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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MIAMI (OH)
Women's Basketball Rallies To Down Miami, 82-79
February 19, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A pair of seniors, in possibly their last home appearance, combined for 31 points as the Bowling Green women's basketball team rallied to defeat Miami, 82-79, at venerable Anderson Arena Saturday (Feb. 19).
Co-captains Sherry Kahle and Jaymee Wappes, honored prior to the game as part of "senior day" festivities, shot a combined 11-for-18 from the field, making nine three-point shots between them, as the Falcons (8-16 overall, 6-8 Mid-American Conference) won back-to-back games for the first time all season.
Wappes had a career-high 17 points, including a career-best five three pointers, and played all 40 minutes for the sixth time this season. She added five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.
Kahle had 14 points and six rebounds, and made four treys of her own. Sophomore Francine Miller had game highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds to go along with a team-best six assists on the day.
The day started out on an ominous note for the Falcons. The Redhawks (13-11, 7-7) hit the first three shots of the game, all from three-point range, to take a 9-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest. In the teams' first meeting of the year, MU tied a MAC record by sinking 16 treys in a 100-69 win, and appeared to be well on their way to another record Saturday. Jamie Stewart, who set a Miami school record with nine treys in the first game, hit a pair of triples to start Saturday's contest, while Hollie Nelsen followed with a third.
The Falcons battled back with some long-range markswomanship of their own. After a conventional three-point play by Miller, BG's next five baskets all came from three-point land. Angie Farmer, Kahle and Wappes hit treys, with the last tying the game at 12-12. The RedHawks led by as many as five points on several occasions in the first half, but the Brown and Orange led for the final eight minutes of the half, taking a 41-37 edge into the intermission.
The second stanza featured three ties and 11 lead changes. A Miller layup to open the half gave BG a six-point lead, the team's largest of the game, but the RedHawks scored the next eight markers to erase the BG advantage. The Falcons led by four points after a Megan Jerome three-pointer with 5:46 remaining, but back-to-back triples by Valerie Jones gave the visitors a two-point edge. Neither team would lead by more than three points the rest of the way.
The final few minutes featured back-and-forth swings of momentum. A Kahle trey with exactly four minutes left put BG on top by one, but Nelsen hit a trey at the 2:58 mark. A Miller layup just 14 seconds later tied the game at 73-all, but Jones split a pair of free throws with 2:20 left. Another Miller layup gave BG the lead again, but another Nelsen trey made the score 77-75, MU, with 1:55 left. That set the stage for two big plays by Wappes.
After a Falcon timeout, the senior hit a three-point shot at the 1:38 mark to give the hosts the lead for good. Then, after a defensive stop, Wappes drove the baseline with under a minute to play. She was knocked from her feet, but managed to shovel a short pass to a waiting Afra Smith under the basket. Smith's layup gave BG an 80-77 edge with 47 seconds left.
MU's AuBree Hamilton made a pair of charity tosses with 21 seconds left, but Miller returned the favor with two successful free throws six seconds later. A pair of Miami three-point tries in the final seconds could not find the mark, and Kahle gathered in the final rebound as the horn sounded.
Miami nearly matched the team's three-point mark from the first game, hitting 15 treys in the contest and shooting .455 from long distance. The Falcons, however, made 14 treys in the contest. Through 24 games, BG has made 228 treys, just six away from the MAC record for triples in a season.
The Falcons are now averaging 9.50 three-point field goals made per game, a figure that would be an NCAA record, should BG maintain that pace. To date, the only team to average more than nine treys per game is the 1993-94 South Carolina squad (9.19).
The Brown and Orange hit double digits in three-pointers for the fourth consecutive game, and the 11th time this season. In the eight home conference games this season, the Falcons averaged 11.75 successful treys per game, making at least eight in every contest.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic of the day, however, involved the Falcons' ability to take care of the ball down the stretch. BGSU committed nine turnovers on the afternoon, but just one in the entire second half. By contrast, the Falcons forced the RedHawks into 17 turnovers.
Jackie Adlington, playing in just her fourth game of the season, came off the bench and grabbed a team-high four steals in 14 minutes of action.
For the RedHawks, Stewart led the way with 21 points on seven three-pointers. She went 7-of-15 from the field, with one miss coming from two-point range and the other 14 shots originating from beyond the arc.
Nelsen had 17 points, including a 5-for-10 day from three-point range, while Hamilton had 15 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Freshman Heather Cusick added 12 points, five boards and six assists.
The Falcons will conclude the regular season with a pair of road games, taking on Akron Wednesday (Feb. 23) and Buffalo Friday (Feb. 25). The first round of the MAC Tournament will be on Feb. 28.
