Monday, March 24
Bowling Green, OH
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
76
vs
65
St. Bonaventure
Fast Start Sends Falcons Past St. Bonaventure, 76-65
March 24, 2014 | Women's Basketball
BGSU advances to WNIT's third round; Falcons will host Michigan Thursday
LINKS
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POSTGAME AUDIO: Donovan | Roos
PHOTO GALLERY: Craig Bell, BGSU Marketing & Communications
HIGHLIGHTS: BGSU-SBU
WNIT BRACKET: Through Monday's games
With the win, the Falcons improve to 29-4 on the season, and BGSU will host the University of Michigan in third-round action. The Wolverines will make the short trip south to the Stroh Center for a Thursday game (March 27), which will begin at 7:00 p.m.
The Bonnies see the season come to an end with a record of 24-11.
The Falcons' victory on Monday night broke the school single-season record for home wins. BGSU is now a perfect 15-0 at the Stroh Center this year to date.
Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan scored 22 points to pace four Falcons in double digits. Senior Jillian Halfhill had 18 points, including 16 in the second half, while sophomore Miriam Justinger scored 17 and junior Jasmine Matthews 11.
Justinger just missed a double-double, with a BG-best nine rebounds on the night. She has averaged 19.5 points per game in the Falcons' first two WNIT contests this year.
Justinger was 7-of-9 from the field in the win over the Bonnies.
Katie Healy led the visitors with 22 points, while Hannah Little had 17 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. The Bonnies held a 44-40 advantage on the glass.
Emily Michael rounded out SBU's double-figure scorers with 14 points. She made 5-of-6 shots from the field, including three of her four three-point field-goal attempts on the night.
BGSU committed just six turnovers in the game, including only one in the first half. The Falcons were 9-of-19 from three-point range in the win, with three players making three long-range shots apiece.
The Falcons took a seemingly commanding lead in the first half, then fought off numerous comeback attempts by the visitors. BG's lead, which reached a game-high 28 points late in the first half, dwindled to single digits on several occasions. But, every time the Bonnies threatened to draw closer, the home team had an answer. BG was able to keep SBU at bay and close out the win at the free-throw line.
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WNIT RESULTS & SCHEDULE Monday, 3/24 Michigan 68, Duquesne 52 BGSU 76, St. Bonaventure 65 Rutgers 63, Harvard 52 Auburn 82, Old Dominion 59 Miss. State 74, So. Miss 66 (2OT) San Diego 60, Montana 57 UTEP 76, Saint Mary's 64 Washington 93, Oregon 85 Third Round Wednesday, 3/26 San Diego at Washington, 10 Thursday, 3/27 Geo. Washington at South Fla., 7 Northwestern at Indiana, 7 Seton Hall at Rutgers, 7 Michigan at Bowling Green, 7 Minnesota at South Dakota St., 8 Auburn at Mississippi St., 8 Friday, 3/28 Colorado at UTEP, 9 (All times p.m. and Eastern) |
Healy's jumper at the 16:53 mark got the Bonnies on the board, and Nyla Rueter followed with a jumper of her own with 15:30 left in the period. Then, however, the visitors would go over 11 minutes without making another field goal. SBU went 2-of-17 from the field to start the game, missing 13 consecutive shots before a Healy layup with 4:23 left in the half.
Meanwhile, the Falcons continued to build the lead. A steal and layup by Justinger gave the Falcons an 11-4 lead, and the sophomore's driving layup made it a 13-5 game with just over seven minutes gone. Those four points by Justinger began a 20-0 run for the Falcons.
Junior Deborah Hoekstra made two free throws for a 15-5 advantage at the 12:04 mark. Hoekstra would play only three minutes in Monday's contest before leaving due to an injury she suffered when she took an SBU charge just 10 seconds later.
Freshman Abby Siefker split two tosses, and Donovan hit a driving layup for an 18-5 lead. Donovan scored two more points at the line, and Justinger's jumper after a nifty shot-fake gave the Falcons a 22-5 edge. Siefker found Donovan for a jumper in the paint, and after an SBU miss, Halfhill quickly came down and scored. The BG lead was 26-5, and the Bonnies used a timeout with 5:44 left in the half.
