BG vs Toledo

[gmartin]

Another lethargic performance so far.

Halftime Toledo 35 BG 16

16 POINTS in a half. Players are yelling at each other.

This team has no energy. Lack of leadership. No go to player. This program has taken a big step backwards past 2 years. Please save the injuries as an excuse. I don't see the same fire from Coach Roos as we have in years past.

BG has scored 6 points in 13 minutes of game time.

BG shooting under 25%.

Bad bad basketball

[Falconfreak90]

And just outscored tsun 27-13 in the 3rd to cut the deficit to 5, 48-43 with 1 quarter left. We NEED this one badly...

[Falconfreak90]

Lambert nails a 3 and the game is now tied at 51!!! Timeout rockettes!

[gmartin]

Finally BG putting together a 2nd half run. Let's see what these last few minutes bring. Can BG pull this one out.

[Falconfreak90]

Puk and Justinger have fouled out with 5 min left...we're down 4.

[gmartin]

BG loses to the Rockets. Football, Men's Basketball and now Women's Basketball. We just can't beat the Rockets.
4th straight loss to Rockets. BG made 2 baskets in the last 7 minutes after they tied it up.

BG drops to 4-9, #9 seed as of tonight.

[HoopsFan]

What did my heart good was to see Justinger get her 3rd foul and coach HAD to put in Santoro. Hey Roos, buy a clue. The same sad starters are doing nothing. Carly had as many points as Myers and Justinger combined, yet they both start in front of her.

Quick, what's the definition of insanity? Tunstal is injured again but hopes to play Saturday. We're down to 1 home and 4 road games and I don't expect to see more than 2 wins in those games. Too early for what if games, but BG will probably draw the 7 seed, or maybe, just maybe be the 7th seed. That means a win with Miami and or wins at Buffalo and Kent State. Not impossible, but not very likely.

HoopsFan

[elmrfudd]

The Falcons' pathetic play in the first half made them look like a mediocre high school team. They would pound the ball inside and throw the ball at the glass on a prayer, in hopes it may go in. It was a classic sign of pure intimidation, perhaps somewhat due to the Rockets' size, and the other part being that they were playing Toledo, which many times is intimidation enough by itself. Myers and Justinger were anemic offensively, as they were not getting good looks, or the shots they did get off were rushed and off target. Our post players need to be taught how to set proper screens without getting called for a foul. How many "illegal screen" fouls do we get called for every game? Puk needs to be more subtle when playing defense. I admire the fact that she's a physical player, but good physical defense can be played without all your fouls sticking out like a sore thumb to the officials.
Now, on a more positive note. When the Falcons came out in the second half, they could have rolled over and took another thrashing like they did in the first half. But they clawed their way back from a nineteen point deficit to tie the game on a Lambert trey. Maddie Cole came in and gave the Falcons a huge lift with her defense and hustle! Kennedy Kirkpatrick is the most dangerous when she drives to the basket, due to her speed and quickness. I've said in previous posts that I believe Sydney Lambert and Carly Santoro have star potential, and here is why.........both are always looking for ways to score. They are the two players on this team who won't pass on an open shot, when the rest of the team passes the rock around like a hot potato. They are fine examples of what I call "scorers" and not merely "shooters". They want the ball in their hands because they have enough confidence in their abilities to put the ball in the hole when needed. The nice thing about it is that they're both freshmen! We need more recruits just like them, aggressive and talented.
In closing, I will say that the difference between the two halves last night were this........the first half, we were passive, low energy, and intimidated. The second half, we were aggressive, high energy, and unafraid. It's unfortunate we didn't have the energy or the momentum to put the Rockets away after the impressive comeback. When you dig yourself into a crater that large, sometimes you expend all your energy to claw your way back, and you don't have enough left to finish the job. Nevertheless, the game is comprised of four quarters, and you have to play out the whole game. We'd have a few more victories if the game ended after the third quarter. So last night's game had some bittersweet moments, but I've said all season long that we've lacked consistency and fundamental soundness from the get-go. And if you don't iron out those two issues, you could be in for a long season. And it's been just that! Falcons, we're still behind you! Talons up!!!!

[gmartin]

#7 seed, really. Not sure that's possible. You can pencil in losses at Akron and at Ohio. That gives us 11 losses. Best we could do is finish is 7-11. Currently 7 teams have 7 wins. That means BG probably won't get into the #7 seed. Buffalo also plays Kent and Miami at home so they will have the same record as us. BG loses tie breaker to Buffalo. The key game is the BG Buffalo game next week. On paper it looks like the winner of that game will finish with the 7-11 record and the #8 seed whereas the loser will finish 6-12 and the #9 seed. BG needs to beat Miami and Kent just as Buffalo probably will do the same. BG and Buffalo will drop 2 other games. Either way I think BG and Buffalo will get the 8th and 9th seeds, just not sure who gets what but then again would face off again in the MAC Tournament

[Flipper]

Sure do hope next year's freshmen can play...otherwise we're in for another long year.

[Rocket_Fanatic]

The recruit from Oak Harbor will be a good one for your program. I wish Cullop recruited the Sandusky/Norwalk area as well as you guys do...

[factman]

Can someone please explain to me why Maddie Cole has not played more this year? She gets 5-6 minutes against the scuds and show more heart, drive and desire than we have seen in many games. I just do not understand why she has been buried at the end of the bench when that is exactly what this team needs more of.

[gmartin]

Factman, I agree with you that Maddie should play more unfortunately she is a 'foul machine'. Yes she shows lots of desire and heart but when she is in the game she fouls ALOT. Last night she had 3 fouls, should have been 4 fouls in 6 minutes of play. She averages a foul every 2 minutes of action. I think if she would play defense without fouling or set screens that are not illegal she would play more.

[factman]

Sounds like she should get 10 minutes a game then!

[elmrfudd]

Other "foul machines" are Tunstall, Siefker, Puk, and Baer. Most of the fouls from this bunch are from illegal picks or trying to outmuscle the opposing bigs for position underneath. Either way, those players need to be TAUGHT how to properly establish themselves in those places. Again, I believe those aspects of the game are controlled by good coaching. I did notice that we are boxing out a little better on the defensive boards, but the problem is, after we box out, we don't go after the ball. It either drops between our players, or the opposing players hustle around us to get it. I realize Roos has her hands full running the team, but what are the assistant coaches doing to individually enhance our players' fundamentals? Obviously, not nearly enough. Why are we not an above average free throw shooting team? It seems our players are more accurate from 23 feet than they are from 15 feet. Maddie Cole played well enough to deserve more minutes. However, when the officials are calling three times as many fouls on the Falcons than they are against their opponents, what can you do? We've dealt with slanted officiating the last several games, but the refs are NOT the cause of our dismal season. We've seen flashes of what this team can do when the heart, emotion, and resolve kicks in, and believe it or not, these ladies, at times, can hit on all cylinders. But that needs to happen for four quarters, and for every game. We haven't seen that happen yet. The sooner we can gel as a team, and stop shooting ourselves in the foot and being our own worst enemy, the sooner we can get back into the WIN column. Go Falcons!!!