Falcons Down Central, 67-55, in Battle of Divisional Leaders

Wednesday, February 19

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Central Michigan

February 19, 2014 | Women's Basketball

Halfhill scores 18, goes 9-of-9 at the line as BG deals Chippewas their first MAC loss

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Alexis Rogers vs CMU - Brad Phalin photo

Senior Jillian Halfhill scored a game-high 18 points, including 16 in the second half, as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team topped Central Michigan University, 67-55, Wednesday night (Feb. 19). The game, a battle of Mid-American Conference divisional leaders, was held at the Stroh Center.

FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Halfhill | Stein | Roos
PHOTO GALLERY: Courtesy BGSU Marketing & Communications
BGSU-CMU HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy WBGU-TV

With the victory, the Falcons improve to 22-3 overall and 12-1 in MAC play. CMU drops to 16-9 and 12-1, respectively.

BGSU has won eight games since an overtime loss to the Chippewas in Mount Pleasant, Mich., last month. The Falcons are now a perfect 11-0 in home games this season.

Halfhill's fellow seniors, Jill Stein and Alexis Rogers, joined her in double figures in the scoring column. Stein had a double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Rogers fell just one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing nine boards. BGSU had a 44-36 edge on the glass.

Halfhill had eight rebounds for the Falcons, while redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan added nine points and seven boards in the win.

The Falcons used a 10-0 run late in the first half to take the lead for good, and BGSU went on a 15-4 run early in the second period to extend that lead to double figures. That lead got as large as 19 points with seven-and-a-half minutes to go, and Central never cut BG's margin below 10 points thereafter.

CMU was led by Niki DiGuilio with 15 points, while Crystal Bradford had 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The BG defense made Bradford work for those 14 points, as the Chippewa junior was 5-of-21 from the field on Wednesday night.

Jas'Mine Bracey rounded out the visitors' double-figure scorers with 12 points.

The Falcon defense held the Chippewas to their lowest point total of the season. CMU came into the game averaging 84.2 points per contest.

BG's win snapped a two-game CMU series winning streak, and the victory marked the Falcons' 14th consecutive win over the Chippewas in Bowling Green. Central's last road win against BGSU came on Feb. 8, 1995.

BG took an early 4-0 lead, as Stein put back a teammate's miss on the opening possession of the game, then fed Rogers for an easy layup a minute later. The Chippewas knotted the game at 4-4, and after Rogers fed Stein for a layup, Bradford's second hoop of the game tied the score once again. Sophomore Miriam Justinger converted a nice driving layup to give the Falcons an 8-6 lead with just under four minutes gone.

The Chippewas, however, went on a 6-0 run, as Bradford split a pair of free throws before DiGuilio knocked down a corner three-pointer. Then, Jessica Green's jump-stop and pass in the lane led to an easy layup for Bracey and a 12-8 CMU lead as the Falcons used a timeout.

Junior Deborah Hoekstra checked into the game for the first time at the 13:41 mark, and wasted no time in making her presence felt. Just 13 seconds later, Hoekstra took a pass from Donovan and drained a three-pointer from in front of the CMU bench. Bradford fed Bracey for a layup, but Halfhill found Donovan for a layup at the other end, cutting CMU's lead to 14-13 with eight minutes elapsed.

DiGuilio's second triple of the night gave the visitors a four-point lead, but Hoekstra drove inside and drew Bradford's second foul of the game with 9:52 left before halftime. Hoekstra split the two resulting free throws, before a three-pointer by junior Jasmine Matthews tied the game, 17-17, with 8:21 left in the period.

A jumper by DiGuilio gave CMU the lead once again, and that lead increased to 21-17 when Bracey put back her own miss. But, Stein hit back-to-back layups to tie the score and begin that 10-0 BG run.

First, Stein whirled around her would-be defender for a layup. Then, after Rogers grabbed a defensive rebound, the Falcons were off and running, and Justinger fired a pass ahead to Stein for a layup and a 21-all tie.

