Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
WESTERN MICHIGAN
WMU Comeback Downs Falcons, 67-58
February 14, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Western Michigan University ended the game on a 32-7 run to post a 67-58 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Thursday night (Feb. 14). The Mid-American Conference game was held at Anderson Arena.
With the victory, the visiting Broncos improved to 13-12 overall and 9-3 in MAC play. The Falcons fell to 7-17 and 4-9, respectively.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown led all players with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore Kelly Kapferer was the other BGSU double-digit scorer, with 12 points off the bench.
Karen Deurloo had 16 points to lead three Broncos in double figures.
The Falcons, despite having several players in foul trouble, played a solid first half. BG trailed just once in the opening 20 minutes, at 5-4, but a layup by sophomore Lindsay Austin on the break erased that deficit.
Austin, however, picked up her second foul of the game with just 3:54 gone, however, and went to the bench for the remainder of the half.
Sophomore point guard Emily Pohl came off the bench and played her most productive half of the season. Pohl had eight points in the game, all in the opening half, and added four assists, just one off her career high.
The Falcons led by a 20-18 count at the 7:39 mark after a hoop by WMU's Kristin Koetsier, but Brown split a pair of free throws and Pohl grabbed a rebound and sank a shot to give BG a five-point lead.
Deurloo hit two charity tosses at the 3:50 juncture, but the Falcons scored the next seven points. Freshman Sakima Smith shook free for a layup off Pohl's inbounds pass, and sophomore Stefanie Wenzel went to the line and hit both of her free throws. Then, Pohl hit a three-pointer to give the Falcons a double-digit lead, 30-20, with 2:12 left in the half. BGSU still led by 10, at 34-24, at the intermission.
BGSU built that lead despite seeing Austin play just four minutes, and despite the team's second-leading scorer, junior Kim Griech, going scoreless (and not even attempting a shot) in the first half.
The Falcons came out quickly in the second half, as Brown hit a layup just 10 seconds in, and Griech sank her first shot of the game at the 18:39 mark. WMU coach Ron Stewart called a timeout, then burnt another one just 25 seconds later after another Brown layup. When Brown scored yet again, at the 16:56 mark, the Falcons had their biggest lead of the game at 42-24.
The visitors got the next five points, as a Koetsier layup was followed by a Casey Rost three-pointer. Koetsier had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the game, while Rost -- scoreless at the half -- finished with 15 points and 11 boards.
The Broncos slowly chipped away at the lead, and cut the margin to 10 points (51-41) with 11:46 remaining. Moments later, Rost hit a triple to cut the lead to seven, then drained another long-range shot just 32 seconds later, cutting the lead to 53-49. Deurloo made a layup to cut that BG lead in half.
A Brown layup at the 7:32 mark moved the BGSU lead back to four points, at 55-51. The Falcons, however, would score just one more basket and three more points in the entire contest.
WMU tied the game at 56-56 on a pair of Deurloo free throws with 6:02 left. WMU was 23-of-28 from the charity stripe to the Falcons' 7-of-11.
Moments later, Brown scored the Falcons' final points of the game, hitting a layup to give the hosts a 58-57 lead with 3:39 left. But, Koetsier gave WMU the lead for good, hitting a pair of free throws with 3:21 left. WMU did not hit a basket in the game's final 7:10, but went 13-of-16 from the line in that time, including 8-of-10 in the final 1:37.
The Falcons held a 45-43 edge on the boards, led by Brown's 14. That total matched her career high, set in BG's last home game (vs. Ohio, Feb. 5, 2002). Kapferer, in addition to her 12 points, had seven boards off the bench.
Brown also led the Falcons with three steals, as BG forced 19 WMU turnovers. The Falcons committed 16 turnovers in the game.
The Broncos held a narrow edge in the field-goal percentage department, .345 to .343. BGSU limited the visitors to a 7-of-33 effort (.212) in the first half, but WMU shot .545 (12-of-22) after the intermission. In the contest, BGSU was whistled for 25 fouls to the Broncos' 12.
BG held a 28-16 advantage in points in the paint and a 14-0 margin in second-chance points.
The Falcons, who have led at halftime of all seven MAC home games, are now 3-4 in conference action at Anderson Arena.
The WMU game was the first of three in a six-day span for the Brown and Orange. BGSU will depart Friday for a Saturday (Feb. 16) game at Marshall, then return home only to leave Monday for a Tuesday (Feb. 19) contest at Ohio. The Falcons will close the regular season with a Feb. 23 home game vs. Eastern Michigan.
