The women’s basketball team looks to avenge last season’s loss against Bowling Green State University on Tuesday night in the first doubleheader of the season.
The game will be at Beeghly Center.
Last season, BGSU beat the Penguins by 46 points. During his weekly press conference, head women’s basketball coach Bob Boldon said the team is better equipped this season to face the Falcons.
“We have matured and gotten a little bit better,” Boldon said. “In watching tape from their first game to their last game against Butler [University], you can see them progressively getting better. It’s an interesting matchup.”
The Penguins are coming off an 80-55 victory against fellow Mid-American Conference opponent Western Michigan University. Freshman guard Kelsea Fickiesen said the team is already past the win.
“It felt really good to win, and it kind of gave us a confidence boost,” Fickiesen said at the weekly press conference.
“But now that game is over, and now we have a lot harder of a schedule to look forward to.”
Boldon said the team couldn’t get excited after a win like that.
“I think win or lose, the way the college basketball season is now … is so long,” Boldon said. “We play so many games that I don’t think you can get too excited or too disappointed after any game. We were fortunate we had a few days to prepare for this game.”
BGSU offers many challenges for the Penguins. Fickiesen said the team has to be ready.
“It is going to be fun to see where we stand,” Fickiesen said. “Coach has been preaching to us that they like to play harder and smarter than other teams. Hopefully, tomorrow night, that changes, and we are the team that plays smarter and harder for 40 minutes.”
Boldon said the key to winning this game is eliminating mistakes.
“The first couple weeks, there were so many defensive breakdowns, and now we are getting to a smaller number of breakdowns,” Boldon said. “We are going to get challenged pretty good tomorrow to see where we are at and to see how we do against a very good mid-major team.”
Offensively, the Penguins have played much better since their home loss to American University.
“Yeah, I mean we are getting better, which is good, and I am happy where we are today,” Boldon said. “We are not good enough to compete in our conference yet, but I think, as of now, we are in a good spot.”