BOWLING GREEN — Four-year starter Sydney Lambert embodies toughness for Bowling Green’s women’s
basketball team.
Reflecting on her final game at the Stroh Center, Lambert expressed hope that she “left a lasting impact
on her teammates.”
In the last home game of the season, on senior day, BG fittingly played its best defensive game in months
to beat Kent State 62-49 at the Stroh Center on Saturday.
“I thought we played harder,” BG coach Robyn Fralick said. “I loved our fight. I thought it was much
better and I thought we played to win.”
The Falcons, who allow a conference worst 74.8 points per game, held Kent State to 49 — including
scoreless over the game’s final 4:43.
This was the improvement that BG has worked toward all season.
“Those last five minutes, in other games, we’d be giving up the ball and then they would go down and
score. Then we’d come back down, take a rushed shot, then they’d go down and score,” Lambert said. “Even
though our record doesn’t show, we have been getting better.”
Bowling Green improved to 9-18 overall and earned its second Mid-American Conference victory of the
season — both at home — to improve to 2-14. Kent State, which beat BG 77-73 on Feb. 16, dropped to 16-11
and 9-7.
Kent State has an array of quick, aggressive guards making it a tough guard for opposing defenses. Asiah
Dingle, Ali Poole and Megan Carter — three of the team’s four leading scorers — combined for 54 points
in the first meeting.
BG held the trio to a combined 9 of 42 (21.4 percent) shooting from floor, including 1 of 13 (7.7
percent) from 3-point range and just 23 points on Saturday.
The Flashes could not take advantage of a 13-shot advantage and 16 offensive rebounds, shooting just 26.9
percent from the field.
“Early on in the first game they got a few threes, so they got up pretty quickly. So we just honed in on
that in practice,” Lambert said, scoring 15 with eight rebounds and a game-high five assists.
Fralick added that, “they’re a really good driving team and I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping
them in front without fouling. That was a key.
“Collective effort. I think we were more alert this time around.”
Aside from the final seconds when Lambert and fellow senior Maddie Cole were removed from the game to
standing ovation, Lambert only time off the floor was for the final 1:39 of the first half.
Holding a two-point lead at the time, the team’s leading scorer Andrea Cecil scored six quick points.
The versatile 6-foot-1 wing, following Cole’s missed free throw, tipped the ensuing outlet pass with her
back to the ball, gathered and drove for a layup. The junior drove baseline for a reverse layup and
knocked down a pair of foul shots with 4.1 seconds left to take a 33-25 halftime lead.
“She’s gotten better … she’s evolved, she’s scoring in a variety of ways,” Fralick said. “As she’s grown,
her game’s evolved and she’s a very tough matchup because she can play inside-out.”
Cecil opened the second half with a short jumper over 6-4 senior Merissa Barber-Smith, Cole followed with
a layup and Lambert buried a corner 3 on a kick out from Cecil for a 40-30 lead.
Securing her sixth double-double and 11th 20-point game of the season with a game-high 23 points, 11
rebounds, four assists and three steals, Cecil stretched BG’s game-best lead to 13 on a jumper with 7:14
to play for a 57-44 lead.
Carter brought KSU within 59-49 with a layup at the 4:43 mark. And despite the Flashes applying
full-court pressure and attempting to force BG to play quick, the Falcons responded by forcing four
missed 3s, a missed layup, a turnover while benefitting from five consecutive missed free throws.
“I thought we played smarter, especially down the stretch with a lead,” Fralick said. “…We wanted to be
able to use the clock. We wanted to use our lead to an advantage.
“When I think of where we were in the beginning of the year and where I think we are now, we’ve gotten
better. And that’s what we keep asking them to do.”
Lambert’s two free throws with 1:05 left iced the game for a 61-49 lead.
Cole scored six points with six rebounds, Madisen Parker scored nine (three 3s) off the bench, and Kadie
Hempfling scored eight and hit a pair of first-half triples before fouling out with 3:14 to play.
KENT STATE (16-11, 9-7 MAC)
Dingle 4-0-2—10, Golden 1-2-0—8, Thall 0-2-1—7, Carter 2-1-0—7, Poole 2-0-2—6, Young 1-1-0—5, Modkins
1-0-2—4, Barber-Smith 1-0-0—2, Brinlee 0-0-0—0. TOTALS: 12-37 6-30 7-17 — 49.
BOWLING GREEN (9-18, 2-14 MAC)
Cecil 6-1-8—23, Lambert 1-3-4—15, Parker 0-3-0—9, Hempfling 1-2-0—8, Cole 2-0-2—6, Perry 0-0-1—1,
McMillen 0-0-0—0, Dever 0-0-0—0, Uecker 0-0-0—0. TOTALS: 10-30 9-24 15-24 — 62.
Kent State 12~13~17~7~49
Bowling Green 17~16~18~11~62
REBOUNDS: Kent State 46 (Barber-Smith 12); Bowling Green 45 (Cecil 11).
TURNOVERS: Kent State 12, Bowling Green 14.
Attendance: 1,928.