuing drive. Chrissy
converted on a pair of free throws and put the Falcons up 29-13 with 7:08 remaining.
Danielle Havel
missed a pair of free throws on BGSU's
next possession.
Symone
Lyles
knocked down two free throws for Ohio to make the score 29-15 with 5:15 remaining.
After Erin Bailes
mishandled a pass at midcourt
, MGSU's
Hoekstra
attacked the rack on a layup attempt in transition, but missed and the Falcons were called for traveling on the rebound attempt.
After a nice entry pass from Lyles
, Tina Fisher scored on a layup to make it 29-17 in Ohio's favor. Halfhill
answered for the Falcons with a three and Hoekstra
followed it up on the next possession with a jumper. Papenfuss
also joined the party with a layup, after the slew of scoring, BGSU
led 36-17 with about two minutes left.
After trading unsuccesful
trips fro the last two minutes, the score was 36-17 at halftime.
Halftime: BGSU
36, Ohio 17
Ohio went into the half trailing for the fourth straight game against the Falcons.
Bowling Green shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the first half, and 62.5 percent from the beyond the arc.
Ohio, on the other hand, shot 24 percent from the field and 14 percent from three as six players for Ohio accumulated for all but one minute of play in the first half thanks to injuries.
Kiyanna
Black led Ohio in scoring at the half with eight points, Miriam Justinger
led BGSU
with eight points as well.
Second Half
BGSU
opened the half with the ball and turned it over as Black stole the ball for the Bobcats. Fisher scored on a layup on the ensuing drive for the first bucket of the half.
The Falcons' Chrissy
Steffen hit a running jumper with the shot clock expiring on the following BGSU
possession, and Lyles
answered for Ohio with a put-back basket. BGSU
led 38-21 with 17:49 left.
Steffen then knocked down two free throws for Bowling Green , and Fowler turned it over for Ohio on the other end as Alexis Rogers capitalized for the Falcons.
Bailes
drove the lane for a layup for Ohio, but BGSU
, as they had been doing all game, answered with a basket of their own as Justinger
scored. The Falcons led 44-23 with 16 minutes remaining in the game.
Tina Fisher took a charge from Halfhill
with about 15:25 on the clock, but then air-balled a three-point attempt from the corner.
Alexis Rogers then empowered her way to the hoop for a layup and put BGSU
up 46-23 with 14:30 left.
Black bribbled
across the lane and faded away to give Ohio it's 25th
point of the game as the Bobcats trailed by 21 in the second half.
Fisher took another charge for Ohio with about 12:20 left in the game, although it wasn't close and the Bobcats were tired, they were still putting forth the effort on defense.
Bailes
came out of a timeout and hit a jumper for the Bobcats to make the score 46-27, but Katrina Salinas then knocked down a triple for the Falcons. The Falcons led 49-29 with 10:20 remaining in the game.
Stein and Justinger
then scored for the Falcons to make it 54-29.
Black knocked down a pair of free throws to get the Bobcats over the 30 point mark with about nine minutes remaining.
Bailey Cairnduff
then hit a three-pointer from the corner for BGSU
to put the Falcons up 57-31.
Black hit both free throws for Ohio with about 7:30 left in the game. Ohio's shooting percentage hung around 24 percent for the entire game up to this point. Not a good day shooting for the Bobcats.
After corralling two offen
sive boards on one possession, Stein earned herself a trip to the line for BGSU
and hit one of two free throws. The Falcons led 58-33 after the trip to the charity stripe.
Papenfuss then converted on a layup to add on to the Falcons' lead.
Bailes worked on the block for an offensive board and forced a foul from the Falcons. She hit both attempts to make the score 60-35 with about 4:40 left in the game.
Katrina Salinas then knocked down another three for BGSU and built on to the lead, making it 63-35 in the Falcons' favor.
Cairnduff then hit a jumper for BGSU coming out of a timeout. Ohio turned it over on the following possession and the Falcons capitalized with a bucket yet again.
Bailes attacked the rim and hit a spinning floater for Ohio to make the score 67-37 with two minutes remaining.
Baldwin knocked down a jumper from the elbow to get Ohio to 39 points with about 1:20 remaining. Fisher then had a nice put-back basket on a Baldwin miss.
Fisher then took another charge, her effort throughout the game was never in question.
The Falcons defeated the Bobcats 67-41 as Ohio took it's fourth consecutive loss.
Final: BGSU 67, Ohio 41
Black led Ohio in scoring with 14 points, but BGSU's balanced scoring attack and depth were too much to handle.
Statistics
Black: 14 points on 4-11 shooting
Bailes: 10 points on 4-10 shooting
Lyles: 11 points on 4-14 shooting, six rebounds
-----------
Justinger: 13 points on 5-9 shooting
Papenfuss: 9 points on 2-5 shooting
Steffen: 9 points on 2-7 on 2-7 shooting
Reactions
"I thought when we switched everything it was effective, but when you switch everything you become exploited ... they're like a well oiled machine." - Randall
"The second half has been a problem since we started conference play ... due to us not really having the bodies. It's like a chess match just trying to figure it all out." - Randall
"Mariah (Byard) is probably a week away (from playing). Shavon is day-to-day ... it's really up to her." - Randall
"You have to give credit to our seniors for constantly fighting and pushing through." - Randall
"The moral of the team is up ... it's the best that it could be right now." - Randall
"(BGSU) is always very consistent ... it's always a good game, BG is always a battle." - Symone Lyles
"In my 11 years of playing basketball, I've never been in this situation before." - Lyles on playing with the lack of depth.
Up Next
Ohio welcomes Central Michigan to The Convo on Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m.
