CLEVELAND -- The Falcon women's basketball team will look to win a Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game Saturday afternoon.
After having lost the past two title games, top-seed BG will face second-seeded Toledo - which defeated the Falcons 66-63 in their only regular season matchup this season - at 1 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland
"I think we're the most consistent team and over the course of a long year our preparation and our approach to each and every game handling the bull's-eye allowed us to be the MAC (regular-season) champion. I believe they (Toledo) are the most talented team. They have weapons in every position and they have a lot of mismatch opportunities against us.
"I don't know if we have to play our 'A' game, but we better play 'B-plus' in order to beat Toledo."
Senior transfer Tamika Nurse came to BG from Oregon because the Falcons
had the potential to play in championship games, which did not look
promising with the Ducks.
Now that she has her chance, Nurse hopes she can make her mark.
"It's an opportunity," Nurse said. "Nothing is set in stone. We need to come out and play and execute a game plan to make that a reality."
The rest of the team's seniors - center Tara Breske, forward Laura Bugher and forward Sarah Clapper - were members of the last Falcon team that made the NCAA Tournament.
After earning one last opportunity to play for an NCAA Tournament bid, Breske said returning to the NCAA Tournament would be a good career capstone.
"I'm excited," Breske said. "I came here freshman year and made a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. We have Toledo ahead of us and a big challenge on our backs. Going out senior year, I would enjoy to do that again."
But to do so, they will have to beat a tough Toledo team, which will be quite a test even though they haven't been playing up to par toward the end of the season.
The Rockets lost two of their final four regular season games and struggled shooting and handling the ball against Kent State in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament on Friday.
In a 51-49 win against the Flashes, Toledo shot 38.9 percent from the field and made just 4-of-14 free throws while also committing 18 turnovers.
"I'm just glad time ran out," said Toledo coach Tricia Cullop. "I'm proud that we put ourselves in a good position because we needed it the way we fumbled the ball around and missed free throws at the end."
Meanwhile, the Falcons have been playing well in all facets of their game, as they have shot have 50 percent from the field (63-of-126) and 59.5 percent from 3-point range (22-of-37) while also scoring 70 of their 172 points in the paint.
Now that she has her chance, Nurse hopes she can make her mark.
"It's an opportunity," Nurse said. "Nothing is set in stone. We need to come out and play and execute a game plan to make that a reality."
The rest of the team's seniors - center Tara Breske, forward Laura Bugher and forward Sarah Clapper - were members of the last Falcon team that made the NCAA Tournament.
After earning one last opportunity to play for an NCAA Tournament bid, Breske said returning to the NCAA Tournament would be a good career capstone.
"I'm excited," Breske said. "I came here freshman year and made a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. We have Toledo ahead of us and a big challenge on our backs. Going out senior year, I would enjoy to do that again."
But to do so, they will have to beat a tough Toledo team, which will be quite a test even though they haven't been playing up to par toward the end of the season.
The Rockets lost two of their final four regular season games and struggled shooting and handling the ball against Kent State in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament on Friday.
In a 51-49 win against the Flashes, Toledo shot 38.9 percent from the field and made just 4-of-14 free throws while also committing 18 turnovers.
"I'm just glad time ran out," said Toledo coach Tricia Cullop. "I'm proud that we put ourselves in a good position because we needed it the way we fumbled the ball around and missed free throws at the end."
Meanwhile, the Falcons have been playing well in all facets of their game, as they have shot have 50 percent from the field (63-of-126) and 59.5 percent from 3-point range (22-of-37) while also scoring 70 of their 172 points in the paint.
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