KALAMAZOO, Mich.- Fueled by a suffocating defense and 59.3 percent shooting in the second half, Western Michigan overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to upset six-time defending MAC regular season champion Bowling Green Saturday, 66-55. It was the Broncos' first double digit win since Dec. 29, 2009 and WMU's first win over BGSU in Kalamazoo since Jan. 29, 2003.
Western Michigan and Bowling Green played evenly to start the game, which was deadlocked at 12-12, 10 minutes in. The Falcons closed out the half outscoring WMU, 25-12, to lead 37-24 at intermission.
Unraveled coming out of the lockerroom, the second half belonged to the Broncos, who opened the period with a 10-0 run. WMU's defense froze Bowling Green's stop scorers and allowed the Falcons just four points over the first 12 minutes of the final half. The Bronco offense continued to hit its stride, and took the lead, 41-40, on a pair DeAirra Goss free throws with 11:06 on the clock. Western Michigan didn't stop there, and built an eight point advantage by the 7:44 mark. The 25-4 run the Broncos had just put on Bowling Green prompted multiple timeouts by BGSU head coach Curt Miller.
Trailing by 10 with 5:12 left, Bowling Green worked its way as close as three with 3:48 remaining. WMU responded with seven straight points over the next minute to push the lead back to 10. Five of those points were by Brenna Banktson, scoring on an offensive putback and drilling a three that sent the crowd of 1,621 into a frenzy. WMU hit four free throws in the final minute to leave Bowling Green stunned with an 11-point loss.
Bowling Green entered the game with the second-ranked offense in the MAC at 75.2 ppg and boasted the second leading scorer in two-time Player of the Year Lauren Prochaska. Both were held well under their season averages, as Prochaska finished with just four points total.
Western Michigan's defense recorded nine steals, six blocked shots and forced 22 turnovers. On the other side of the ball, WMU had its best outing of the year, committing just 11 turnovers.
WMU placed three players in double figures, led by Banktson with a season-high 19 points. Point guard Taylor Manley tied a career high with eight assists and dropped in 14 points. Ebony Cleary scored 11. Banktson, Cleary and Kemmy Dominique all had seven rebounds.
Western Michigan held the upper hand when it came to points in the paint (32-14), off turnovers (27-14) and on the fast break (6-0). WMU shot a team-high 44.3 percent for the game and held BGSU to 33.3 percent shooting.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Broncos, who improve to 6-15 overall, 2-6 MAC. It was just Bowling Green's fourth loss of the season, third in conference play (17-4, 5-3 MAC). Western Michigan will look to ride momentum from the win next week, traveling to Buffalo (2/3) and East division leader Kent State (2/6).
