Falcons barely scrape by Bobcats

by Jenny Hugenberg
Staff Writer

The Ohio women's basketball team fell last night to the Bowling Green Falcons in a heartbreaking loss, 77-75.

Bowling Green (9-12 overall, 5-5 in the Mid-American Conference) won the tip-off, but was unable to score. The Bobcats were able to jump out to a quick lead with two points from guard Heather Laughlin.

Ohio (8-14, 5-6) was not able to capitalize on its early lead though, and dropped behind 14-7. The Bobcats scored nine in a row to steal the lead 16-14 with 13:16 remaining in the first half.

The Falcons scored five in a row to regain their lead 21-16. Ohio tried to catch up, but ended the half behind 42-37.

"We knew going into the locker room at half time we would have to key in on (forward Francine) Miller and (forward Afra) Smith," Laughlin said. "They were really killing us."

Miller led the Falcons at the half with 14 points, and Smith was close behind with 13.

All eight of Ohio's players tallied points in the first half. Forward Lori Moorman led the Bobcats with 12, followed by guard Cathy Szall with 6. Guards Ronita Whitfield and Candace Bates added five each to the scoreboard.

"I didn't think we were very aggressive in the first half," coach Lynn Bria said. "But it was a different ball game in the second half."

The Falcons furthered their lead to nine early in the second half. Laughlin made two three pointers in a row to put the Bobcats within three at 51-48. Guard Jackie Adlington made a quick lay-up to extend Bowling Green's lead to five. With another three by Laughlin and a three by Bates, the Bobcats were ahead by one with 12:56 remaining in the game.

"Heather took some great shots for us in the second half," Bria said. "It really got the team going."

Ohio extended its lead to as much as six at 62-56 before the Falcons tied the game at 64, and then took a six-point lead.

The Bobcats tied the game at 75 from a huge Szall three with 1:26 left in the game. Ohio had possession of the ball after that, but could not create any points. Bowling Green got the ball with 22 seconds remaining, and two foul shots put the Falcons ahead 77-75 with just 10 seconds left in the game.

Moorman stepped out of bounds with the ball on a controversial call, giving Bowling Green possession. Whitfield stole the inbound pass to give the Bobcats one last chance at scoring with four seconds remaining. The Bobcats were unable to get the ball in the net, however, and the game ended with a 77-75 victory for Bowling Green.

Four Bobcats ended the game in double figures. Moorman had her 15th double figure game in a row with 24 points. Laughlin added 14 and Szall tallied 12. Whitfield had 10 points for the Bobcats.

"We had excellent execution," Bria said. "Our defense got the ball out of the hands of their big shooters. We also had good clock management; we knew how much time we had left and got the ball to the right people."

The Bobcats return home to play Northern Illinois at noon Saturday at the Convo.