BOWLING GREEN — For the first time this season, Bowling Green State University’s women’s basketball team walked off the Stroh Center court with a loss.
The Falcons suffered their first home defeat in nearly a year and had their 11-game winning streak end as Northern Illinois held off BGSU 85-81 in a Mid-American Conference game on Wednesday.
“Credit to Northern Illinois, I thought they played well. They shot the ball very well tonight, but we’ve got to regroup,” BGSU coach Robyn Fralick said. “I thought our first quarter, it wasn’t BG basketball and, I thought after that, we did a good job playing hard and crawling ourselves back into the game.
“But, quick turnaround, a lot to learn, and we’ll have to just get better.”
BGSU fell to 22-3 overall and dropped into a tie for second in the MAC with Toledo at 11-2. Ball State moved into first place by itself with a win over Ohio on Wednesday, while the Rockets posted a victory at Western Michigan.
Northern Illinois improved to 13-11 (5-8 MAC).
BGSU suffered its first loss since its MAC opener on Jan. 4 (81-73 defeat at Ball State). The Falcons, who were 10-0 at home this season, had their first loss at the Stroh Center since Feb. 23 (72-70 defeat vs. Akron).
Nyla Hampton had 17 points, seven rebounds, and five steals for BGSU. Lexi Fleming and Allison Day each had 15 points, Elissa Brett scored 11 with eight rebounds, and Amy Velasco had 10 points.
Sophie Dziekan had nine points, six rebounds, and two steals in just under 15 minutes off the bench for the Falcons.
A’Jah Davis, a 6-foot-1 senior forward for Northern Illinois, had 16 points, 16 rebounds, and four assists. Chelby Koker (18 points), Janae Poisson (17), and Sidney McCrea (11) also scored in double figures.
Three-point shooting was critical for both teams.
Northern Illinois shot 52 percent (13-of-25) from 3-point range, while BGSU was just 17.9 percent (5-of-28). The Huskies shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) overall, and the Falcons 42.1 percent (32-of-76).
Northern Illinois led for the final 33 minutes. BGSU had numerous chances to take the lead, especially in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get its shots to fall in critical moments.
“Every time we had a time to make a timely basket, I thought we didn’t and they did,” Fralick said. “We took 24 more shots than them, we were plus nine in turnovers, we had 14 offensive rebounds. All the things that matter in winning possessions, but you’ve just got to finish.
“We’ve got to be able to finish. I thought we got great looks. It kind of felt like one of those nights where you’re just waiting for one of them to go in, and it didn’t.”
Northern Illinois made 9 of 15 shots in the first quarter, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range, to take a 24-14 lead. The Huskies extended their advantage to 28-14 early in the second quarter.
BGSU, though, pulled within one point on three occasions in the final four minutes of the quarter before going into halftime trailing 42-38. The Falcons finished the third quarter on an 11-2 run to trail 60-58.
Day’s bucket off Jocelyn Tate’s pass pulled BGSU within 68-67 with 4:48 left, but Koker responded with a short jumper and Poisson converted a 3-point play to push the lead to six.
Koker’s corner 3-pointer made it 80-73 Northern Illinois with 50 seconds left, and after Brett’s steal led to a Fleming score with 11.6 seconds left to pull the Falcons within 82-79, Poisson and Laura Nickel combined to make 3 of 4 free throws to seal the win.
“It’s just one of those games,” Hampton said. “Not every night all your shots are going to fall, and that was definitely one of those nights today.
“We definitely missed a lot of uncharacteristic shots, like a lot of shots we normally would make, and I think that really caught up to us today.”
BGSU will look to bounce back at noon on Saturday when the Falcons travel to Western Michigan.
First Published February 16, 2023, 2:30 a.m.
