There were no tears being shed by the Bowling Green Falcon women’s basketball team Monday evening at the
Stroh Center.
Instead, the Falcons’ players and coaches were mad because they were unable to extend their season into
the semifinals of the WNIT.
Rutgers ended Bowling Green’s dream, posting a 55-50 victory before 2,649 fans.
‘‘We had our chances tonight, we really had our chances,’’ BG head coach Jennifer Roos said. ‘‘There
weren’t a lot of tears tonight. We had a lot of mad kids because we had our chances to win. PHOTO
GALLERY
‘‘Selfishly we wanted one more,’’ Roos added. ‘‘With that said, you really have to give credit to
Rutgers. They really put pressure on us in the halfcourt.’’
Bowling Green battled to the end, and had a good look in the final seconds to force overtime, but the
shot did not fall and Rutgers held on for the victory.
‘‘We had our chances at the end. I’m proud of the fight that we had in this group,’’ Roos said. ‘‘I’m
proud that it came down to the wire.’’
The Falcons took a 25-21 lead into the half.
But the Scarlet Knights, who came back onto the floor with just over a minute left in the break and did
not get any warmup shots, took control of the game in the first eight minutes of the second half.
Bowling Green led 29-25 with 17:20 left to play. Then Rutgers put together a 15-0 run to take a 40-29
lead with 12:38 left in the game. The Falcons missed nine shots and had a turnover during Rutgers’ run.

‘‘That was tough. We were stuck on 29 (points) a long time,’’ Roos said.
The Scarlet Knights were up 12, 45-33, with 8:23 left in the game, as the Falcons scored only eight
points in the first 11:37 of the second half.
A quick 9-0 spurt by the Falcons was capped by a leaping one-handed hook shot 3-pointer from Jillian
Halfhill. Her shot, which banked in as the shot clock expired, made it a one-possession game with 5:52
to play.
‘‘I had no idea what I was thinking when she hit that three,’’ BG’s Alexis Rogers said. ‘‘How on Earth
did that even go in?’’
Rogers said that Halfhill practices that type of shot every day before practice.
‘‘I thought the house was going to come down when Jillian Halfhill hit that one three to cut it to a
single possession game,’’ Roos said.
Rutgers rebuilt its lead to seven points, 51-44, with 3:47 remaining, but Rogers made layups with 1:47
left and with 16 seconds left to pull the Falcons to within three points both times.
After Rogers’ final layup, BG fouled and Rutgers’ Kahlah Cooper missed a free throw with Jill Stein
grabbing the rebound for the Falcons.
BG’s Erica Donovan then had an open look from the right wing on a 3-pointer, but the shot hit the side of
the rim and Rutgers got the rebound.
Rutgers’ Tyler Scaife made two free throws to seal the victory.
‘‘They (Rutgers) made big shots down the stretch,’’ Rogers said.
For the game, BG was only 20-of-56 (35.7 percent) from the field, including 4-of-12 on 3-pointers, as
Rutgers’ defense played very physical.
‘‘They did make it difficult for our offense,’’ Rogers said. ‘‘They kind of iced our screens, so that we
couldn’t use our screens. The ball-handler was going into a lot of traffic when they were dribbling.
With the type of offense we run, it did make it really complicated.’’
Rogers led the Falcons with 16 points, Donovan added 12, Halfhill scored 10, and Stein had 10 rebounds.

‘‘It hasn’t hit me. It might take a day, a night,’’ Rogers said about the emotions of playing her last
collegiate game.
“We’re still going to go down in the record books, and that’s exciting,’’ she continued. ‘‘Playing these
kind of big-name schools, that’s been fun … It says a lot for our program that they are traveling to
us.’’
NOTES: BG finishes 30-5 … Rutgers (26-9) advances to face South Florida … The senior class of Rogers,
Halfhill and Stein were part of 106 victories in their BG career … The 30 wins are the second-highest
in school history … March 31 was the latest date a BG women’s basketball team has played a game …
With her 16 points, Rogers moved past former teammate Chrissy Steffen into 16th on BG’s career-scoring
list with 1,257 points … Rogers reached the scoring mark in just three seasons as a Falcon.