Falcons beat Rockets for 1st time in 710 days
Story by Chas McNeil | Photos by Kyle Brown
BOWLING GREEN – Bowling Green vs. Toledo is a rivalry that flies under the radar in the sports world, but don’t be fooled; the teams get along as well as cats and dogs, Batman and the Joker and oil and vinegar.
What turns a rivalry into loathing is proximity and stakes, and the stakes could not have been higher at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green last night as the Falcons faced off against the Rockets.
In front of a screaming orange crowd that packed the stands, BGSU finally silenced UT 81-72, breaking their longtime losing streak, which they’ve been unable to do since March 4, 2023.
“When I first got here (Bowling Green), Toledo was the monster. I mean, they were just formidable,” said second-year head coach Fred Chmiel following the game.
“Tricia Cullop was just knocking it out year after year. They’re really good this year, but I told the players today it’s not about emotion but motion. You’ve gotta make feet move; you have to communicate; everything has to move forward. You can’t worry about the emotional piece.”
The game ultimately came down to “big-time” moments, and Bowling Green was able to answer the call early and often with the first evidence of that coming off a buzzer-beater three-point shot by fifth-year guard Lexi Fleming. The shot splashed through the net as time expired, giving BGSU a 25-14 lead.
Multiple Falcons showed up in one of the biggest games of their season, with fellow senior Amy Valasco scoring 30 points, which was just two points off her career high. Velasco became ninth all time on the BGSU scorers list with a layup that put BGSU up 20-12 in the first quarter.
Snapping their little winning streak is great! We went out there, we competed, but we’re focused on one game at a time and we’re trying to take our momentum with us and keep carrying it on.
BGSU senior Amy Valasco
Despite not coming out of enemy territory with a win, the Rockets have a lot to be excited about. The team produced 42 points from their bench, which towered against BGSU’s 10 bench points.
But where there is good there must also be bad, and there were plenty of negatives on both sides. The biggest, glaring flaw of the game was 18 UT turnovers compared to BGSU’s 12. UT opened the game with a turnover, and Bowling Green capitalized on many of the Rockets’ mistakes. The Falcons tallied 23 points from just turnovers.
“This was an incredible environment and everything I thought it would be,” Toledo’s first-year head coach Ginny Boggess said. “All the credit to BG and their staff. Porter and Velasco were playing like seniors that didn’t want to lose to Toledo at home the last time they got to play them.”
A big standout in the game for Toledo was graduate student guard Nan Garcia, who tallied a season high 18 points and eight field goals.
“I’ve only got five of these games left so I’m gonna give everything I have for this team, for this jersey and for Toledo. That’s what they deserve, and I’ve got to be better from the get go, not just the fourth quarter,” Garcia said.
Late in the game, Garcia did make her presence known, scoring a layup that led an eight-point run, setting BGSU fan’s hearts in their throats when UT got close at 69-66 with just over five minutes left in the game.
In the final moments of the game, it came back full circle to the rivalry and which team could be the loudest, so, with thousands of Falcons screeching at once, the Orange and Brown defense tightened, closing the contest with a nine-point gap.
Barring a MAC tournament matchup, both teams will have to wait nearly a full year to battle again, with BGSU holding the all-time lead since the series began in 1974 at 46-44.
“Man, what a game … Toledo’s a really good team. It was a dogfight back and forth,” Chmiel said.
“We took some big punches from them but we held tough, held the rope, and I think that’s the hardest we’ve ever played in terms of physical and mental toughness.”
