Falcons Fly Past Western, 90-62

Wednesday, January 24

Kalamazoo, Mich.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

WESTERN MICHIGAN

January 25, 2007 | Women's Basketball

Jan. 24, 2007

Final Stats | BGSU-WMU Boxscore, plus updated statistics, in PDF Format | Quotes | AP Recap

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team spotted host Western Michigan University an early lead, then roared back for a 90-62 win Wednesday night (Jan. 24). The Mid-American Conference game was held at University Arena.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 17-2 on the season and a perfect 7-0 in MAC play. BG has won 10 consecutive games overall and 32-straight contests vs. MAC foes. The Broncos drop to 8-13 and 1-6, respectively.

Senior Ali Mann led four double-digit scorers for the Falcons, with 21 points, while junior Kate Achter scored 19. Mann moved into third place on the BGSU career scoring list in the win, while Achter hit her first career three-point field goal late in the first half.

Senior Megan Thorburn, like Mann a Michigan native, scored 15 points including a team-high three three-pointers, while senior Carin Horne had 11 points.

The Broncos' Carrie Moore, the nation's leading scorer, had a game-high 24 points, just under her 25.5 points-per-game average entering the contest. Lindsey Brown also was in double figures, with 10 points for the hosts.

The 16th-ranked Falcons shot over 50 percent from the floor in each half, making 21-of-38 shots (55.3%) before the break and 16-of-28 tries (57.1%) after the intermission en route to a 56.1% effort for the night.

For their part, the Broncos shot 49.0% for the game, including 54.5% in the second half. BG, however, forced 25 Western turnovers while committing just 11 themselves. The Falcons had only two turnovers during the entire first half, and held a 31-9 advantage in points off turnovers for the game.

The Broncos were hot in the early going, scoring seven consecutive points to take an 11-6 lead at the game's first media timeout. Just prior to that break, BG turned the ball over, the team's second of the game. The Falcons would not commit another turnover for the remaining 15:40 of the half.

Out of that timeout, sophomore Lindsey Goldsberry -- in the game for the first time -- took a charge for a Western Michigan offensive foul. With just under 15 minutes left in the half, Thorburn hit a jumper that ignited a 17-0 BG run. The Falcons held the Broncos without a point for a span of 5:20 and without a field goal for 6:33.

Thorburn began that run with a long two-pointer at the 14:56 mark, and the senior then fired an entry pass to Mann for a layup less than a minute later.

After a Western miss and a Mann rebound, Thorburn found Achter in transition for a fast-break layup, and the Falcons took the lead for good, 12-11. Mann faked a three-point shot and drove the left baseline for a layup, and Achter sliced across the lane to hit a short jumper, prompting a WMU timeout at the 12:31 juncture. But, the Falcons were not finished.

Thorburn made a steal, then took an Achter pass and hit a three-pointer. Mann hit an off-balance jumper out of the next media timeout, and senior Amber Flynn got a steal and would hit an up-and-under layup off a Goldsberry feed. Suddenly, the Falcons had hit eight consecutive shots, and BG's lead was 23-11.

Moore got herself to the foul line and hit both ends to stop BG's run, and another Western hoop got the home team within eight points. But, with just over eight minutes on the clock, Achter poked the ball away from Moore and raced downcourt for a layup. Goldsberry would grab a teammate's miss and hit a layup of her own for a 31-19 BG lead.

The Broncos got the game within single digits on an Amanda Parker three-pointer, but another Mann layup, this time on a spinning drive and a finger-roll, put the lead in double figures for good, 33-22, with 6:26 left. That began a 10-0 BG run which featured five points from Mann, two free throws from Achter and a spectacular sequence from Horne.

With the Broncos on offense, Horne knocked the ball away from Sara Vest, and made a headlong dive to save the ball before it went out of bounds. Horne saved the ball, diving through the BG bench and leaving a chair and two team managers in her wake.

Horne managed to save the ball to a teammate, then climbed back over the chairs and raced downcourt just in time to take a pass from Achter. Horne completed the sequence by drilling a trailing three-pointer from the left elbow.

On Western's very next possession, Horne again stole the ball from Vest, a steal which led to a Mann layup, a three-point play and a 41-22 lead with under four minutes left in the half.

With just over a minute left in the half, Achter took a three-pointer from the right elbow, and the Falcon bench erupted as the shot found nothing but net. The triple was the first of Achter's career, in 14 tries, and BG's lead was 48-28.

Mann hit a jumper to get BG to the 50-point mark, but a three-point play by Moore got the Broncos within 19 points at the intermission.

Both Mann and Moore had 15 points in the opening half. After falling behind by that 11-6 score, the Falcons outscored the hosts by a 44-19 margin over the final 15-plus minutes of the half.

The lead fluctuated between 15 and 21 points until a blocked shot by senior Liz Honegger led to a Mann rebound and long outlet pass to Achter for an uncontested layup. The Falcons led by a 73-51 count midway through the half.

The lead got as high as 29 points on a Jasmine McCall three-pointer with 2:13 left in the game.

In addition to her 21-point night, Mann dished out a team-leading five assists and had five rebounds. Honegger scored seven points and had eight boards to lead the Brown and Orange in that department. Honegger, Goldsberry and Flynn had three steals apiece as BG totalled 16.

Flynn had six points and Goldsberry and McCall five each. Goldsberry had four assists, while Horne and Thorburn had three apiece.

Freshman Tara Breske (another Michigan native) had two rebounds and two impressive blocked shots in just four minutes of action. Breske swatted away a Moore shot attempt with two-and-a-half minutes left, then deflected an Andrea Thelen offering in the final minute of play.

Tiera DeLahoussaye had eight points and 10 assists for the Broncos, and Brown and Moore had nine and eight rebounds, respectively, as WMU held a 30-27 edge on the boards.

The Falcons continue a three-game road swing with a Sunday (Jan. 28) trip to Eastern Michigan. That game begins at 4:30 p.m., and will be televised in Michigan by Comcast Local.

NOTES
* Senior Ali Mann now has 1,587 points in her illustrious Falcon career ... she moved past Francine Miller (1,574 from 1998-2003) into third place on the BGSU career list, and now trails only Jackie Motycka (2,122) and Sara Puthoff (1,678).

* BGSU met Western Michigan for the 50th time in series history on Wednesday night ... the Falcons now lead the series by a 30-20 margin, and BG has won the last six meetings.

* BGSU's total of 90 points was the Falcons' second-highest total of the season, behind only the 92 points amassed against Robert Morris on New Year's Eve ... the Falcons' point total was BG's highest in a road game in over two years, since a 115-84 win at IPFW on Nov. 19, 2004 ... the last time the Falcons hit the 90-point mark on the road vs. a MAC team was Jan. 23, 1999, in a 94-84 win at Miami.

* The game was the Falcons' first since reaching 16th in both national top-25 polls ... the Associated Press poll had come out on Monday afternoon (Jan. 22), with the USA Today/ESPN poll released Tuesday (Jan. 23) ... the rankings are the highest in both school and MAC history.

* The game was also BG's first since the injury to freshman Sarah Clapper, who went down in Monday's practice ... the Falcons suited up just 10 players for Wednesday's game at Western.