COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Big night for Bowling Green, Alexis Rogers

Senior reaches 1,000 career points in win over EMU

Bowling Green’s Jillian Halfhill tries to keep the ball away from Eastern Michigan’s Cha Sweeney, a Rogers grad who scored 18 points.

BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH

Bowling Green’s Jillian Halfhill tries to keep the ball away from Eastern Michigan’s Cha Sweeney, a Rogers grad who scored 18 points.

BOWLING GREEN — Alexis Rogers knew a milestone was coming.

“[Coach Jennifer] Roos tried to hide it from me, but I’m sneaky,” Rogers said. “She likes to call secret meetings in her office, and she has a lot written behind her desk.

“I always hover over her desk and see what I can read.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Eastern Michigan vs. Bowling Green

Rogers

Rogers, who became the 26th player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau, reached that mark in just three seasons after transferring from Duke.

“That’s tough to do,” Roos said. “It shows what kind of player she is, and how smart of a player she is.

“She was very efficient, and she didn’t force anything. When she got double-teamed, she kicked the ball out. And she was aggressive offensively.”

Rogers was one of three players in double figures for the Falcons (15-3, 5-1 Mid-American Conference) as Deborah Hoekstra scored 16 and Jillian Halfhill had 14.

Rogers High School product Cha Sweeney had 18 points for Eastern Michigan (12-5, 2-4 MAC), as did fellow freshman Janay Morton.

Bowling Green led throughout the first half, but it was never greater than seven points, and the Falcons led just 28-23 at the half.

Then BG scored on seven of its first eight second-half possessions while holding EMU scoreless. The result was a 43-23 lead with just 4:33 off the clock.

“At halftime we emphasized being better screeners,” Roos said. “We ran more plays where we ran a backscreen, in addition to some high-ball screens at the top of the key and some wing ball-screens.

“We ran a couple of plays that we hadn’t run in a long time, and I thought we were efficient at that.”

The Falcons led by as many as 25 in the second half and never allowed Eastern Michigan to come closer than the final margin.

Bowling Green held the Eagles, who came into the game averaging 82.8 points per game, to their second-lowest point total of the season. One reason for that paltry point total was 35.5 percent shooting from the field, but another was holding the Eagles to just 11 offensive rebounds, seven under their season average.

“I thought our defensive rebounding was more important than contesting shots," Roos said. "We limited them to one-and-done a lot in the second half.”

All that was left was for Rogers, who had seven of BG’s points in the 15-0 second-half start, to surpass 1,000 points.

She obliged with a driving layup with 7:08 on the clock — to the surprise of no one, even though Roos said she was trying to surprise her senior.

“I wanted to talk to her about where she was, what would happen if she did it, and what would happen if she didn’t do it,” Roos said. “And I was outvoted 3-1 by my assistant coaches.

“Then she got into my office, sat in my chair, and saw five Post-It Notes reminding me of stuff I wanted to run for her.”

“She’s sneaky, but I’m sneakier,” Rogers said.

NOTES: The Northview High School girls basketball team was at the game to watch two former players. EMU’s Olivia Fouty finished with four points and eight rebounds, while BG’s Miriam Justinger had four points and two assists. … Rogers grad KaBria Walker played the game’s final two minutes for EMU but did not score. … BG’s Kennedy Kirkpatrick has seen a specialist for her hip injury. Roos said some thought has been given to having her redshirt for the rest of the season, but no decision has been made.

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.