Second-Half Cardinal Surge Downs Falcons, 96-71

Wednesday, January 22

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

BALL STATE

January 22, 2003 | Women's Basketball

Jan. 22, 2003

Final Stats

MUNCIE, Ind. - Host Ball State University rallied from a halftime deficit to post a 96-71 victory over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Wednesday night (Jan. 22). The Mid-American Conference West Division contest was held at BSU's Worthen Arena.

With the victory, MAC preseason favorite BSU improves to 11-4 overall and 5-0 in MAC play. BGSU drops to 9-7 and 2-3, respectively.

Ball State scored the game's first 15 points, but the Falcons rallied, ending the half on a 43-25 run for a three-point halftime lead.

In the second half, a Kate Endress layup gave the hosts a 57-55 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining, and the Cardinals did not trail again.

BSU's Tamara Bowie had a game-high 30 points, while Johna Goff added 25. For the Falcons, junior Stefanie Wenzel had a season-high 23 points.

At the game's outset, it looked as if the Falcons would be hard-pressed to scored 23 points as a team. The Cardinals opened the scoring on a three-pointer by Endress just 21 seconds into the contest, and saw four of five starters score before the Brown and Orange finally got on the board.

Senior Kim Griech's three-pointer at the 14:58 mark finally got BG on the board. Then, the Brown and Orange got a conventional three-point play from junior Lindsay Austin, and a pair of Wenzel free throws, cutting the lead to 15-8. Those charity tosses by Wenzel marked BG's last trip to the free-throw line in the game.

BSU got a Goff layup to take a nine-point lead, but the Falcons countered with a layup by senior Francine Miller just 12 seconds later, and a Wenzel trey cut the margin to four points at the 12:10 mark.

At the 11:44 mark, Miller took a charge, as BSU's Bowie picked up her second foul and headed to the bench.

Out of the media timeout, Miller hit a jumper, and, after a Cardinal hoop, Wenzel had back-to-back baskets 17 seconds apart. After falling behind by that 15-0 margin, the Falcons had tied the score within five-and-a-half minutes.

The Cards retook the lead by four points, on layups by Raechelle Hampton and Endress, but Griech hit two more triples, sandwiched around a Jessica Reiter basket, to tie the score at 25-25.

Then, a Wenzel jumper gave BG its first lead of the game, at 27-25. Thirty seconds later, freshman Britt Anderson slipped her defender and hit a layup off a Miller pass, completing a 29-10 run and giving BG a four-point margin with 6:34 left in the half.

The lead got as big as five points on two occasions. Freshman Jill Lause hit her first career three-pointer with a minute and a half left, and after an Endress triple, freshman Marisa Smith hit a trey with 24 seconds left before the break. A late Bowie layup made the margin 43-40 at the intermission.

In the second stanza, the Falcons led for the first four minutes, before a Goff basket tied the contest at 50-50 with 15:47 left. The game was deadlocked two more times, the last on a Wenzel trey at the 13:23 mark. But, the hosts would go on a decisive run.

BSU scored the next five points before Austin counted with a jumper. But, a step-back three by Bowie ignited a 12-0 Cardinal run over the next 1:50, giving Ball State a 15-point lead. That triple was the start of a 31-8 run that put the game out of reach.

In addition to the combined 55 points from Bowie and Goff, the Cards got 19 points from Endress. BSU, held to a field-goal percentage of .421 in the first 20 minutes, shot a blistering 19-of-29 (.655) in the second half to finish the game at a .522 clip.

The Falcons shot .531 in the first half, going 17-of-32 from the field, but went 12-of-40 (.300) in the final 20 minutes. BG finished the game with a FG pct. of .403.

BGSU hit 10 three-point field goals, including a 6-of-12 effort before the intermission. The Cards were 7-of-18 from long range. BSU went 19-of-24 from the free-throw line, while the Falcons got to the line only three times (making all three), none in the final 33 minutes.

Wenzel, who was 9-of-15 from the game, was 3-of-7 from three-point land. She was the lone Falcon in double figures, and had a team-high seven rebounds. Griech had nine points, all on three-point shots, while Marisa Smith and senior Megan Jerome had eight points apiece. Smith was a perfect 2-of-2 from behind the arc.

BSU got 13 rebounds from Reiter as the Cards held a 43-34 advantage in that department. The Falcons had only 12 turnovers, but BSU had just eight. Each team turned the ball over just two times in the second half.

The road gets no easier for the Brown and Orange. BGSU is now idle for a week, but the Falcons' next game is against the MAC's other undefeated team. BG heads to Kalamazoo for a Jan. 29 game at Western Michigan. The contest begins at 7:00 p.m. at WMU's University Arena.