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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Yale
Women's Basketball Falls To Yale
November 24, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2001
BOULDER, Colo. - Yale University posted an 81-69 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday evening (Nov. 24). The game, the consolation contest of the Coors Classic, was held at the Coors Events/Conference Center.
With the setback, the team's third in a row, the Falcons drop to 1-3 on the young season. Yale improves to 1-2.
The Falcons started the contest on a positive note, scoring the first eight points of the game. A bucket by senior Dana Western-Schuka was followed by a steal and layup from sophomore Lindsay Austin. After baskets by junior Kim Griech and sophomore Pam Brown, the Falcons led, 8-0.
BGSU held Yale scoreless until Christina Phillips hit a pair of free throws with 16:09 left in the first half, and the Falcon defense held the Bulldogs without a field goal for the game's first 4:56.
Yale fought back, however, forging a 16-16 tie at the 9:38 mark, then completing an 11-0 run to go ahead by a 23-16 margin two minutes later. The Brown and Orange answered with a run, in the form of Karen Stocz. With BGSU trailing by a 26-18 count, the junior came off the bench to score the game's next six points. Stocz had eight points and a team-high four rebounds in the first half.
But, Yale answered with the next five points, all coming from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs made 16 free throws in 20 attempts in the first stanza.
Stocz sank two free throws of her own (the seventh and eighth consecutive points she had scored for the Falcons) to cut the Yale lead to 31-26, but the Bulldogs scored the next six point to take a 10-point lead. Yale took a nine-point lead into the intermission, 42-33.
In the second half, the Bulldogs hit two more free throws before a Western-Schuka three-pointer began an 18-5 run. Western-Schuka scored 11 of her team-high 16 points during that run, which spanned three minutes and 50 seconds. The senior had back-to-back triples to close the run, the second giving the Falcons a 51-49 lead with 14:41 left and prompting Yale coach Amy Backus to use a timeout.
Western-Schuka hit four three-point field goals on the night, tying her career high, in six attempts.
After the timeout, Yale regrouped and scored the game's next 12 points to take the lead for good. The Bulldogs moved their advantage to as many as 12 points on two occasions in the half, and the closest BG could come was within seven points in the last minute of the contest.
Western-Schuka's 16 points led the Falcons, while Austin and Brown each had 14 markers. Griech had nine points, while Stocz had eight points off the bench.
Yale was led by Helene Schutrumpf's 20 points, while a pair of players had double-digit efforts off the bench. Bonnie Smith scored 14 points, while Morgan Richards added 10.
The Bulldogs held a 53-38 advantage on the boards, led by Meg Simpson's 17 rebounds. Brown led the Falcons with nine rebounds, including six at the offensive end, while Austin and Western-Schuka had seven apiece.
Austin added seven assists and four steals on the night, while Brown had a career-high five thefts.
The Falcons forced 16 Yale turnovers in the game. BGSU committed 13 turnovers, but just two after halftime.
BGSU shot .338 from the field and .870 from the free-throw line. The Falcons made 20 free throws in 23 attempts, with Brown and Stocz both going 6-for-6. Yale shot .381 from the floor and .771 from the stripe. The Bulldogs made 27 free throws in 35 attempts.
Bowling Green played without the services of senior Francine Miller, a Preseason All-MAC selection and the team's top scorer. Miller, who injured her knee in Tuesday's (Nov. 20) game at Detroit, is day to day.
The Falcons will return home for two games, completing a season-opening stretch which sees BGSU play six times in a 13-day span. The Brown and Orange will host 2001 NCAA Tournament participant Eastern Kentucky Tuesday (Nov. 27), before meeting IPFW two nights later (Nov. 29). Both contests are scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
The IPFW contest will be BG's fourth game in seven days.
The Falcons will play Yale again this season. BGSU and the Bulldogs will meet on Dec. 27, in the first round of the Gatorade Holiday Festival in Coral Gables, Fla.
