Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
UB Second-Half Run Downs Falcons, 72-60
February 12, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2003
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The host University at Buffalo broke a tie game with an 11-0 run midway through the second half en route to a 72-60 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Wednesday night (Feb. 12). The Mid-American Conference game was held at UB's Alumni Arena.
With the victory, the Bulls snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 12-9 overall and 4-6 in MAC play. The Falcons dropped to 10-11 overall and 3-7 in conference action.
Senior Francine Miller scored over 20 points for the second consecutive game. She led the Falcons with 21 points, and also paced the team with eight rebounds. Junior Stefanie Wenzel had 15 points off the bench, on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point land. She tied her career high in three-pointers made. Miller had four treys as the Falcons hit 10 long-range shots for the second consecutive contest.
Jessica Kochendorfer had a game-high 25 points for the Bulls, making 11 of her 16 shots from the field. The Falcon defense held UB's leading scorer, Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe (14.1 ppg), to just three points, but the senior did have a game-high eight assists on the night.
For the Bulls, Brooke Meunier scored 13 points and added a team-best eight boards, while Allison Bennett had 10 points.
The Falcons led for nearly all of the first half. After the teams traded baskets to start the game, junior Lindsay Austin hit a triple at the 18:48 mark to begin a 6-0 run. The Brown and Orange took an eight-point lead -- BG's biggest of the game -- on Austin's layup with 6:39 elapsed. The score was 14-6 at that point, but the Bulls rallied to score the next eight points and tie the game.
Again, the Falcons forged a lead. Miller hit a trey at the 9:18 juncture, as she was fouled by UB's Hollie Cook. She made the free throw, then scored a hoop just over a minute later. But, the Bulls rallied once again, going on a 9-3 run to tie the game with 3:16 left in the half.
The game was tied twice more before a Meunier free throw gave UB a one-point lead, 28-27, with 19 seconds left. But, Austin drew a foul in the dying seconds of the half, and hit both free throws, to give the Falcons a 29-28 halftime edge.
Bennett opened the second half with a basket to give the hosts the lead, but back-to-back hoops by Miller and sophomore Tene Lewis put BG ahead, 33-30. Then, however, a Kim Kilpela basket began a 9-0 UB run, and the Bulls never trailed again.
Trailing, 39-33, the Falcons began battling back. Wenzel, who had three points at the half, scored nine consecutive BG points. She sandwiched three-pointers around a Cook basket to cut the lead to two points at the 11:52 mark. Then, after a Kochendorfer charity toss and a Kilpela hoop, Wenzel's third triple in a 3:13 span cut the lead to 44-42. After a BG miss on the next possession, senior Karen Stocz got the rebound and fed Austin for a basket, and the game was tied.
Meunier hit a three-pointer, one of only three fur UB in the game, but Wenzel answered with yet another long-range shot to tie matters, 47-47, with 8:56 left. But, Meunier hit again from beyond the arc just 15 seconds later, sparking the decisive 11-0 run.
Cook and Kochendorfer each scored four points in that run, and the Falcons could draw no closer than eight points the rest of the night.
The Bulls shot .576 from the field in the second half en route to a 29-of-61 (.475) performance on the night. BGSU was held to a field-goal pct. of .357 in the game. The Falcons made 10 three-pointers in 29 attempts to the Bulls' 3-for-10 effort from long distance.
Austin had nine points and a career-high eight rebounds in the contest, while Stocz scored eight points for the second-straight game, and added six rebounds. The Bulls held a 40-33 advantage on the boards.
Lewis led the Falcons with five assists in the contest, and scored four points on 2-of-3 shooting.
The Falcons forced UB into 13 first-half turnovers, but the Bulls coughed up the ball only four times in the second half. BG had 13 turnovers in the second half and 23 for the game.
BGSU will look to bounce back Saturday (Feb. 15), beginning a two-game homestand with a contest vs. Miami University. That game, the second half of a Falcon basketball doubleheader, is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
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