BG’s Jocelyn Tate, right, drives the lane past Detroit Mercy’s Ana Cabanas Llorens Monday night.
J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune
The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team displayed a dominant defensive effort on Monday evening topping the University of Detroit Mercy, 76-29, at the Stroh Center.
The 47-point win was tied for the ninth-largest margin of victory in school history, and was BG’s largest in nearly 11 years.
BGSU held a Division-I foe to fewer than 30 points for the first time in program history. The Falcons have held the opponent under 30 points five times, with the other four such games coming against Wayne State (1973-74 season), Ohio Northern (in 1973-74 and again on Feb. 11, 1975) and Davis & Elkins (Dec. 30, 2018).
BGSU junior guard Lexi Fleming had 12 points to lead four double-digit scorers for the Falcons (5-1). Junior guard Nyla Hampton and senior guard Morgan Sharps scored 11 points apiece, while Elissa Brett had 10.
The Falcons forced the Titans (1-4) into 32 turnovers on the night, and BGSU enjoyed a 36-8 advantage in points off turnovers. The 32 turnovers are tied for the second-highest total by a BGSU opponent in school history and just one shy of the school record.
BG pitched a shutout in the second quarter, outscoring the visitors by a 23-0 count to take a 43-11 halftime lead. BGSU held an opponent scoreless for an entire quarter for the first time in school history.
Monday’s victory marked the first time in program history that the Falcons have allowed fewer than 30 points against an NCAA Division-I opponent.
Fleming and Hampton each had four steals, as the Falcons had 20 as a team. That team total was just one shy of the school record.
A BGSU Hall-of-Famer will be on the visiting team’s bench on Monday night. Kate Achter, one of the top players in program history, is in her first season as head coach of the Titans. She is originally from Oregon, Ohio, where she played for her father Roger at Clay High School.
As a player (2004-08), Achter helped the Falcons to four MAC regular-season titles, three MAC Tournament crowns and four national postseason appearances. She helped the Orange and Brown go 108-23 overall and 57-7 in the MAC.
Achter had 1,580 career points as a Falcon, and remains BGSU’s all-time assists leader, with 688. The 2008 MAC Player of the Year, she was inducted into the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018, her first year of eligibility.
Prior to taking over at UDM, Achter was head coach at Loyola Chicago for seven seasons. One of her top players was current BGSU player Allison Day, who had 1,139 points and 645 rebounds during four seasons with the Ramblers.
Day was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference team in each of her last two years on Achter’s squad.
Former Falcon Andrea Cecil, originally from Oak Harbor, is on the UDM staff, as director of operations. Cecil played three years at BGSU, scoring 891 points and earning All-MAC Third-Team honors as a junior in 2018-19.
She missed the ‘19-20 season due to injury, then played two seasons at Florida Gulf Coast as a graduate transfer.
