MUNCIE, Ind. — Ball State University’s defensive pressure made nearly everything a challenge offensively for Bowling Green State University’s women’s basketball team on Saturday.
But there was certainly a bright spot that can be beneficial for the Falcons going forward.
Amy Velasco had the best scoring output of her solid BGSU career by a wide margin after scoring 28 points in the Falcons’ 76-61 Mid-American Conference loss to the Cardinals. The 5-foot-7 junior guard made a career-high 10 field goals, including three 3-pointers, while tying a career high with 15 field-goal attempts.
With a stellar Ball State squad shutting down key scorers, making passing lanes difficult, and forcing the Falcons to earn every point — the rest of BGSU’s team was 8 of 32 shooting — Velasco shined throughout the entire game.
“She’s got a huge heart,” BGSU coach Fred Chmiel said. “It’s probably twice the size of a normal human.
“She just goes out there and plays relentlessly for 37-plus minutes. After every game, I’m in the locker room like, ‘We’ve got to find a way to get her a rest, but I can’t take her off the floor.’ She’s that important to us. I’d like to get her some more rest, but we can’t afford to take her off the floor at this point.”
Velasco’s previous best scoring output this year was a 16-point performance in BGSU’s win against Cleveland State in the first game of the season. She has been steady all year by scoring in double digits in 11 of 13 games, but Saturday was a noticeable outlier.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Velasco said. “They’re getting me open, we’re running offenses that get me open shots.
“That’s kudos to the coaches. They’re getting us open shots, running plays that get us open.”
Velasco had nine points in a high-scoring opening quarter, including a 3-pointer and a jumper sandwiched around a charge she took defensively, that saw Ball State take a 26-19 lead. She had 16 points in the second half and continued to go full speed up and down the court even with Ball State comfortably in control.
“Just constantly going at it, battling, no matter how much time’s on the clock, no matter the score,” Velasco said. “I think just competing. We play the sport because we love to compete, so just continuing to do that no matter how much time’s up there or what the score is.”
The previous career high for Velasco was 21 points, which came on two occasions her freshman season in games against Toledo and Ball State. Her season high last year was 19 points in the Falcons’ Women’s National Invitation Tournament semifinal loss to Columbia to cap the season.
In her past two games, Velasco has 41 points on 14 of 20 shooting (5-of-6 from 3-point range). For the season, Velasco is averaging 13.5 points in a team-high 34.6 minutes per game, and she leads the Falcons in 3-point shooting (44.7 percent).
Chmiel said there were a few shining moments for his team in Saturday’s game, especially in the second half when BGSU outscored Ball State 37-32. But a disastrous second quarter was costly.
The Falcons were outscored 18-5 in the quarter as the Cardinals built a 44-24 halftime lead. BGSU made just 2 of 12 field goals, had six turnovers, and was outrebounded 13-7.
Ball State’s full-court pressure led to a couple of easy baskets midway through the frame. Velasco’s press-breaking jumper with 4:39 left broke a five-minute BGSU scoring drought, but Ball State finished the quarter on an 8-1 run that was capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Madelyn Bischoff.
“They should not have been up 20 on us. All of us thought that, but they were hitting shots, and to see that go in at the end of the quarter, we can’t let it dwell on us,” said BGSU freshman guard Paige Kohler, who had 18 points. “We have to keep pushing forward, and I think we did that in the second half, and we showed what we’re really capable of.
“But we dug ourselves in that hole, and it was hard to get out of against a team like that.”
Although BGSU (9-5, 3-1 MAC) suffered its first league loss, playing a team like Ball State (14-2, 4-0) this early in the conference schedule could bode well going forward. The Cardinals, whose losses this season were to Notre Dame and Connecticut, were picked to finish second behind Toledo in the MAC preseason coaches’ poll.
“This is a really tough conference in general. Ball State’s a great team, and I think we just need to stick together,” Velasco said. “We’re going to learn from this and we’re going to grow, so we got this one out of the way, and from here on out, we’re going to grow. We’re going to get better.”
First Published January 13, 2024, 10:54 p.m.
