Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Ball State Survives Despite Horne's Monster Night, 72-70
January 07, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Ball State University survived a monster performance by Bowling Green State University freshman Carin Horne, posting a 72-70 women's basketball victory Wednesday night (Jan. 7). The Mid-American Conference game was held at Anderson Arena.
With the win, BSU, the defending MAC West Division co-champion, improved to 7-6 overall and 2-0 in MAC action. The Falcons dropped to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Horne scored 34 points, just one off the school single-game record, on the night. The native of Lima, Ohio, made 11-of-19 shots from the floor, including four three-point field goals in eight attempts, and all eight of her free-throw tries.
BSU's Kate Endress had a team-high 23 points, including the winning basket with 14.3 seconds left in the game. Three other Cardinals reached double digits in the scoring column, including Jessica Reiter and Johna Goff with 13 points apiece. Julie Just had 10 points, all in the first half.
The Falcons broke out to a double-digit lead in the game's early stages. After Goff hit a three-point field goal to give Ball State a 7-6 advantage with 2:35 elapsed, the Brown and Orange held BSU without a field goal for the game's next 6:38. During that span, the Cardinals missed nine shots and committed six turnovers. BGSU went ahead by a 17-9 margin before Just hit a triple midway through the half.
After that trey, though, the Falcons went on a 7-0 run, capped off by a Horne three-pointer. The Falcons led by 12 points on three occasions over the next few minutes, before the visitors rallied.
Down by a 28-16 count, BSU went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to a single basket. Falcon freshman Megan Thorburn gave BGSU a 31-26 edge, hitting a three-pointer with 4:00 left in the first half, but the Cards then scored the next nine points to take a 35-31 lead. The 9-0 run, capped by a Just three-point play with six seconds left in the half, completed a 19-3 BSU streak, but Horne hit a three-pointer before the buzzer to cut the BG deficit to a single point, 35-34.
Horne finished the first half with a game-high 12 points, but the freshman was just getting started.
In the second half, Goff hit a layup to give BSU a three-point lead, but layups by senior Stefanie Wenzel and Thorburn gave BG the lead, and a trey by senior Lindsay Austin gave the Falcons a four-point edge, 41-37. Moments later, freshman Ali Mann's triple put BG ahead by five points, but the visitors sandwiched a pair of three-pointers (by Reiter and Goff) around an Austin layup, and the Falcon lead was a single point, 46-45, with 15:26 remaining.
During the next 14:48, Horne would score BGSU's next 22 points. No other Falcon would score until the game's final minute.
Horne hit a jumper, but an Endress three-pointer tied the game at 48-48. Horne broke the tie with a three-point shot of her own, and hit a layup and another triple over the next few minutes, giving BG a 56-50 lead.
The Cardinals rallied to within a single point on two occasions, but four Horne free throws in a 15-second span gave the Falcons a 64-59 advantage with 8:22 remaining. But, the visitors would battle back.
Reiter hit a shot, then sank two free throws. After another Horne layup, Reiter answered with 5:29 left. Endress split a pair of charity tosses with 4:55 remaining, creating the first of three ties down the stretch, 66-66.
Horne scored with 2:52 remaining, but Endress made a pair of free throws with 2:10 left. Both teams struggled offensively over the next minute, and after back-to-back-to-back turnovers, Endress scored off a Dana Collins pass with 53 seconds left.
The Falcons found Horne, who missed a jumper, but freshman Liz Honegger got a rebound and putback with 38 seconds left to tie the game at 70.
On BSU's next possession, Collins again found Endress, who made a turnaround jumper in the lane with 14.3 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Horne's three-point attempt would not go down, and the long rebound was corralled by the Cardinals' Tina Bolte. Bolte raced downcourt, killing most of the clock before Horne was able to catch and foul her with a single second left.
Bolte missed both free throws, but the game ended as the teams' battled for the rebound after the second miss, and the Cardinals had escaped with the win.
Endress, who scored BSU's last seven points of the game, had a double-double, as did Reiter. Endress had 11 rebounds to go along with her 23 points, while Reiter had a game-best 12 boards. Raechelle Hampton had 10 rebounds off the bench, as Ball State held a 56-42 advantage on the boards.
For the Falcons, Mann had a team-high eight rebounds, despite suffering a sprained ankle in Tuesday's practice, while Horne and junior Kelly Kapferer had seven boards apiece. Six of Horne's rebounds, and four of Kapferer's, came at the offensive end.
Horne was the only Falcon in double digits in scoring. Austin had nine points, to go along with a game-best eight assists, six rebounds and three steals.
Thorburn had seven points and Wenzel six. Honegger, saddled with foul trouble for much of the night, had five points and a team-high three blocked shots.
In addition to her scoring and rebounding totals, Horne had a team-best four steals. Horne's prolific performance came in just 24 minutes of action. She had 22 second-half points in 15 minutes of action.
The Falcons shot just .321 from the field, while the Cardinals had a .394 field-goal percentage. BGSU made eight three-pointers in 23 tries (.348), while BSU was 7-of-20 from long range (.350).
BGSU made just 11 turnovers to the Cardinals' 21.
The Falcons now prepare to begin the road portion of the conference schedule, travelling to Northern Illinois University for a Saturday (Jan. 10) contest. That game will begin at 2:05 p.m. locally (3:05 p.m. Eastern) at NIU's Convocation Center.
NOTES
