LAS VEGAS — The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team suffered a 53-42 loss to Villanova Saturday in the first round of the Lady Rebel Round-Up hosted by the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
The Falcons made just 24.1 percent of their shots from the floor, and slow starts to each half doomed them to a loss that evenened their season’s record at 2-2.
Jillian Halfhill had 15 points but was the lone player in double figures for BG. Laura Sweeney scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Villanova (3-1) while Rachel Roberts added 11 points.
The Falcons will play UNLV today, which lost to Montana 69-65 in overtime in Saturday’s first game. Tipoff for BG’s game against the host school is set for 4 p.m.
BG missed its first seven shots and fell behind 8-0 before Danielle Havel got BG on the board with a basket with 15:29 to play. Halfhill got hot, making a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched around a layup to cut the deficit to 13-10.
Down 27-21 at halftime, Bowling Green missed its first eight shots to start the second half before a 3-pointer from Halfhill made the score 31-24 with 16:12 on the clock. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Devon Kane and Megan Pearson pushed the Wildcats’ advantage to 41-29, and BG went almost eight minutes without a basket but still trailed by 42-34 with less than three minutes on the clock.