The timeout did not slow the Falcons, however, Justinger hit Matthews in stride for a catch-and-shoot three from the right wing, and Siefker drove right past her would-be defender for a layup and a 31-5 BGSU lead with 4:38 left in the half.
The Bonnies, having made just two field goals in the first 15-plus minutes, got the Healy layup to snap a scoreless drought of 9:28.
But, Donovan hit a pair of charity tosses, then caught a lob from Justinger for a jump-stop layup and a 35-7 lead, the largest of the game.
The Bonnies went on a run in the last 3:24 of the half, beginning with a Little layup. After scoring just seven points in the first 16-plus minutes, the visitors scored eight-straight points in a span of just 2:35. Little scored six of those points, while Chelsea Bowker added a layup. Siefker split a pair of shots at the stripe in the final minute of the half, giving the Brown and Orange a 36-15 lead at the break.
The visitors, after scoring 15 first-half points and making just 6-of-28 shots from the field (21.4%) in the first half, shot over 51 percent and scored 50 points in the second. SBU hit six field goals before the first media timeout of the second period, with three 'and-one' opportunities in that first four-and-a-half-minute stretch.
Healy scored seven of the Bonnies' 14 points in that span, but the Falcons got three-pointers from Donovan and Halfhill, along with a three-point play by the senior point guard, to take a 16-point lead into that first media break. Donovan's three-ball came from the right corner, while Halfhill's long-range shot came from the opposite corner after a nice touch pass by classmate Jill Stein.
Halfhill's three-point play at the 16:32 mark made it a 45-25 game before Little and Healy each hit layups in the next minute.
Justinger scored BG's next five points, with a sweet 'and-one' floater out of the timeout along with another jumper for a 50-31 lead. Michael answered with a trey, but Halfhill stole the ball from Imani Outlaw and found Justinger ahead of the pack for a fast-break layup. That Halfhill steal came after Matthews had swatted a shot by Little.
Healy sandwiched four points around a Halfhill corner trey, off of a pass from freshman Rachel Konieczki, and a three-point play by Little cut the BG lead to 56-41 with 8:15 remaining. When Oney Harrison hit her lone bucket of the night, that lead was just 13 points, but Matthews quickly answered with a driving layup for a 58-43 lead at the under-eight-minute timeout.
BG forced a turnover, used all of the shot clock on the next possession and utilized some nifty passing as well. All five players touched the ball before Donovan converted a layup with 6:54 left. But, Michael scored the game's next five points, and when Reuter hit a layup, BG's lead was only 10 points, at 60-50.
Halfhill knocked down a three-pointer, but Michael hit another triple. Justinger's tough jumper in the paint was answered by a Healy layup, and the BG lead was 65-55. When Healy made a jumper with exactly four minutes remaining, the Bonnies had cut the deficit to single digits.
But, SBU would get no closer than eight points. Donovan took a pass from Matthews and rattled home a three-point try at the 2:51 mark for a 68-57 lead, and after Little made a pair of free throws, BG again used all of the shot clock. This time, after the Falcons missed a layup try, senior Alexis Rogers grabbed the rebound and scored as the horn sounded. The bucket, Rogers' only two points of the game, ,gave BG a 70-59 lead with just 1:22 remaining.
Healy scored to cut the BG lead to nine, but Halfhill was fouled, went to the line and hit a pair of tosses with 56 seconds left. The Falcons were a perfect 6-of-6 from the stripe in that final minute, with Halfhill making four shots and Justinger two, and BG had the win.
BGSU's WNIT third-round game vs. Michigan, as mentioned, will be Thursday (March 27) at 7:00 p.m. The Falcons and Wolverines played nearly five months ago, with BG winning by a 63-52 final. That game, on Nov. 8, 2013, was the season opener for both teams, and was the first game of the Iona Tip-Off Tournament in New Rochelle, N.Y.
All BGSU students will be admitted free to Thursday's game, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
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