BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Junior forward Lauren Gerken scored a career-high 27 points and Bowling Green held off a late Cleveland State charge to beat the Vikings 77-73 on Thursday night at the Stroh Center, according to Bowling Green State University Athletics.
Gerken, a Findlay-area product from Liberty-Benton, hit a career-best five three-point field goals in the win, including going 3-for-4 from the arc in the fourth quarter, according to her Bowling Green athletics biography page, which was updated with the Cleveland State performance. She had opened the season with 13 points and six rebounds against Georgia Southern.
Freshman Carol Silva added 19 points and a team-leading eight rebounds for the Falcons (2-0), and another freshman, Sara Caetano, joined them in double figures with 14 points and a game-high six steals, according to the game recap carried by the MAC Basketball Network from Bowling Green State University Athletics. Cleveland State University Athletics reported the same final score and the Vikings’ side of the box score.
Cleveland State (1-1) placed five players in double figures, led by Macie Taylor with 16 points, according to Cleveland State University Athletics. Chloe Oliver added 15, Paula Pique scored 14, and Silvia Gonzalez and Alexa Hocevar each added 10. Hocevar grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds and Pique 11, giving both Vikings their first double-doubles of the season, Cleveland State said.
The game turned more than once. Cleveland State closed the first half with six straight points on a 12-4 run to cut Bowling Green’s lead to 40-31 at halftime, then opened the third quarter with a 6-2 run to get within 42-37 on an Oliver layup, according to Cleveland State University Athletics. Back-to-back baskets by Hocevar and Oliver pulled the Vikings within one at 49-48 with 3:39 left in the third, and an Oliver free throw tied it at 49-49 before Bowling Green took a 56-53 lead into the fourth quarter.
Bowling Green pushed the lead back to eight early in the fourth, but Cleveland State answered with a 9-3 run capped by a Taylor and-one play to close within 69-67 midway through the frame, Cleveland State said. The Falcons extended the lead back to five on the next possession and held at least a three-point edge until Hocevar free throws made it 75-73 with five seconds left. Bowling Green then converted a pair of free throws of its own for the 77-73 final, according to Cleveland State.
The Vikings shot 45 percent from the field, including 58.8 percent in the third quarter, and recorded eight steals, according to Cleveland State University Athletics. Those numbers explain how a nine-point halftime deficit became a one-possession game in the final seconds, even as Gerken’s fourth-quarter shooting kept Bowling Green in front.
For Bowling Green, the win completes a 2-0 opening homestand: an 82-59 win over Georgia Southern on Nov. 2, followed by Thursday’s four-point win over an in-state opponent that had won its own opener. It is early-season, non-conference basketball, but the pattern matters for a Falcons team picked in the middle of the Mid-American Conference — a veteran scorer in Gerken producing a career night, and two freshmen, Silva and Caetano, already carrying real minutes and production beside her.
Related coverage from this week includes Bowling Green and Toledo turning their I-75 rivalry into a food drive for the Rocket Food Pantry and Dayton’s women falling 91-87 in overtime to Illinois State at UD Arena, another close early-season Ohio women’s basketball finish.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
Confirmed from the two schools’ athletics reports: the final score, Gerken’s career-high 27 and five three-pointers, Silva’s 19 points and eight rebounds, Caetano’s 14 points and six steals, and Cleveland State’s five double-figure scorers. Neither school has yet published a fuller postgame comment in the reports used here, so NewsForce247 is not attributing quotes neither report carried.
What happens next: Cleveland State travels to Drake for a noon start on Tuesday, Nov. 10, according to Cleveland State University Athletics. Bowling Green continues its season-opening stretch at home, with Bellarmine next on its published schedule. Conference play is still weeks away, and both teams will learn more about themselves on the road than they did in two home games — but on Thursday night, the Falcons had the best player on the floor, and that was enough.
Photo: Bhockey10, CC BY-SA 3.0