It wasn’t the way the Bowling Green women’s basketball team wanted to end their regular season, scoring
only 16 points in the first half against Buffalo Saturday afternoon.
However, the Falcons did rally in the second half forcing overtime against the Bulls.
Then with 4.3 seconds remaining in the OT, BG’s 3-point attempt did not connect. Elissa Brett got the
rebound, but the game ended before she could get a shot off.
That allowed Buffalo to post a 69-68 victory. It was the Bulls second win of the season against the
Falcons.
“We came out really flat and that’s the flattest I think we have come out all season. That’s a bummer for
our seniors today,” BG’s Kadie Hempfling said.
“Those little things add up to be the big things, especially in games like this against a very good
Buffalo team,” Hempfling added.
It really turned out to be two different games for both teams.
Buffalo led 15-7 after one quarter and 32-16 at half. The Bulls were 14-of-26, including 1-of-3 on
3-pointers, with 3-of-4 on free throws for the first 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the Falcons were 7-of-19,
including 2-of-15 on 3-pointers, and 0-of-6 on free-throw attempts.
“Our first half is what really hurt us a lot,” Hempfling said. “Definitely playing our game is what we
got away from. We weren’t playing BG basketball.
“At halftime I told the girls that we had to get better, but we’re going to be OK,” she added. “Our team
can do hard things and we showed that … we just can’t get ourselves in those positions early.”
Bowling Green did turn things on in the third quarter out-scoring Buffalo, 18-16.
That third quarter surge was just the start as the Falcons scored 25 points to 11 for the Bulls in the
fourth quarter to force overtime.
Bowling Green finally got a lead, 54-53 with 4:04 remaining on a basket by Hempfling.
The game continued close and Buffalo took a 59-58 lead on Summer Hemphill’s layup with 1:50 left in
regulation.
BG’s Clare Glowniak split a pair of free throws with 1:36 to tie the game at 59. Neither team was able to
score again, which forced the overtime.
It still remained close in OT and Elissa Brett’s layup gave the Falcons a 68-66 lead with 1:18 remaining.
Buffalo’s Cheyenne McEvans made one free throw with 58 seconds left to make it 68-67.
Then with 24 seconds left, Buffalo’s Dyaisha Fair’s layup put the Bulls ahead 69-68 and the Falcons could
not score again.
“I think it’s a really good learning moment for us going into the (MAC) tournament,” BG head coach Robyn
Fralick said. “I just thought our start was really bad. I thought our fourth quarter was outstanding, I
loved our fight back.
“Our energy and our start needs a lot of improvement,” she added. “That will be a good learning point
moving forward into tournament time.”
Bowling Green’s free throw and 3-point shooting were a problem, along with dealing with Buffalo’s zone
defense in the first half. The Falcons were just 11-of-22 on free throws and 7-of-26 on 3-pointers for
the game.
“If we would have made free throws the whole game, I don’t think we would have been in overtime,”
Hempfling said.
“Our free-throw shooting was atrocious tonight and we are a very good free-throw shooting team,” Fralick
said. “If we shot free throws better, we are in different situations throughout that game.”
The Falcons had four players score in double-figures: Hempfling led with 20 points, Brett finished with
18, Lexi Fleming added 13 and Nyla Hampton added 10 points.
NOTES: The No. 1 seeded Falcons will now get ready for the Mid-American Conference tournament Wednesday
at 11 a.m. against No. 8 Eastern Michigan in Cleveland … Hempfling and Brett scored 36 of their combined
38 points after halftime … The Bulls scored 50 of their 69 points in the paint … BG held the lead for
only 4:29 … Fleming added a game-high nine rebounds to her 13 points … It was senior day for Glowniak,
Madisen Parker, Angela Perry and Mari Hill.
BUFFALO 15 17 16 11 10 — 69
BGSU 7 9 18 25 9 —68
BUFFALO
Hemphill, 5-0—10; Fair, 6-4—16; Hall, 0-1-0—3; McEvans, 5-3—13; Adeyeye, 1-0—2; Elias, 0-0—0; Walters,
9-0—18; Christie, 0-1—1; Young, 2-2—6; Schiffer, 0-0—0; Gaha, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 28-1-10—69.
BGSU
Hampton, 2-2-0—10; Brett, 5-1-5—18; Lewis, 0-0—0; Fleming, 1-3-2—13; Hempfling, 7-1-3—20; Parker, 0-0—0;
Glowniak, 1-1—3; Perry, 2-0—4; Trice, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 18-7-11—68.
