“It was a season to remember for the Zips women’s basketball team, but as with all Cinderella stories, it must come to an end. The Zips lost to the Bowling Green State Falcons 81-49 for the third time this season in the second round of the MAC tournament and lost in the women’s basketball invitational to Wichita State 67-61.”
“

It was a season to remember for the Zips women’s basketball team, but as with all Cinderella stories, it must come to an end.

The Zips lost to the Bowling Green State Falcons 81-49 for the third time this season in the second round of the MAC tournament and lost in the women’s basketball invitational to Wichita State 67-61.

The Zips were the fourth seed in the tournament and received a first round bye. The team zipped right by the Eastern Michigan Eagles in the second round with a score of 72-46.

What a year we have had. At this point last year we had just lost to Central Michigan. Last year we saw the kids crying and this year we see the kids jumping up and down, Zips head coach Jodi Kest said.

The next step for the Zips to get to the championship was to take on the first-seeded Falcons.

The Falcons came out strong from the opening tip-off as Jen Uhl scored the first basket of the game, draining a three pointer.

Jolene Tamboue scored the first basket for the Zips which put the game a little closer at 3-2 in favor of the Falcons; the Falcons would keep the lead for the whole game.

First team all-MAC player Lauren Prochaska from the Falcons led the first half in scoring with 10 points. Zips freshman Rachel Tecca had six points, which led the Zips in scoring at the half.

Going into the half, the Zips only trailed the Falcons by 14.

The Falcons dominated the second half. Uhl scored the first basket with an easy layup. Tamboue scored the Zips’ first basket in the second half with an assist from Kyle Baumgartner for an easy layup.

I am proud of our kids and the year that we had, Kest said. I don’t think anybody in the beginning of the year had us going to the semifinals game.

Both teams were evenly matched in the paint as the Zips scored 26 of their 49 points in the paint and the Falcons scored 28 of their 81 points in the paint.

I thought one of the keys in our win was how we competed inside with them, Falcons head coach Curt Miller said.

Leading the offensive attack for the Falcons was Prochaska with 17 points. Maggie Hennegan led the Falcons in rebounding with nine.

For the third time this season, Tecca led the Zips in scoring against the Falcons with 12 points.

Senior Ayla Guzzardo came on strong against the Falcons scoring nine points and recording three rebounds.

With the win against the Zips, the Falcons advanced to the MAC Championship to take on the second-seeded Toledo Rockets.

We were excited about the win; our players did a good job in the one day prep to prepare us against Akron, Miller said.

The Falcons ended up winning the MAC Championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament.

The Zips advanced to postseason play for only the second time in school history (the last time was 1999) as they received a bid to the Women’s Basketball Invitational.

The Zips traveled to Kansas to take on the Wichita State Shockers Thursday night and ended their season with a first round loss 67-61.

The Zips went into the half with an 11 point lead against the Shockers with a score of 37-26.

It was the Shockers game in the second half outscoring the Zips 41-24.

Tamboue made the best of returning back to her home state of Kansas, recording her seventh double-double of the season. She scored 16 points and recorded 12 rebounds in the game.

Kara Murphy also scored in double digits with 14 points.

Leading the offensive attack for the Shockers was Jessica Diamond with 14 points.

The Zips broke school records this season with 18 regular season wins and 11 conference wins.

“