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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Balanced Attack Helps Falcons Roll Past Akron, 91-46
February 14, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2007
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team scored the first 13 points of the game, and all 10 players on the active Falcon roster scored at least five points. It all added up to a 91-46 win over the University of Akron (Feb. 14) Wednesday night at Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 23-2 overall and 12-0 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Zips drop to 9-15 and 2-10, respectively.
Senior Megan Thorburn led that balanced BGSU attack with 14 points, including four three-point field goals. Junior Kate Achter had 12 points, while seniors Carin Horne and Amber Flynn scored 11 apiece to round out the Falcons' four double-figure scorers.
Riana Miller led the Zips with 12 points off the bench.
Did we mention BGSU's balance? In addition to the four double-digit scorers, head coach Curt Miller and Company got nine points from sophomore Jasmine McCall and freshman Tara Breske off the bench, with Breske's total more than doubling her previous career best. Breske was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.
More from the "Scoring, Balanced" file: senior Ali Mann and sophomore Lindsey Goldsberry each scored seven points, while senior Liz Honegger had six and freshman Laura Bugher five. Bugher's point total was the highest of her brief career at BG to date.
The Falcons shot 52.5 percent from the field on the night, including a 56.0% success rate in the second half. The BGSU defense held UA to a 35.8% field-goal percentage for the game.
Every member of the Falcons' active roster played between 10 and 25 minutes in the win.
The home team got out to a 13-0 lead, holding the visitors scoreless for three-and-a-half minutes. Just 21 seconds into the game, Mann took an entry pass from Achter and hit an 'and-one' layup off the glass. Mann, whose status for the game was questionable due to bronchitis, completed the three-point play, and the Falcons had a lead they would never relinquish.
Horne drove and scored after a BGSU offensive rebound, and Thorburn hit a left-side three-pointer after Mann saved the ball from going out of bounds under the basket. The Falcons' lead was 8-0 with just over two minutes elapsed.
Horne came up with steals near midcourt on back-to-back UA possessions, driving and drawing fouls on both occasions. The senior was 3-of-4 from the stripe to give BG a double-digit lead. After Achter hit a layup in transition, the Brown and Orange had a 13-0 advantage.
Finally, Niki McCoy broke the Zips' drought with a jumper in the paint, and then it was Akron's turn to make a run. Miller scored on three consecutive possessions to cut her team's deficit to 13-8 and force the Falcons to take a timeout.
Achter broke BG's scoring drought with a jumper at the 14:01 mark, beginning a 6-0 run for the hosts. The Zips got the lead as close as six points on two occasions over the next few minutes, before the Falcons began to pull away.
With the Zips still within single digits after a jumper by Miller with 4:47 left in the half, the Falcons scored the game's next eight points. An offensive rebound and putback by Honegger began the run, and McCall then hit a jumper. After a UA miss, Achter quickly drove to the other end and knocked down a shot on the break, and when McCall hit two free throws at the 2:14 mark, BG's lead was 17 points, 38-21.
Two triples in the final minute of the half extended the margin to over 20 points. Thorburn connected from long distance with 47 seconds remaining, and Achter drove the lane and found an open Breske in the right corner for an open shot, which found nothing but net in the final seconds of the half. The triple was the first of Breske's career, and BG had a 46-25 lead at the break.
After ending the first half on a 16-4 run, the Falcons began the second stanza on an 11-2 run. Achter drove the lane and knocked down a jumper on the opening possession of the half, and Honegger took a Thorburn right-side pass and hit a layup at the 19:03 mark. Achter's long pass found Horne ahead of the pack for a fast-break layup, and another pass by the junior resulted in a left-side three-ball from Thorburn, prompting a Zip timeout with 17:24 left. Two free throws from Mann resulted in a 30-point margin, 57-27, with 16 minutes remaining.
The Zips got within 28 points on two McCoy free throws, but BG would slowly pull away even further. A McCall 'free fries' three-pointer gave the Falcons an 86-39 lead with 4:21 remaining, and Bugher's first career trey just over a minute later gave BG its largest lead of the season, 48 points, at 89-41. Bugher would hit two free throws in the game's final minute for her five-point night.
McCoy and Jessica Deville each scored nine points for the Zips, while Sarah Tokodi added eight.
Achter had seven assists to lead all players, as the Falcons had 17 assists and just seven turnovers in the game. UA committed 17 turnovers on the night.
BGSU enjoyed a 16-0 advantage in fast-break points, and the Falcons got 41 bench points to the Zips' 25.
The Falcons return to action Saturday (Feb. 17), heading to New York to meet the University at Buffalo in a 5:00 p.m. start.
NOTES
* BGSU's win over the Zips clinched a first-round bye for the MAC Tournament ... the top-two teams in each division earn byes, and the Falcons are now five games ahead of third-place Ohio in the East Division race, with four games to go.
* Additionally, the Falcons have clinched at least a tie for the East Division title ... Ohio downed Kent State in overtime on Wednesday night, putting BGSU four games ahead of the second-place Golden Flashes with four games remaining.
* The Falcons were 21-of-23 from the free-throw line in Wednesday's win, while Akron was 6-for-8 from the stripe.
* BGSU held a 36-28 rebounding advantage, with every player grabbing at least one for the Brown and Orange ... senior Ali Mann led the way with seven, while classmate Liz Honegger had six.
* Mann had seven points, snapping a streak of 31-straight games in double digits dating to last year ... Mann, suffering from bronchitis, played just five minutes in the second half, and sat out the final 14:37 of the game.
* Freshmen Tara Breske and Laura Bugher each posted career-high point totals vs. the Zips ... both Breske and Bugher made the first three-point field goals of their respective Falcon careers in Wednesday's win.
* The Falcons' win increased the nation's longest active homecourt winning streak to 29 games.
* BGSU also increased several other lengthy win streaks, including consecutive wins (16 since a December loss to #1 Duke), wins vs. MAC opponents (a school- and conference-record 37), and home wins against Akron (19 in as many meetings at Anderson).
* Overall, the Falcons now lead the all-time series with the Zips by a 37-2 count, and BG has won eight consecutive series meetings ... UA's only two wins both came in the Rubber City, in 1999 and 2001.
* BGSU shot over 50 percent from the field for the third consecutive game and the 11th time this season ... that surpasses the total (nine) for the previous two years combined ... the Falcons are now a perfect 25-0 when shooting at least 50.0% in the Curt Miller Era.
