Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
Wenzel's Career Day Helps Falcons Past Buffalo, 71-69
January 12, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green State University sophomore Stefanie Wenzel scored a career-high 30 points Saturday afternoon (Jan. 12).
And, as it turned out, the Falcon women's basketball team needed every one of them.
BGSU posted a 71-69 victory over the University at Buffalo at venerable Anderson Arena, getting into the win column for the first time in Mid-American Conference play this year.
BGSU moves to 4-11 overall and 1-3 in MAC action, while UB drops to 7-8 and 2-2, respectively.
The game started slowly for the Falcons, as the UB defense forced BG into three missed field-goal attempts and a turnover on the team's first possession of the day. In fact, the Falcons went just 1-of-13 over the game's first seven minutes. During that time, the visitors scored the game's first seven points en route to building a 13-5 lead.
But, the Falcons showed signs of life. Sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin hit a three-point field goal, and classmate Kelly Kapferer converted a three-point play to bring BG within two points. Then, junior Kim Griech hit a shot from beyond the arc, and the Falcons led for the first time, 15-14.
After a UB layup, Austin drew a foul and converted a pair of free throws to give the Falcons a lead they would hold for the rest of the half. BG extended the lead to seven points (25-18), saw it whittled to one, then answered UB's 6-0 run with an 8-0 run of their own to take a nine-point lead, 33-24, with 3:22 left in the half.
The Falcons led by as many as 11 points, 39-28, before a late Bulls three-pointer made the BG lead eight points at the intermission.
The Falcons hit eight three-point field goals in the game, all in the first half. After that 1-of-13 start to the game (.077), BGSU made 11-of-21 shots from the floor (.524) over the remainder of the half.
The Bulls would fight back in the second half, however, largely behind the play of sophomore Kim Kilpela. Kilpela, who had five points and two rebounds before the break, had 21 points and 11 boards in the second half alone.
UB erased the Falcon lead in the first 3:17 of the second half, forging a 41-41 tie. Then, Kilpela split a pair of free throws to give UB a one-point lead at the 15:41 mark. Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown's two charity tosses gave the Falcons the lead once again, before another UB throw tied the score with 14:37 remaining.
Wenzel, who scored 19 points in the first half, hit a layup at the 14:05 mark to give the hosts a lead they would not relinquish. Austin followed with back-to-back baskets to move the lead to six points. Austin had one of her top all-around games of the year, with 15 points, seven rebounds (tying her career high) and seven assists in 39 minutes of action.
The Bulls cut the BG lead to three points midway through the half, but the Falcons then outscored the visitors, 13-6, to take the first double-digit lead of the afternoon, 64-54, with 4:58 left. But, UB would not go away.
Kilpela got an offensve rebound and putback, then drew a foul and made both free throws. The Bulls had a whopping 27 offensive boards in the game.
Kilpela hit two more charity tosses, and, when Allison Bennett's shot went through the hoop with 2:29 left, the Bulls were within two points.
Wenzel split a pair of free throws to give the Brown and Orange a 65-62 lead. On the next trip down the floor, the Bulls missed three shots, including a three-point attempt that was blocked by Austin. UB's Virginia Jennings grabbed the rebound, but was forced to fire a hurried three-pointer that failed to draw iron as the shot clock expired.
BG rebounded, and Austin's basket with 1:09 left gave the hosts a five-point lead.
After a UB timeout, Jessica Kochendorfer scored to bring the visitors within three points again, 67-64, with 39 seconds left. The Bulls then fouled Griech, who sank both free throws with half a minute remaining.
Bennett grabbed a rebound and scored with 15 seconds remaining, and the Bulls were forced to foul Wenzel. The Sussex, Wis., native made both free throws to give the Falcons a 71-66 edge, and those tosses became more important after Bennett banked in a three-point shot with four seconds on the clock. BG was able to inbound the ball and run out the clock.
In addition to Wenzel and Austin, Griech also hit double digits in scoring, with 10 points. Griech could have had more points, but the Falcons twice were called for infractions (three-second violations or offensive fouls) just as she was shooting three-pointers that found nothing but net.
For the Bulls, Kilpela had 26 points, a game-high 13 rebounds and five blocked shots. Kochendorfer also had a double-double, with 12 points and 11 boards, and blocked three shots. Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe scored 13 points.
BGSU shot .435 in the second half and .386 for the game. The Falcons held UB to a .358 field-goal percentage for the afternoon.
The Falcons' total of 71 points was the second-most allowed by the Bulls this season. In the latest NCAA statistics, UB was ranked ninth in the nation in scoring defense (as of Jan. 7), and the Bulls were allowing just 55.4 points per game after Tuesday's (Jan. 8) 55-45 win over Central Michigan.
UB held a 49-39 advantage on the boards. Kapferer paced the Brown and Orange in that department, with nine.
The Bulls also got to the line more often than the Falcons, but the host team wound up converting more of their attempts. BGSU was 19-of-22 from the stripe (.864), while UB was 17-of-31 (.548).
The Falcons made eight three-pointers in 24 attempts for the game, but BG was 0-of-4 from beyond the arc in the second half. UB made just four triples in 20 tries on the day.
BGSU has little time to enjoy Saturday's win. The Falcons will return to Anderson Arena for a Monday (Jan. 14) contest vs. the University of Akron, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.
