Bowling Green guards Paige Kohler (10), left, and Lexi Fleming (25), right, hug each other as they watch teammate Amy Velasco (not pictured) shoot a free throw with 0.3 seconds remaining against Cleveland State on Tuesday at the Stroh Center. Bowling Green defeated Cleveland State 89-86 to give head coach Fred Chmiel his first career win at BGSU and his first win ever as a head coach. (Scott W. Grau/BGSU Athletics)
The Bowling Green State University womens basketball team rallied from multiple deficits to post an improbable win over Cleveland State University on Tuesday night.
In coach Fred Chmiel’s regular season debut, the Falcons picked up an 89-86 win over the Vikings in the season opener for both teams at the Stroh Center.
In a battle of two 30-win teams from a season ago, the Falcons trailed by as many as 17 points early in the second quarter, but battled back to tie the contest on a Paige Kohler three-pointer early in the third period. Kohler tied for BG scoring honors with 20 points in her collegiate debut.
The Vikings did not lead again until under four minutes remained in the contest, but the lead changed hands six times in that final frenetic stretch.
Amy Velasco’s floater with 1:04 remaining gave the Falcons an 82-81 advantage, but Destiny Leo answered with a three-pointer with 46.2 seconds to go. Leo led all players with 33 points.
A BGSU three-point try was off the mark, and CSU’s Colbi Maples rebounded the ball and dribbled several seconds away before the Falcons were able to foul her with 14.7 seconds remaining. Maples, who had 27 points on the night, made both free throws to give the visitors an 86-82 lead.
After a timeout, Velasco inbounded the ball near the BG bench, took a return pass and banked a three-point try off glass and in with 11.7 seconds to go. CSU inbounded the ball to Maples, who was fouled with 9.1 seconds remaining.
Maples, however, missed both free-throw tries, and the Vikings committed a foul on the rebound after the second miss. CSU, still under the foul limit in the fourth quarter, purposely fouled again with 7.6 seconds to go, giving the visitors four fouls in the period.
BGSU inbounded the ball and Kohler took it the length of the court and was fouled with 1.9 seconds remaining. Kohler made her first free throw to tie the game, 86-86, but the second shot bounded off of the rim.
Leo grabbed the rebound and the Vikings called timeout, but CSU was out of timeouts and a technical foul was assessed.
Lexi Fleming made both of the ensuing free throws with one second to go. The Falcons then inbounded the ball to Velasco, who was fouled and sank a free-throw try with 0.3 seconds left to cap the scoring.
Erika Porter, like Kohler, scored 20 points in her BGSU debut, while Fleming had 19. Velasco scored 16 points and dished out a game-high eight assists.
Leo and Maples combined for 60 of the Vikes’ 86 points. Carmen Villalobos added 11 points on the night.
For the Falcons, Kohler (17) and Porter (16) combined for 33 points in the second half alone.
BGSU shot 55.9% from the field in the win, including 66.7% (20-for-30) after halftime. The Falcons went 12-for-21 (57.1%) from the arc in Tuesday’s win, making 7-of-11 long-distance shots (63.6%) in the second half.
The Falcons will hit the road for the next four contests, beginning Saturday. BGSU will face Texas State in the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. ET at Strahan Arena at the University Events Center in San Marcos, Texas.
Then, the Falcons will face Xavier the following Saturday (Nov. 18) in the Queen City, before heading to Savannah, Ga., for a pair of games in the Savannah Hoops Invitational over the Thanksgiving holiday.
