Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
TOLEDO
Holy Senior Day! Kapferer's Three-Point Play Lifts Falcons Over Toledo, 72-71
February 26, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - It was a script that even Hollywood would reject.
Senior sings the National Anthem on 'Senior Day,' then comes off the bench to replace an injured player, convert a three-point play and give her team the win. Nice try, but get back to us with something a little more plausible.
Sometimes, however, truth can be stranger than fiction, and the above scenario actually took place at venerable Anderson Arena Saturday afternoon (Feb. 26).
Senior co-captain Kelly Kapferer took an inbounds pass from freshman Kate Achter and converted a layup with 9.1 seconds left, then made the ensuing free throw to give the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team a 72-71 win over the University of Toledo.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 19-7 overall and 12-3 in Mid-American Conference play. BGSU has clinched at least a tie for the MAC's West Division title, the team's first league crown of any kind since the 1993-94 season. The Falcons can finish no worse than the third seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament, and BG has earned a first-round bye for the first time since the league went to the current tourney format.
UT drops to 12-14 and 8-7, respectively.
Kapferer's three-point play capped a furious comeback for the Falcons, who trailed by six points with just 1:22 left. Sophomores Carin Horne and Liz Honegger each hit three-point field goals as the Falcons outscored the Rockets, 9-2, in the final 1:13.
Horne led four Falcons in double digits with 17 points, while classmates Honegger and Ali Mann each had 15. Mann left the game with 8:18 left after suffering a sprained ankle on a layup attempt, and did not return. Kapferer replaced Mann in the lineup for nearly all of that final 8:18.
Achter had 10 points to round out BG's double-figure scorers.
For the Rockets, five players hit double digits, led by Danielle Bishop's 20 points. Crystal Young added 13 points, while three teammates -- Karin Hoogendam, Olivia Terry and Savannah Werner -- each had 11.
The Falcons started fast on Saturday, scoring the game's first five points. Honegger hit a three-pointer off a Mann pass with just 35 seconds elapsed, and Horne followed with a layup before a minute had expired.
The Rockets battled back, cutting the lead to 8-6 on a Hoogendam layup with 15:55 left in the half. That, however, would be UT's last field goal for almost four minutes, as BG opened up a 17-7 lead before a Bishop field goal ended that run.
Horne responded to Bishop's layup with one of her own, and the lead was back to 10 points with 11:06 left in the half. But, the Rockets proceeded to score the next five points, in the person of Werner. She hit a triple, then converted a layup to cut the lead to 19-14 and force Falcon coach Curt Miller to use a timeout.
Out of the break, the Falcons got a Mann layup to go ahead by seven. But, Young hit a three, and Terry followed with a three-point play, and the Rockets were within a single point, 21-20.
Mann drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, but Terry responded with a pair of free throws, and Kristi Zeller hit a right-side triple to give the Rockets a 25-24 lead at the 5:53 mark.
That Zeller trey was the first lead change, of the game, as that final 5:53 would feature three ties and seven lead changes.
The Rockets led by two points on a Bishop jumper with 31 seconds left, before Honegger's shot with 11 ticks on the clock produced a 35-35 halftime tie.
In the second half, the score was tied once again, 37-all, when Achter stole an inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Then, after a UT missed shot, Achter found Mann ahead of the pack for another fast-break layup, and the Rockets used a timeout with 16:06 left.
After another UT miss, though, Achter converted a driving layup in traffic, and the Falcons led by six points. That, however, would prove to be the home team's largest second-half lead. In fact, BGSU would lead for only 79 seconds in the game's final 13:34.
After Achter's layup, the Rockets proceeded to score the game's next eight points, with Young and Bishop hitting three-point field goals on back-to-back possessions.
A Mann jumper with 12:10 left lifted the Falcons into a tie, and Horne hit on BG's next possession to put the Brown and Orange ahead, 47-45, with 11:19 left.
The game was tied three times over the next few minutes, before four-straight Hoogendam points put the visitors up by a 58-54 count with 6:07 remaining. Honegger was fouled on a three-point try, and made all three free throws to cut the lead to a point, but four Rocket tosses put the visitors up by five points, 62-57, with 5:10 left.
Honegger hit a jumper, but Young countered with a three, and UT's lead was 65-59 with 4:18 left.
Kapferer hit a jumper on BG's next possession, then Achter threw an inbounds pass off Hoogendam's back to herself, and hit a layup with 3:14 remaining to cut the Falcon deficit to two points.
Young, however, responded with a layup, after which neither team would score for over a minute. After a BG turnover, UT ran the shot clock down to its final seconds, and Young found Werner for a wide-open layup with 1:22 left. Toledo's lead was back to six points, 69-63, but that would be the Rockets' final field goal of the day.
Quickly, the Falcons came down the floor and cut the lead in half, as Horne drained a trey at the 1:13 mark. On UT's next possession, Bishop made a shot with 51.7 seconds left, but saw it waved off as she was called for an offensive foul.
Achter missed on a layup try, and Hoogendam grabbed the rebound. The Falcons fouled Young with 31.8 seconds left, and she split her free-throw tries for a four-point UT lead.
Again, BG dialed long distance, as Honegger took a Casey McDowell pass and hit a trey with 20 seconds left.
The Falcons fouled Young again, and she split her two free-throw shots, putting the Rockets up by two and setting the stage for Kapferer's heroics.
Kapferer had eight points in 14 minutes off the bench, making 3-of-4 shots from the field and 2-of-3 from the line.
The game featured a total of 10 ties and 12 lead changes. Terry had a double-double for the Rockets, augmenting her 11 points with a game-high 11 rebounds. UT held a 34-33 rebounding edge in the game.
BGSU shot an even 50.0 percent from the field, including a 55.6% (15-for-27) effort in the second half. The Falcons held UT to a 39.3% success rate on the afternoon. UT did, however, make eight three-pointers, with three apiece from Bishop and Young. Honegger had two of the Falcons' five triples.
The Rockets got to the line a total of 25 times, making 19 (76.0%), while the Falcons were 9-of-11 (81.8%) from the stripe.
BG had a 40-24 advantage in points in the paint in the game, and the Falcons had 13 fast-break points to the Rockets' four. UT, however, had a 21-12 margin in points off turnovers. BGSU committed 13 turnovers, while Toledo had 11.
The Falcons' win, combined with Saturday's other outcomes around the conference, leaves BGSU with the MAC's best record, a game ahead of three teams. Eastern Michigan defeated Marshall, 93-73, leaving both the Eagles and the Thundering Herd with identical MAC marks of 11-4. Kent State is also 11-4 after a 60-56 win at Miami Saturday.
The Falcons close the regular season with a trip to the MAC's 'West Coast,' taking on Northern Illinois University in Tuesday (March 1) action. A BGSU win would clinch the West Division title outright, as well as the top overall seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament. The tournament begins next Saturday (March 5), with five first-round games at campus sites.
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