BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Niagara Purple Eagles came out strong offensively in the first half and had three players finish with double-digit points, but fell to the Bowling Green Falcons 90-58 on Friday night.
 
With nine minutes left in the opening half, the Purple Eagles (0-2) found themselves trailing Bowling Green (3-0) by 13 points, 24-11, but climbed back to get within two possessions with a 14-4 run.  Started by a pair of free throws by Donisha Watson, the Purple Eagles got points from Victoria Rampado, Kelly Van Leeuwen, Meghan McGuinness, and Sylvia Maxwell on the run. 
 
The Purple Eagles finished the half shooting 57.9 percent (11-for-19) from the floor and 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the free-throw line.  Rampado and Val McQuade both finished the period 2-for-2 from the field with Van Leeuwen turning in a 2-for-3 effort.  McQuade, Maxwell, Watson, and  McGuinness were all perfect at the free-throw line.
 
While Niagara was able to find success at the free-throw line, it also sent the Falcons to the charity stripe 25 times in the half, of which they converted 20, to head into the break up 48-34.  At the end of the game the Falcons were sent to the line 41 times to Niagara's 21.
 
"I thought the difference in the first half was fouls; we did not do a great job adjusting to the way the game was being called," head coach Kendra Faustin said.  "That is not a knock on the officials; it's just an adjustment for everybody."
 
"I thought that was a big thing in the first half, along with turnovers," she continued.  "We had a lot of unforced turnovers."
 
While the final tally had the teams tied at 21 turnovers each, the Purple Eagles committed 15 in the first half.  Bowling Green would commit 15 in the second. 
 
Heading into the second half down by 14 points, NU wasn't able to rekindle their offensive output in the second and ultimately fell 90-58.
 
McQuade finished with a team-high 14 points, Maxwell scored 11, and Rampado turned in 10 points for her second double-digit performance in as many collegiate games.  Maxwell led the team in rebounds, with five.
 
"Overall I thought we played well but in the second half we didn't do the little things," Faustin said.  "The boards killed us.  Offensively we had some good individual performances; Val shot the ball well.  We have to get more from our interior players with rebounding and that was disheartening for the night."
 
The Purple Eagles are back on the court this Tuesday with a Little Three battle against St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y.  Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m.