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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Fairleigh Dickinson
BGSU Races Past FDU, 87-56, to Win Tournament Title
November 18, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2006
Final Stats | BGSU-FDU Boxscore in PDF Format
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team shot a nearly-unconscious 75.0 percent from the field in the first half, and saw six players score in double digits in an 87-56 win over Fairleigh Dickinson University Saturday night (Nov. 18). The win came in the championship game of the UCF Golden Knights Tournament in Orlando, Fla.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-1 on the season, while the FDU Knights drop to 2-2.
For the second time in three games, all five Falcon starters scored in double digits. And, for the first time in nearly six years, BGSU had six total players hit double figures in the scoring column.
Senior Ali Mann led the Brown and Orange with 16 points, while classmate Megan Thorburn had 15, all coming from beyond the arc.
All five seniors on the active roster were in double figures, as Amber Flynn had 12 off the bench, while Liz Honegger scored 11 and Carin Horne 10. Junior Kate Achter also had 10 points.
For the Knights, Katie Warehime had 12 points off the bench, while Christy Altamirano added 11.
In each of the first three games of the 2006-07, the Falcons got off to a slow start. That was most certainly not the case Saturday, as BGSU exploded for 22 points before the first media timeout.
The Falcons never trailed, and the game was tied only twice, at 2-2 and 5-5. After the second deadlock, a Horne three-point field goal ignited a 10-0 run over a two-minute span. Honegger followed with a trey of her own, and Horne and Mann each hit two-point baskets to produce the 15-5 lead.
The Knights battled to within 17-10, but a Thorburn three-ball and a Mann layup gave BG that 22-10 margin with less than six minutes elapsed.
The Brown and Orange continued the torrid shooting to take a 30-11 lead. The Falcons made 11 of 12 shots to begin the game, with Whitney Taylor coming off the bench to score five-straight points and Thorburn hitting another triple at the 12:55 mark.
The Falcons, however, got into some early foul trouble, with eight team fouls midway through the opening half, and FDU began to claw back into the game, primarily at the foul line. Jordan Sykes was fouled on a three-point attempt, and made all three charity tosses, and Warehime hit both free throws on her trip to the line with 9:12 left in the half, cutting BG's lead to 32-20.
Mann's right-side entry pass, however, found Flynn for a layup, and Taylor grabbed a long carom for a defensive rebound and proceeded to go coast-to-coast for a layup and an 18-point lead.
The teams traded baskets for several minutes, before a nice look by Thorburn found an open Honegger inside for a layup and a 40-23 lead. FDU answered with a three-pointer, but Honegger spotted Flynn underneath the hoop for a layup.
Some solid passing led to Honegger's making the 'extra pass' to an open Thorburn for a left-side triple, and BG's next possession resulted in Flynn's driving and dishing to Thorburn for another trey, this time from the right elbow. BG's lead was 48-29 with 2:14 left in the half.
The Knights, however, looked to get back into the game once again, getting to within 15 points, 50-35, at the intermission.
Thorburn made her first four three-point attempts of the game, going 4-for-5 from long range in that first half.
In the opening minute of the second half, Honegger ripped the ball away from an FDU player for an offensive rebound, banked a shot home and drew a foul. She completed the conventional three-point play for a 53-35 lead.
Achter got a rebound and a putback in traffic, and another Achter offensive rebound and layup gave BG a 58-40 lead with 15:52 left.
Back-to-back layups by Mann gave BG a 22-point lead, and Thorburn hit her fifth trey of the game with 13:12 left. The Falcons' next five points came from the free-throw line before Flynn made a steal and fed the ball to sophomore Jasmine McCall, who spotted Mann for a triple at the nine-minute mark, giving the Falcons a 73-48 advantage.
The lead never got below 25 points the rest of the way, and the final margin of 31 points was the largest of the game.
BGSU shot 62.3 percent for the game, (33-of-53), including the 21-for-28 performance in the first half. The Falcons were 7-of-10 from three-point land in that opening half and 9-of-15 (60.0%) for the night.
FDU shot just 30.2% from the floor in the contest, and the falcons held a 43-30 advantage in rebounding. Flynn led BG with seven boards, while Honegger had six and Horne five.
Jennifer Walkling had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Knights.
Achter had a game-best six assists, while Thorburn had four and Honegger three. Flynn led the way with four steals, while McCall had two assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
The five BGSU starters -- Achter, Honegger, Horne, Mann and Thorburn -- combined to shoot 23-for-34 (67.6%), with Achter making all four of her shot attempts on the night. Mann went 7-for-9 from the field, while Thorburn was 5-for-7, all from long distance.
Host UCF rallied from a second-half deficit to down Albany, 59-51, in the consolation game. No all-tournament team was named, and there was no trophy presentation at the conclusion of the championship game.
The Falcons will return to the Midwest to prepare for Friday's (Nov. 24) home opener against Temple. Starting time for that contest is 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
QUOTING Curt Miller
"We are excited, of course, to win the tournament championship. Tonight in particular, we came out and had just an offensive explosion in the first half. We made a lot of shots, executed the offense and were really crisp and smooth at the offensive end of the floor. That was one of the best offensive halves in our tenure, for certain."
"To FDU's credit, though, they really made plays themselves. And, we had some defensive lapses and missed assignments, which really kept the game close going into halftime, considering that we had had an offensive clinic in the first half."
"We had six people with double figures tonight, and a seventh kid with nine. It was another balanced attack for us, and I think that is the key to our success. What makes us such a difficult matchup is the versatility and the amount of people who can score for us. Again, seven people had nine or more points tonight, and a lot of people had stretches in this game when they were very good. It gives you the opportunity to run plays for different people through the game, and it keeps your opponent off balance."
