Box Score TRUJILLO ALTO, Puerto Rico- The Western Michigan women's basketball team finished the Puerto Rico Classic with a 1-2 record after dropping a 60-42 decision to defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion Florida Gulf Coast.
The Broncos opened play in Puerto Rico with a convincing 71-44 victory over Gardner Webb on Dec. 19 and dropped a hard-fought loss to No. 8/9 ranked Mississippi State yesterday, 90-68. The Broncos at one point led the Bulldogs by seven and trailed by two at the half, 40-38, before MSU pulled away in the third quarter.
Western Michigan's loss to FGCU was its first to a non-ranked opponent. The Broncos are 7-4 this season. In addition to facing Mississippi State, the Broncos have battled with Michigan State and Northwestern, who were ranked No. 24 and 20 at the time.
FGCU (8-4) was picked to repeat as the A-Sun champions. FGCU went undefeated in conference play in 2015 and also won the conference tournament on its way to a 31-3 overall record. The Eagles defeated Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before bowing out against Florida State in the second round.
“When we got back to the hotel after the game we talked about our three games down here,” said WMU head coach
Shane Clipfell. “In the first game we dictated play. In the second game, Mississippi State really dictated play due to their size and athleticism. Today, I thought it was a combination of both but we really beat ourselves with way too many turnovers and a lot of missed shots.”
Western Michigan trailed by one after the first quarter against FGCU and was down five, 25-20, at the half after the Eagles closed out the period on a 10-5 run.
The Broncos went cold in the second half, going scoreless for the first four minutes. That allowed FGCU to go on an 11-0 run and WMU got in a 16-point deficit, 37-21, with just over 15 minutes left in the game it would never recover from.
“We have to continue to work on our offense,” Clipfell said. “Some of that is us still figuring out rotations. We didn't have our best effort today and that's what we needed to beat a team like that.”
Western Michigan turned the ball over 20 times and shot 36.2 percent from the floor. FGCU limited WMU's attempts from outside, where the Broncos were just 1-for-6 from behind the arc. The Broncos however out-rebounded the Eagles 40-35 and did not allow the Eagles to collect an offensive rebound in the second half.
Senior
Miracle Woods scored a team-high 12 points and senior
Jessica Jessing led WMU rebounders with seven. Sophomore
Teagan Reeves recorded nine points and six rebounds and senior
Alex Morton tallied eight points.
FGCU's Kaneisha Atwater had half of her team's total, pumping in 30 points and also grabbing seven rebounds.
Western Michigan returns to Kalamazoo to host Ferris State Dec. 30 before starting Mid-American Conference play on Jan. 2 at Ohio.
