Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
OAKLAND
Oakland Outlasts Falcons, 70-63
December 13, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Oakland University's Amanda Batcha made all eight of her field-goal attempts as the Golden Grizzlies pulled out a 70-63 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (Dec. 13). The non-conference game was held at Anderson Arena.
Both teams now sport 4-3 overall records on the season.
Batcha, in addition to her 8-for-8 performance from the field, made four of her five free-throw attempts en route to a game-high 20 points. She also added a game-best 13 rebounds, and tied for team honors with four assists.
For the Falcons, freshman Liz Honegger scored a team- and season-high 16 points, and also had nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Senior co-captains Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel joined Honegger in double digits with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The game featured six ties and 12 lead changes. After BGSU got out to a 7-4 lead, with Honegger scoring all seven points, the visitors rallied with a 7-0 run to go ahead by four. Oakland led for nearly the entire first half, but never by more than six points, and the Grizzlies took a 33-29 advantage into the lockerroom.
The Falcons scored the first eight points of the second half, however, and the game was back and forth from there. The opening 10 minutes of the half contained seven lead changes. The Falcons led by four points on two occasions, the last at 48-44 when junior Kelly Kapferer made a free throw at the 11:50 mark. But, over the next few minutes, BG would miss four free-throw tries, and OU would take advantage.
A Bonnie Baker jumper began an 8-0 run for the visitors. Batcha followed with a hoop to tie the game, and Anne Hafeli's layup with 9:14 left gave OU the lead for good, at 50-48.
Over the next seven minutes, the Falcons never led the Oakland advantage get greater than four points, but BGSU never pulled even. The Brown and Orange, trailing by four, got two Wenzel charity tosses with 5:38 remaining, and freshman Megan Thorburn went to the line and hit a shot with 5:01 left, putting BG within a single point. But, as Thorburn swished her second shot, which would have tied the score at 56, a Falcon teammate was called for a lane violation, wiping out the shot and giving the Grizzlies the ball.
OU again went ahead by four, but a Wenzel three-pointer at the 3:46 mark (BG's only trey of the half) cut the margin to 59-58. However, Nicole Piggott answered with her only basket of the game for the visitors, and Hafeli split a pair of free throws. When Baker hit a layup at the 2:17 mark, the Golden Grizzlies had a six-point lead at 64-58, and BG could draw no closer than five points thereafter.
Batcha's free throws with 5.2 seconds left in the game gave OU the final seven-point lead, the biggest by either team all afternoon.
Hafeli had 18 points and Jayme Wilson 15 to join Batcha in double figures for the visitors, who shot .439 on the day while holding the Falcons to a .393 field-goal percentage. Both teams struggled from both three-point land and the free-throw line. Each team made only three three-pointers in the game, with Oakland going 3-for-13 (.231) and the Falcons 3-of-15 (.200). BGSU made just one of the team's 10 second-half triple tries.
Each team missed 10 free throws, as the Grizzlies shot .630 to BG's .615. OU held a 44-32 rebounding advantage, but committed 18 turnovers. The Falcons, despite facing a full-court press for much of the time, made a total of 15 turnovers.
Austin, in addition to her 14 points, had game-high totals of five assists and four steals. Frosh Thorburn and Ali Mann each scored eight points, with Mann grabbing eight rebounds.
The Falcons now break for final exams before playing a final pre-Christmas contest on Monday, Dec. 22. On that date, the Brown and Orange will be in Indianapolis to face IUPUI.
