BG women surge late, win at Buffalo (2-22-14)

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BUFFALO — In a game which featured five ties and 18 lead changes, the Bowling Green Falcon women’s
basketball team pulled away from Buffalo in the final four minutes on the way to a 73-63 victory
Saturday.
‘‘I knew today we would have to grind out some plays offensively. Buffalo is an extremely physical
team,’’ BG head coach Jennifer Roos said.
BG clinched no worse than the fourth seed for the Mid-American Conference tournament, which would earn
the Falcons at least a double-bye and a game in the quarterfinals.
Buffalo’s final lead was at 57-56 with 4:20 remaining in the game.
BG’s Alexis Rogers, who scored a game-high 25 points, hit a jumper with 4:02 left to start an 11-0 run
that put the game away.
The Bulls did not score until there were 33 seconds remaining in the game.
With the one-point lead, the BG defense forced the Bulls to miss a pair of shots on the next possession.

‘‘I told the team if we could get two defensive rebounds consecutively in that last four-minute segment
of the game … To the team’s credit, we got those two defensive stops,’’ Roos said.
After a BG 3-point attempt was unsuccessful, Rogers came up with the offensive rebound to keep the
possession alive.
Another BG shot was blocked out of bounds with 3:03 left. After the final media timeout of the game,
Rogers took an inbounds pass from Jillian Halfhill, took one dribble to her left and knocked down a
3-point shot from the top of the key.
‘‘She was clutch,’’ Roos said about Rogers, who was 10-of-13 from the field. ‘‘She really stepped up,
playing 37 minutes. She was the model of consistency in both halves, but she made two clutch shots.’’

After Rogers’ three, the Falcons were 12-of-14 from the free-throw line in the final 1:49 of the game.
Halfhill and Jasmine Matthews were both 4-of-4 from the line down the stretch.
The Falcons held a 36-35 lead at the half as Erica Donovan scored 18 points, and Rogers added 13. Donovan
was 7-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers.
In addition to Rogers’ 25 points, Donovan finished with 24, and Halfhill scored 13.
NOTES: The Falcons are 23-3 overall and 13-1 in the MAC, having won nine straight games … Buffalo is
15-10, 8-6 … BG was 10-of-25 on 3-pointers, including a 3-of-3 effort for Rogers … Only four Falcons
scored in the first half … Halfhill had a game-high four assists … BG hosts Kent State Thursday with
tipoff at 7 p.m.

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