Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Ball State Holds On For 90-85 Win
February 19, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - All five Ball State University starters scored in double figures as the Cardinals held on for a 90-85 win over the Bowling Green State University Wednesday night (Feb. 19). The Mid-American Conference West Division game was held at Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Cards improve to 16-7 overall and 10-3 in MAC play. The Falcons drop to 10-13 and 3-9, respectively. The victory was Ball State's first-ever triumph in 21 road games vs. Bowling Green.
The Falcons got a game-high 23 points from senior Francine Miller, who topped the 20-point mark for the fourth consecutive game. Miller was one of five Falcon players in double digits. Senior Kim Griech had 18 points, and led all players with four three-point field goals.
Tamara Bowie and Kate Endress each had 20 points to pace the Cardinals, with Bowie adding a game-high 12 rebounds. Dana Collins had 19 points for the visitors.
The game resembled a track meet at times in the first half, with end-to-end action. The Falcons scored seven consecutive points, including five from Griech, to take an early 7-3 lead. But, the Cardinals then went on a 13-0 run to go ahead b nine points at the 14:31 mark of the first half. The lead got as high as 15 points in the first half, before the Falcons battled back.
Trailing, 31-16, BGSU got three-pointers from junior Stefanie Wenzel and Griech, sparking a 19-8 run to cut the margin to 39-35 at the 4:07 juncture. The Falcons made five treys during that run and eight in the half.
Ball State rallied to go ahead by 10 points, before a Falcon bucket late in the half made the score 48-40, Cards, at the break. The game marked the first time in the Curt Miller Era that the Falcons trailed at halftime in a home conference contest. BGSU had led the first 13 such games since Miller assumed the helm.
In the second half, the Cards upped the lead to 12 points early in the half, before a 9-1 Falcon run cut the margin to four points. Miller's layup with 12:21 left cut the lead to 61-57. But, a Bowie layup on the fastbreak started a BSU run, and the Cardinals increased the lead to 13 points, 76-63.. That run was capped by a Johna Goff three-point field goal with 9:05 left, which proved to be the Cardinals' final field goal of the night.
After a BG 30-second timeout, senior Megan Jerome's three-pointer ignited a 9-0 Falcon run. Miller followed with a layup, and Jerome was fouled shooting another trey, and made two of her three free throws. When Griech drew a foul and made both tosses, the BSU lead was just four points (76-72) with 6:47 left.
The Cardinals answered, though, twice taking the margin back out to six points on fre throws of their own. Then, however, Wenzel hit back-to-back shots to move BG within two points, 80-78, with 3:23 remaining. Endress made two free throws, but senior Karen Stocz got a big offensive rebound and layup to make the score 82-80, Cards, with 2:52 left. But, the visitors were able to get to the line and convert.
Ball State went 8-of-8 at the stripe over the final two-and-a-half minutes, and the Cardinals made the final 16 free-throw attempts of the contest en route to a 22-of-24 performance (.917).
In addition to the point totals amassed by Miller and Griech, the Falcons got double-digit games from Wenzel (16), Austin (13) and Jerome (11). Miller had team-high totals of seven rebounds and five steals, while Austin had six assists and Jerome four.
The Cardinals got 10 points apiece from Goff and Jessica Reiter. Bowie, in addition to her 20 points and 12 boards, had four assists, four steals and four blocked shots. Goff had a game-high seven assists, while Collins added five assists and seven rebounds.
Ball State held a narrow 36-30 edge in the rebounding department, but the Falcons had 36 points in the paint to BSU's 26. The Falcons shot .545 (18-of-33) in the second half to finish the game at .464, while Ball State shot .518 for the game.
Both teams had stellar nights from beyond the arc, as the Falcons made a season-high 13 three-pointers in 24 attempts (.542), while BSU went 10-of-19 (.526) from long range. The teams combined for 15 triples in 25 attempts in the first half.
BG's 85 points marked the Falcons' highest total in a MAC game this year, and the second-highest total behind only the Dec. 22 win over Savannah State (89-39). Ball State is the only team to reach the 90-point mark vs. BG this year, but the Cardinals did so in both meetings. BSU captured a 96-71 victory in Muncie, Ind., in late January.
The Falcons now return to the road for a Saturday (Feb. 22) game at the University of Akron. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
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