Huntington, W. Va.- The Marshall women’s basketball team (8-16, 4-9 MAC) posted their second win in a row and their first conference win at home with a 56-43 over the Bowling Green Falcons (7-18, 4-10 MAC) Saturday evening in the Henderson Center. Sophomore Catie Knable (Floyd Knobs, Ind.) grabbed a career high 21 rebounds in the victory. The 21 rebounds is the fourth highest total in a single game in the history of Marshall women’s basketball.

“Tonight, I thought our defensive intensity was outstanding for 40 minutes. It doesn’t take a whole lot to figure out why we were successful,” said Marshall coach Royce Chadwick. “Great defense takes a ton of hard work, heart, and desire, and tonight, our players maxed out.”

In a game that saw both teams struggle from the floor, the Herd’s great defense resulted in two long scoring droughts for the Falcons, with one pushing the eight minute mark to start the second half. BGSU also started the game extremely slow, tallying their first basket at the 14:39 mark. However, MU could not capitalize on the cold shooting, and at that mark, the Herd held only a 4-3 lead. Marshall then went on a five minute scoring drought of their own, and with 5:47 to play in the half, the Herd found themselves down by 13, 19-6. Marshall put together a 12-3 run to close the gap to 22-18 at the half, putting them within striking position of the Falcons.

The aforementioned lack of scoring by Bowling Green helped propel the Herd to a 32-23 advantage with 12:35 to go. The Herd would never trail again, getting clutch shooting from sophomore Andrea Fitzgerald (Memphis, Ten.) down the stretch and a monster night on the boards from Knable. Fitzgerald tied a career high for points scored with 21. Knable also added ten points, her third double-double of the season and her second in a row. Ida Dotson (Tombstone, Ariz.) also contributed 13 points.

Marshall’s defense held the Falcons to a 25.5% shooting percentage, the second consecutive time they have held an opponent to under 30% from the floor. The Herd also outrebounded BGSU by 17.

The Falcons were led by Megan Jerome, who scored 16 points. Lindsay Austin was the only other player in double-figures with 11.

The Herd hit the road for a game against the Miami Redhawks Tuesday. Tip time for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m.