BOWLING GREEN — The bad news for Bowling Green is that Wednesday wasn't its best shooting night and foul trouble forced the Falcons to play without their leading scorer for a 10-minute stretch in the second half.
The good news for the Falcons is that neither was much of an issue.
Bowling Green leaned on defense to smother Akron 66-57, forcing the Zips into 22 turnovers and just 38 percent shooting from the field.
With the victory, the Falcons improved to 10-3 and 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference, already matching their win total from last season and surpassing their number of MAC wins from the past two seasons combined.
“It's been really rewarding because this has been a long time coming,” BG senior Madisen Parker said. “Since Coach [Robyn] Fralick got here, we've been putting in a lot of hard work for this to be what our season looks like.”
Parker and Elissa Brett both had 13 points to lead Bowling Green. Molly Nietzel scored 12 to lead the Zips (4-6, 1-6).
The Falcons led for more than 37 minutes and did not see their lead fall to fewer than eight points in the second half.
Bowling Green shot just 33 percent from the field in the final three quarters, but made more free throws (14) than Akron attempted (eight), won the rebounding battle 42-34, and kept Akron from putting together the run it needed.
“We're finding ways to win without shooting the ball well, which is a big step for our program,” Fralick said. “We found ways to maybe win the possession game, whether that's through forcing turnovers or rebounding or whatnot. I'm actually encouraged because it seems like we're finding different ways to have success.”
Bowling Green nearly ran away with the game early in the first half, doing most of its damage from the 3-point line.
The Falcons led 28-12 at one point and made six of their first 13 attempts from behind the arc, though the Zips were able to prevent further damage and made it to halftime trailing 38-25.
Foul trouble threw a wrench into protecting the lead for Bowling Green, as leading scorer Lexi Fleming picked up her fourth foul fewer than three minutes after halftime and sat for the remainder of the third quarter.
Despite the absence of Fleming and a 3-for-11 mark from the field in the third quarter, Bowling Green still took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter and iced the game by pushing their lead to an insurmountable 18 with just more than four minutes to go.
The Falcons were picked to finish 11th of 12 teams in the preseason poll, but find themselves very much in the hunt after eight league games.
“Winning is awesome,” Parker said. “Any game you can win in this conference is a great win because the MAC is just so strong. Every year and every team you play, it's a great game. When you get a win, it's like winning a championship all over again because every game is a big game.”
Fleming still finished with 10 points, six rebounds, and four steals despite reduced minutes, while Kadie Hempfling scored 11 with five rebounds and three assists in another MAC win.
“Any win in this league is a good win. It seems like we keep finding different ways,” Fralick said. “I'm proud of our team's ability to find a way to win, but I'm also excited because I know we're going to be able to keep getting better.”
First Published January 21, 2021, 3:17 a.m.
