MAC women's basketball notes from a full night last night:
BOWLING GREEN 61, MIAMI 58 — For the Falcons faithful they might hang their hat on this, given the opponents' penchant for ruining all their fun in the last, oh, forever: this is the first time in 25 years that BGSU men's and women's basketball have both won games at Miami in the same academic year. Tack onto that a football victory in Yager, and that's a triple-win never before seen.
The BG-Miami game (which I just didn't have the time to watch, sadly) got better as the game went on, since the Falcons held a double-digit halftime lead and MU came storming back. But in the end the lead was just enough so that they never relinquished it. And the BG defense has now gone 11 straight games without allowing 60 points. All this against a team who's been averaging well over 70 in the MAC, and hasn't been held under 60 since the first two games. Defense wins championships; it's cliché for a reason.
The RedHawks shot only 38.9 eFG% while Courtney Osborn was bottled up for just eight points in a full 40 minutes of play. BG might've gotten the calls but to say the last they got to the line with regularity, making 19-of-29 freebies. Alexis Rogers led Bowling Green with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jessie Slagle added 15 points while MU was led by Haley Robertson with 19 points and Kirsten Olowinski had her 14-10 double-double.
The conference is far from over but BG remains the lone unbeaten at 5-0 while Miami drops to 4-1.
OHIO 72, AKRON 71 (OT) — Possibly not a pecking-order game, but certainly fun until the last second, as that's when it was won. Tenishia Benson drew a foul on an inbounds pass on the final second, made one free throw, intentionally clanked the second, and there was no chance for a reply from the Zips. Benson finished with 23 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Sina King led Akron with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
EASTERN MICHIGAN 73, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 60 — Pretty low-scoring for a CMU game, but I guess EMU really made the game their own. What hurt the Chips the most was 25 turnovers and just a decent shooting night. Tavelyn James paced the Eagles with 23 points and they are now 4-1 in the MAC. Crystal Bradford had a tough game, finishing with eight points as foul trouble ate her alive. Jas'Mine Bracey mustered 16 points and 10 rebounds for CMU, who fall to 3-2.
TOLEDO 63, BALL STATE 48 — The good news is that the Rockets are still playing strong and remain tied with EMU for first in the West. Yolanda Richardson's 20 points helped. But the real story in Rocketville is that injured senior star Naama Shafir has changed her mind and decided to apply for a medical redshirt and return for the 2012-13 season.
KENT STATE 85, BUFFALO 73 — I love the point distribution in this game for the young Flashes. Five people scored: Trisha Krewson 26, Diamon Beckford 23, Tamzin Berroilhet 19, Jamie Hutcheson 13, Itziar Llobet 4. In a generous fashion the team also combined for 26 assists, best by a MAC team this year. For Buffalo, Brittany Hedderson shot and shot until she finished with 26 points. She'll need more help if UB wants to win their first MAC game.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 53, WESTERN MICHIGAN 41 — And NIU is finally nabs a conference win after having lost six games in a row. Amanda Corral led NIU with 15 points. Not much to look at on the WMU box score; nobody had more than eight points and they shot a mere 31.7 eFG%.