BOWLING GREEN — After squandering a golden opportunity at a Mid-American Conference regular-season title share and the No. 1 tournament seed, Bowling Green State University’s women’s basketball team will look to bounce back quickly.
If the Falcons can respond from a loss like they have all season, good things could be in their future.
Second-seeded BGSU, which blew a 17-point third quarter lead in Saturday’s 62-56 loss at rival Toledo, will take its 25-5 record into Wednesday afternoon’s MAC tournament quarterfinal against No. 7 seed Eastern Michigan (15-14). The winner will face either No. 3 Ball State (24-7) or No. 6 Akron (17-12) in Friday’s semifinals.
BGSU has yet to experience a losing streak this season. The Falcons went on a nine-game winning streak after a loss to Indiana early in the season, and they won 11 straight after a defeat to Ball State in the MAC opener.
Even though BGSU is 3-3 in its past six games, the Falcons have gotten back in the win column in their next contest after a loss.
“This team’s resilient,” BGSU coach Robyn Fralick said. “I haven’t seen us this year not respond, so that will be the message.”
The Falcons’ defense excelled in their regular-season finale against the Rockets in front of more than 6,000 fans at Savage Arena. BGSU, however, had its worst offensive performance of the 2022-23 campaign; The Falcons’ 56 points and 29.4 percent shooting were both season lows.
■ Matchup: No. 2 Bowling Green vs. No. 7 Eastern Michigan.
■ When: Wednesday, 4 p.m.
■ Where: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland.
■ TV: ESPN+
■ Regular season: Bowling Green scored 32 points off turnovers in a 79-63 win Jan. 7 over Eastern Michigan.
Toledo, meanwhile, outscored BGSU 42-19 over the final 15 minutes to secure the No. 1 seed and MAC regular-season title all to itself.
“We’ve got to look forward to the tournament,” BGSU senior guard and first-team all-MAC selection Elissa Brett said. “That’s what really matters, so just looking forward to that.”
A new season will begin for eight MAC teams when the league tournament tips off at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. A fresh start could be exactly what the Falcons need.
The Falcons are 46-27 all-time in the league tournament, including 6-2 against Eastern Michigan.
“We’ve got a new season coming up, everybody’s 0-0,” BGSU senior forward Allison Day said. “I think just looking at it like that, and our defense was pretty good, so I think building off that and just building into some good offense will help.”
Another area that might be a factor in BGSU’s potential success this week could be the Falcons’ ability to perform well away from the Stroh Center. BGSU embraced the wild atmosphere last Saturday.
“I think we did pretty well not getting into it and letting them get in our heads too bad,” Day said.
BGSU went 13-3 in true road games this season and 1-0 in a neutral-site game. The Falcons’ 13 road wins were the most in program history, breaking the previous record of 12 in 1986-87 (12-2), 2005-06 (12-1), and 2007-08 (12-4).
BGSU’s 13 road wins were first in the MAC. Toledo, which was second, finished 10-2 in true road games and 1-1 in neutral site games.
“I trust us on the road,” Fralick said. “I think we’ve got a mature team, and we try to stay tight in our huddle, and we try to be fluid in the things we do.”
The Falcons will be looking to win their MAC-best 12th tournament title and first since 2011. Facing a brutal schedule late in the season that also included an 81-76 overtime win over Ball State on March 1 should bode well for BGSU.
“March Madness started early for all of us the last two weeks,” Fralick said. “Toledo played at Ball State, we played Ball State, we played Toledo, and those are high-level, tournament-type-feeling games. ... You hope you can use those experiences moving into the tournament and be able to play that sort of intensity of basketball.
“We’ve got to refocus quick. I think that we’ve just got to get back to cleaning a few things up. We’ve got to be a little bit sharper on some things, we’ve got to rest. ... Anybody left playing right now in the MAC is going to be a good matchup.”
First Published March 7, 2023, 6:46 p.m.
