BOWLING GREEN — As soon as the Bowling Green women’s basketball team looked to be on the board in the Mid-American Conference, a nightmare stretch kept the Falcons from their first conference victory.
In a matchup of two teams that entered the game 0-2 in the conference, the Falcons (7-8, 0-3 MAC) held an 11-point edge inside of the final three-minutes, but Akron outscored them 14-0 to finish the game and win 76-73.
“That's a really tough one,” BG coach Robyn Fralick said. “That one totally slipped right through our hands, so [it’s] disappointing we didn't finish the game. We're going to have to pick ourselves up and learn going forward.”
What happened: The Zips (8-6, 1-2) used their transition offense and forward to Haliegh Reinoehl’s scoring to take a 30-22 lead early in the second quarter. Akron outpaced Bowling Green 12-2 in fast-break points in the opening half and Reinoehl scored 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, though Bowling Green still led by halftime.
BG made a run both before and after halftime to take control of the game, and the Falcons looked well on their way to a win.
Starting with Kadie Hempfling’s 3-pointer, Bowling Green outscored Akron 16-5 to end the second quarter, and Caterrion Thompson’s made 3-pointer sent BG into halftime with a 38-35 edge.
The Falcons started right where they left off to begin the third. Mari Hill scored on the Falcons’ first possession, then Thompson and Parker hit 3-pointers as part of 10-0 run to begin the second half.
But the Zips didn’t go quietly. Akron cut BG’s lead to as little as three points early in the fourth quarter, and despite BG reclaiming an 11-point edge with Hempfling’s two free throws with 2:42 remaining in regulation, the Zips kept chasing. Caitlin Vari made a free-throw plus a foul, Reinoehl hit a free throw, and Shayna Harmon’s 3-pointer off an offensive rebound cut the lead to one.
Then the game went from bad to worse for BG, which turned over the ball for a fast-break layup and failed to score on either of its final two possessions. The Zips made two free throws to go ahead by three with six seconds to play, and Thompson’s contested 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good.
BG finished 13-for-24 from the free-throw line.
Game MVP: Reinoehl finished with a double-double of 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Zips and made 10 of her 16 field-goal attempts.
She said it: “I actually thought we got a lot of first stops, but we gave up second, third, and fourth shots. That makes the game really hard. To finish the defensive possession, you have to get the rebound, and we didn't do that at the end of the game.” -Fralick
Make a note of it: Parker entered Saturday’s game leading all Division I players in 3-point percentage. She started the game having made 49 of 99 attempts on the season. She finished 3-for-6 in Saturday’s game and also added 10 rebounds. … Every team in the MAC East lost at least once in its first two games, putting Akron one game off the division lead after winning Saturday. … BG is 4-2 at home this season after the loss.
Looking ahead: The Falcons play two of their most important road games of the season next week, traveling to defending MAC champion Buffalo on Wednesday and make a Jan. 18 visit to rival Toledo.
First Published January 11, 2020, 9:34 p.m.