A driving layup by Rogers at the 4:22 mark gave the Falcons the lead for good, and Matthews took a pass from Justinger and drilled a three-ball from the right wing. When Justinger hit a free throw, the home team was up by a 27-21 score with 3:30 left in the period.

Halfhill hit a runner with under 30 seconds to go, but Bradford scored in the lane in the final seconds to cut BG's lead to 29-26 at the intermission.

After making 12-of-29 shots from the field in the first half, the Falcons went 5-of-5 to start the second. BG went 7-of-9 from the floor over the first five minutes of the second period, taking a double-digit lead.

It was the Chippewas who scored first after halftime, however, as a steal and layup by Green cut BG's lead to a single point. But, Justinger found Stein for a layup, and Donovan drove around and through a host of players for a left-side layup and a 33-28 lead.

Halfhill took a Rogers handoff, drove to the hoop and scored, and BG's lead was seven points as CMU used a timeout with 18:06 to go.

Bracey converted a layup out of the timeout, but Rogers lobbed the ball inside to Stein for a layup. DiGuilio knocked down a jumper, but again, the Falcons had an answer as Stein's pass found Donovan for a triple from the right corner and a 40-32 BG lead. Moments later, the lead reached double figures for the first time as Donovan hit a tough jumper in the paint with the shot clock winding down.

Justinger's driving layup made it a 44-32 game, and with the lead at 11 points midway through the period, the Falcons proceeded to go on an 8-0 run. That run began when Justinger hit a three-pointer as DiGuilio was called for a foul away from the ball. The Falcons kept possession, but turned the ball over to CMU as the clock ticked down toward nine minutes remaining.

BG got the ball right back after a CMU miss, and Stein hit Halfhill for a corner three and a 52-35 lead. Halfhill's free throws at the 7:25 mark gave BG a 54-35 advantage.

Quickly, however, the visitors scored five points, as Da'Jourie Turner's layup was followed by a DiGuilio three. The Falcons used a timeout with just under seven minutes left.

CMU's run would reach 9-0, and the Falcons' lead would drop to 10 points, as Green hit two free throws, then a jumper. Rogers got to the line for a pair of successful tosses, but Turner matched that feat, and it was once again a 10-point margin with 5:36 left.

Halfhill, however, hit an 'and-one' layup on the next possession, knocking down the free throw for a 59-46 lead. Bradford's layup was answered by a Rogers shot inside, but Bradford responded with a three-point play, hitting the charity toss out of the game's final media timeout. BG's lead was 61-51 with 3:54 remaining.

The Falcons did not make another field goal after the Rogers shot with 4:08 remaining, but Halfhill was a perfect 6-of-6 at the free-throw line in the game's final 3:36. Her first two tosses upped her team's advantage to 12 points, 63-51, and the Chippewas would not draw closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

The Falcons shot 48 percent in the second half en route to a 24-of-54 (44.4%) effort for the game. BG held CMU to just a 10-of-34 (29.4%) success rate in the second half, and Central shot 31.8% from the floor on the night.

CMU was just 3-of-21 from three-point range in the game, with DiGuilio hitting all three of her team's triples. The Falcons were 6-of-19 from the arc, with Matthews making two treys and four of her teammates one apiece.

BGSU's 44-36 rebounding margin included a 25-16 advantage in the second period. Halfhill, as mentioned, scored 16 of her 18 points in that second half, and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line, with all of those tosses coming after halftime.

Justinger and Stein had four assists each to lead the Falcons, while Halfhill and Rogers each dished out three helpers. Stein tied her career high with three blocked shots.

The Falcons' five remaining regular-season games all are against fellow members of the East Division, beginning this weekend. BGSU will head to Western New York for a Saturday (Feb. 22) matchup with the University at Buffalo. That game will begin at 2:00 p.m. at UB's Alumni Arena.