BG women clinch MAC title with win over Akron
Feb. 28—After 10 days without a game, the Bowling Green State University women continued their winning ways with a 79-64 victory at Akron on Saturday, clinching the MAC regular-season championship.
Bowling Green led 56-53 after three quarters at Rhodes Arena, but the Falcons opened the fourth quarter with a 17-7 run as they took a 74-60 lead with 5:10 left in regulation.
Bowling Green, which never trailed, grabbed a 14-point lead with 5:02 remaining as the Falcons made 7 of 10 shots from the floor to start the final quarter.
Bowling Green (17-4 overall) solidified its standing atop the Mid-American Conference standings with a 13-3 record.
Akron (6-13) fell to 3-13 in the MAC.
"Winning the regular-season championship brings me to tears for our huddle," BG coach Robyn Fralick said. "Everyone in our program has been all in, through good and bad. I'm so proud of the kids who stayed and continued to believe.
"I'm so grateful to my staff for their incredible work ethic and consistency. This championship is a testament to a group of people being all in, every day, for each other."
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The Falcons showed great balance offensively with all nine players on the roster scoring points.
Junior forward Kadie Hempfling had a team-high 19 points, while sophomore guard Elissa Brett scored 18.
Freshman guard Lexi Fleming had 14 points, while freshman guard Kenzie Lewis and senior center Clare Glowniak each had eight points.
Brett also had eight rebounds, and Lewis had six rebounds, while Fleming and Hempfling each pulled down five boards.
The Falcons finished with a sizable edge (36-29) on the boards.
BG knocked down 29 of 60 shots from the floor (48.3 percent), including 5-of-21 from 3-point range (23.8).
Akron's Molly Neitzel led all scorers with 22 points.
Bowling Green, which won 76-67 in its most recent game on Feb. 17 at home against Central Michigan, had its game at Ohio on Wednesday canceled due to coronavirus implications within the Bobcats program.
Saturday's game was tied at 10 before BG went on a 6-0 run to take a 16-10 lead. The Falcons showed little rust and never relinquished the lead. BG shot 54.5 percent (6 of 11) from the floor in the second quarter and led 41-31 at the half. Akron outscored the Falcons in the third quarter 22-15 to close the gap.
BG closed it out by outscoring the Zips 23-11 in the fourth quarter
BG, which starts three freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior, was picked to finish 11th in the 12-team MAC. The Falcons have now won 81 percent of their conference games and sit ahead of Ohio (10-5) and defending champ Central (11-6) in the standings.
The Falcons have already clinched a top-eight finish and will advance to the MAC tournament in Cleveland for a quarterfinal round game on March 10. BG has not played in the league tournament since 2014.
The Falcons have anywhere from three to five regular-season games remaining due to rescheduling because of the coronavirus ramifications.
Bowling Green next hosts Kent State on Wednesday before hosting Buffalo next Saturday.
First Published February 27, 2021, 6:15pm
