The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team got off to a good start in the opener of the Women's National Invitational Tournament on Friday, but the Falcons struggled to find offensive consistency in a 72-65 loss to Creighton.

Junior Kadie Hempfling did all she could as the 5-foot-9 forward had a game-high 22 points to go along with seven rebounds, five steals, two blocks, and three assists.

But Creighton (10-11) made 21 of its 47 shots (44.7 percent) from the floor, including 9 of 17 from 3-point range in Rockford, Ill.

Meanwhile, the Falcons finished 27 of 70 from the field (38.6 percent), including 5 of 18 (27.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

“I thought we played really hard. But I do think we can play better as a group, especially offensively,” BG third-year coach Robyn Fralick said. “We have to do a better job executing and finishing. Even when we weren't playing well we were never out of the game.”

Bowling Green (20-7) moves to the WNIT consolation bracket and will face Dayton (14-4) at noon on Saturday in Rockford.

The Bluejays advance to play Northern Iowa on Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Falcons shot 36.7 percent in the first quarter, 35.3 in the second, and 38.5 percent in the third. The Falcons went 1 of 5 from 3-point range in the third quarter when they were outscored 18-15.

Fralick said she thought her team got good looks at the basket. BG led by as many as 10 points in the first half.

“I thought we got good shots a number of times. You have to make some of them,” Fralick said. “We defended well enough midway through the third to give ourselves a chance but we didn't score the ball well enough.”

BG forced 14 turnovers in the first half and finished with 20 in the game. The Falcons scored 23 points off of turnovers.

Freshman Nyla Hampton scored 15 points to go along with three rebounds, while sophomore Elissa Brett had nine points and 11 rebounds for BG. Freshman Lexi Fleming and senior Angela Perry each had six points for the Falcons.

Carly Bachelor posted a double-double for Creighton, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Temi Carda scored 19 points, and Morgan May added 11 points for the Bluejays.

Creighton had 28 attempts from the free-throw line and made 21, while BG was just 6 of 8 from the foul line.

The Falcons were up 19-14 after one quarter as Hempfling led BG with seven points, while Kenzie Lewis scored all five of her points in the opening quarter.

BG fell behind for the first time at 10-9 before Lewis drilled a 3-pointer to put the Falcons back up by two points. Brett followed with a trey to give the Falcons a 15-12 lead with 2:06 left in the first.

The Falcons forced nine turnovers in the opening quarter.

BG then took a 10-point lead at 24-14 on a free throw from Hempfling with 8:41 left in the first half.

Fralick said Hempfling did a little bit of everything for the team.

“She created. She scored. She found a good way of scoring in different ways. She rebounded the ball. We asked her to do a lot and she did a lot,” Fralick said.

However, Creighton responded with a 10-0 run to tie it at 24 with 4:15 left in the first half. The Bluejays then opened up a one-point lead as BG endured a scoring drought that lasted nearly five minutes. With 2:51 left Brett ended the drought with a 3.

The Falcons held the lead five times in the first half but trailed 34-33 at the break.

BG took a quick 35-34 just 12 seconds into the second half.

The Bluejays, however, put together a 9-0 run to seize a 45-36 lead with 7:27 left in the third quarter. BG endured a scoring drought of 1:52 and Bachelor hit a 3 to put Creighton up by nine.

Hempfling nailed a 3 to end the cold streak and pulled BG within 45-39 with 7:02 left in the third. But the Bluejays hit a trey to take a 48-39 lead.

The Falcons trailed 52-48 at the end of the third quarter as the Bluejays had made 18 of 38 shots (47.4 percent), while the Falcons were 19 of 52 (36.5 percent) from the floor.

BG went through another scoreless drought to start the fourth before Hempfling's free throw made it 53-49 with 2:23 into the final quarter.

The Bluejays went on a 7-0 spurt as Bachelor scored inside to give Creighton its largest lead (60-49) with 4:16 left in regulation.

“I thought our team played really hard,” Fralick said. “The message after the game was when you get to this point in the postseason when you're playing in high-level postseason play, you have to play well because everyone you're going against is a really high-level team.”

After going 10-21 overall and 3-15 in the Mid-American Conference last year, BG has been the surprise of the 2020-21 season. The Falcons posted a 14-4 MAC record to win the regular-season crown. Bowling Green then reached the championship game of the MAC tournament before falling to Central Michigan.

Bowling Green earned a berth in the WNIT for the first time since 2014.

Fralick said her young team, which starts three freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior, is learning a lot in postseason play.

“You can't teach experience. Every single player on our team has not played in postseason play,” Fralick said. “So it's a great experience. It's a good eye-opener. The only teams still playing are teams that have had really good seasons and it's a good evaluation of seeing another level. And you get to see what it takes to play like that.”

Northern Iowa defeated Dayton 70-56 in its opening-round game. Fralick said she is confident her team will be prepared to play the Flyers despite the quick turnaround for the noon start.

“The teams that are still playing are good at what they do,” Fralick said. “They have a system and they are good at it. We have to make some adjustments but for the most part, people do what they do.”

First Published March 19, 2021, 9:08 p.m.