Facing the No. 17 team in the nation, the women's basketball team found itself suffocated by superior talent.
Saturday night, the Bulls (8-17, 3-10 Mid-American Conference) fell hard to the Bowling Green Falcons (24-2, 13-0 MAC), 85-44. One of the biggest reasons was Buffalo's outside shooting. Sophomore guard Rachelle Matthys and junior guard Stephanie Bennett combined for only one three pointer the entire game, though both came into the game shooting over 35 percent from behind the arc for the season.
"It's hard to find an offensive answer to a team that shoots as well as they do," said Bulls head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "They rotate the ball well and are very disciplined. You make a mistake and they capitalize on it."
Another factor in the blowout was the fact that junior forward Heather Turner was limited to only two shots the entire game. Turner scored only five points and brought down four rebounds, despite coming into the game averaging over 12 points and eight rebounds per game. Before the game, there was a ceremony for Turner, who scored her 1,000th career point in the previous game.
In place of Turner's lack of production, sophomore forward Jamie Schiebner stepped up, leading the team with 17 points going 5-7 shooting from the field. Schiebner's 17 points was a career-high.
"We got to get (Turner) the ball. We did not really work hard to get the ball inside," MacDonald said. "I thought Jamie did a great job of recognizing her opportunities when they doubled down on Heather."
Despite their lead, the Falcons continued to score in the final seconds, sinking two three pointers in the final 40 seconds.
"I don't normally like that shot with 15 seconds to go but I feel Bowling Green's community wanted us to play to the buzzer," said Bowling Green head coach Curt Miller. "We were going to play all the way to the end. We shook hands."
Three Falcons players scored in double-digits in the game. Forward Megan Thorburn, who scored a game-high 22 points, led the Falcons. Forward Carin Horne chipped in with 15, shooting 3-6 from three-point-land. Guard Kate Achter also chipped in with 14 points.
"They were probably one of the best women's shooting teams I've ever seen," MacDonald said. "Seriously, because they can step out way beyond the arc, I've never seen anything like it. They are kind of once-in-a-lifetime-team. You have the opportunity to have so many players be able to step beyond-the-arc and easily hit that shot."
The match-up was a game of runs for the Falcons, who started the game on an 8-0 run, and tore off a 28-4 run midway through the second half. The Falcons have had 33 such runs this season, where they have scored at least 10 consecutive points.
One factor for these runs was turnovers. Buffalo had 24 turnovers compared to Bowling Green's 11. This amounted to 37 Falcons points off of turnovers, while the Bulls only capitalized for seven points off of turnovers. A lot of this can be attributed to Falcons point guard Lyndsey Goldsberry who recorded six assists as well as six steals and zero turnovers. She also scored seven points.
With the game out of hand, the Bulls rested several key players for the majority of the second half, instead preferring to give experience to younger players. However because of a depleted bench, the Falcons were forced to leave some starters in the game throughout.
"I wanted to look down to Linda and say, 'we have a starter in there not to score, but because we don't have any other subs to go in,'" Miller said.
With the win, Bowling Green also clinched the MAC East Division title. This is the second consecutive year the Falcons have won the East Division and the third division title in a row, winning the West Division in 2004-2005 season.
The Bulls next game will be Wednesday, against MAC foe Ohio. Tip off will be at 7 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
