Flashes Fall in Final Minutes at Bowling Green
2/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - No other MAC opponent has given Bowling Green a scare at Anderson Arena quite like Kent State did Saturday afternoon (Feb. 28), but the Flashes' one-point lead with four minutes remaining did not hold up in a 61-54 setback. The 25th ranked Falcons won their 25th straight game and clinched their fifth consecutive regular season MAC title.
"We played well for 36 minutes, but we got outplayed four minutes and that was enough to beat us," Head Coach Bob Lindsay said. "Lauren Prochaska had a great second half and we didn't do a very good job of defending her. She basically beat us by herself."
Prochaska scored all of her game-high 25 points in the second half, including 11 from the free throw line. She accounted for over half of the Falcons' 40 second half points and pulled down 10 rebounds on the afternoon.
Foul trouble also plagued the Flashes as Chenel Harris was limited to just 12 minutes and Anna Kowalska fouled out with 4:39 left in the game, limiting her to 23 minutes.
"I told our players before the game that in order win here (Anderson Arena), we basically going to have to play an errorless game," Lindsay said. "And that didn't happen. We had a number of leads and we turned the ball over 18 times."
One of those leads Lindsay hoped to build on came at halftime (26-21) after Rachel Bennett's layup from the right side beat the halftime buzzer. However, the Flashes scored just two points in the first 6:40 of the second half. Prochaska scored the Falcons' first 12 points of the second half, giving Bowling Green a one-point lead (33-32) with 12:28 left.
Bennett and Jamilah Humes kept the Flashes in a back-and-forth second half battle, leading KSU with 14 points each. A jumper from Bennett took KSU's lead back up to six (40-34) with just under 10 minutes remaining, but Prochaska continued to respond.
With just over two minutes remaining, the Falcons pulled down a critical offensive rebound and got a three-pointer from Jen Uhl to make it a six-point lead (56-50). Humes answered with an impressive off-the-glass layup around three defenders, but Bowling Green continued to make its free throws.
"We just didn't come up with the crucial plays," Humes said of the only difference between the first and second halves.
In the absence of Kowalska and Harris, Yoshica Spears and Lorriane Odhiambo pulled down seven rebounds each, but the Flashes lost the battle of the board 16-9 on the offensive end and the Falcons took advantage with 20 second chance points to Kent State's 10.
The Flashes entered the day second in the nation in three-point shooting (.411), but finished 0-for-9 from behind the arc.
"Our focus today was dribble penetration," Bennett said of the team's lack of three-point shooting.
Playing in front of 2,312 fans, the Falcons improved to 12-0 at home. Aside from Prochaska, Bowling Green went 11-of-40 from the field and made nine free throws.
KSU now trails Ohio (7-7) by one game for second place in the East standings.
The Golden Flashes (17-9, 6-8) will play its final two games of the regular season at the M.A.C. Center, beginning with Buffalo Wednesday night (March 4).
