Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MARSHALL
Falcons Fall At Marshall, 56-43
February 16, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2002
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - Host Marshall University used a 20-0 run, spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, to post a 56-43 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday night (Feb. 16). The Mid-American Conference game was held at the Henderson Center.
With the win, the Thundering Herd improves to 8-16 on the year, and 4-9 in MAC action. The Falcons drop to 7-18 and 4-10, respectively.
Not surprisingly, in a game that featured a total of just 99 points, both teams had trouble scoring at times. The game was scoreless for the first 2:46, before Marshall's Catie Knable got the Herd on the board. The Falcons did not score until senior Dana Western-Schuka hit a three-point field goal with 5:21 elapsed. After an Ida Dotson layup at the 14:03 mark, the Thundering Herd led by a 6-3 score. The hosts would not score again for nearly 10 minutes.
BGSU began a season-high 16-point run, starting with a layup by sophomore Kelly Kapferer. After sophomore Stefanie Wenzel hit a pair of free throws, junior Megan Jerome pulled down a rebound and went coast-to-coast. She hit a layup while drawing a foul, and converted the ensuing free throw to give BG a 10-6 lead at the 11:28 mark.
Then, neither team scored for nearly four more minutes, until Jerome grabbed another defensive rebound and hit a pull-up jumper on the fast break. Jerome continued her clinic by taking a nice feed from freshman Sakima Smith, drawing a foul and hitting both free throws at the 7:43 mark.
After sophomore Lindsay Austin picked Dotson's pocket and went in for a layup, Jerome hit a three-pointer to give BG a 19-6 lead with 5:47 left in the half.
Dotson scored to end the 16-0 BG run as well as MU's scoreless drought of 9:04, and the Herd cut the BG lead to 19-10 with another hoop at the 4:15 mark. Then, neither team scored until Jerome drained another triple at the 2:38 mark.
At that point, BGSU led by a 22-10 score, with Jerome accounting for 13 of those points. But, by the time the Falcons scored again, on an Austin free throw, the Herd led by a 30-23 score with 12:52 left in the contest.
Marshall extended the lead to 32-23, but junior Rachal Hamilton got the Falcons' first basket of the half moments later. After Knable pulled down a rebound, Hamilton ripped the ball away and sank an acrobatic layup while falling to the floor. The hoop narrowed the MU lead to seven points at the 12:03 mark.
BGSU sank several free throws over the next few minutes, but could not get another basket until Austin hit a shot with 6:18 left. That basket, which cut the Marshall lead to 38-33, was just BG's second hoop of the half. Hamilton's basket was the only BG conversion from the field in a span of 16:20.
The Falcons got as close as four points, at 42-38, with 3:49 remaining, but Marshall scored the next six points to open a 10-point lead, and BG never got closer than eight again. MU made 6-of-8 free throws in the game's final minute to clinch the victory.
Jerome finished the game with a total of 16 points, a season best and just two points away from her career standard. Austin joined Jerome in double figures, with 11 points. Austin had four of BGSU's six second-half baskets.
Jerome was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point land in the game. After beginning the season by going 4-of-26 from long distance, Jerome has made seven of her last nine long-range attempts on the year.
MU's Andrea Fitzgerald, held scoreless in the first half, led all scorers with 21 points, while Ida Dotson had 13. Catie Knable had 10 points and a whopping 21 rebounds, as the Herd held a 50-33 margin in that category.
The Falcons shot just .255 for the game, going 13-of-51. BGSU's field-goal percentage was a season low. Marshall shot an even 37 percent from the floor (20-of-54).
The team's 43 points was the fewest in a MAC game in school history.
BGSU will head to Athens for the team's next contest, a Tuesday (Feb. 19) game vs. Ohio University, before hosting Eastern Michigan University in a Saturday (Feb. 23) contest to close the regular season.
