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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Toledo (Quarterfinal)
UT's Second-Half Surge Downs Women's Basketball, 81-63
March 06, 2001 | Women's Basketball
March 6, 2001
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The top-seeded University of Toledo rallied from a three-point halftime deficit to defeat the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Tuesday afternoon (March 6). The Mid-American Conference Tournament Quarterfinal game was held at Gund Arena.
The loss ends the season for the Falcons, who finish with an 11-18 record.
The Falcons, seeded ninth for the tourney, opened slowly, but used a 19-5 run to take an eight-point lead in the first half. UT led by a 14-8 count when the Brown and Orange got hot, surging to a 27-19 lead over the next 4:43. Sophomore Kim Griech, who started the BG run with a pair of three-pointers, had 16 first-half points en route to a career-high 19 for the game.
The Rockets, now 23-5 on the year, closed to within 29-25 on a pair of Teresa Kahle free throws at the 3:33 mark, but Griech answered with a jumper.
UT got as close as two points, 33-31, with 2:16 left in the first half, but Griech scored eight of BGSU's final 10 points of the half. She buried a trey at the 2:08 mark, then broke a 36-all tie with a basket with 54 seconds left. Then, she broke another deadlock, hitting her fourth triple of the first half with 20 seconds left.
Griech made all six of her first-half field-goal attempts, including four from beyond the arc.
UT's Kahle led the Rockets in that first stanza with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Toledo took the lead in the second half on a pair of Tia Davis free throws at the 16:16 mark, and the Rockets would not trail again. BGSU, after shooting .484 in the first 20 minutes, went just 5-of-28 in the second half (.179), for a game percentage of .339.
The Falcons scored just five points over the first 10 minutes of the second stanza, but held UT to just four buckets during that same stretch. The Rockets had eight free throws during that time, however, to build a seven-point lead, 53-46.
BGSU made a run, scoring six consecutive points, with the last five coming from junior Francine Miller. She hit a trey at the 9:07 mark, then made a pair of free throws 38 seconds later to bring the Brown and Orange within one, 53-52.
The Rockets, though, got back-to-back treys from Courtney Risinger and Davis for a 59-52 lead, and BG never got closer than seven points again. UT closed the game on a 17-7 run, with most of those points coming from the charity stripe, to provide the final margin.
For the Falcons, Miller joined Griech in double digits with 15 points, while senior Angie Farmer had seven points in her final game in the Brown and Orange.
Kahle and Risinger had 17 points apiece for the Rockets, while Davis had 16 and Kahli Carter 10.
Senior Jackie Adlington had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Falcons, who matched the Rockets' team total of 41 boards for the game. Adlington's total tied her BGSU career high.
The Falcons, the only team to beat UT during the MAC regular season, went 5-of-14 from three-point land and 18-of-23 from the charity stripe. UT was 4-of-12 from behind the arc and 27-of-39 from the free-throw line.
"I was pleased with our effort today," said Falcon coach Dee Knoblauch. "We gave Toledo a pretty big scare.
"I just hoped that we could have hung around longer, but we shot the ball poorly in the second half. We did a good job on (All-MAC First-Team performer) Kahli Carter today, but the reason Toledo is so good is that others can step up. They have such good balance."
The Falcons played without senior Afra Smith for the first time in her two years with the program. Smith suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the Falcons' tourney first-round win at Western Michigan (78-75, March 3).
