Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Robert Morris
Falcons Post Another Second-Half Comeback in Western Pa.
December 20, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2004
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team rallied for a 66-51 win over Robert Morris University Monday morning (Dec. 20). The non-conference game was held at the Sewall Center.
The win lifts the Falcons to 6-4 overall, and extends the team's winning streak to three games heading into the Christmas holiday break. The Colonials are now 5-4 on the season.
BGSU extended the current winning streak in a game that featured a number of streaks. The biggest was an 18-point Falcon streak in the second half.
The Falcons trailed by seven points, 43-36, with 13 minutes left in the contest, before going on that 18-0 run to take the lead for good. BG held the hosts scoreless for over nine minutes during that time.
The Falcons, who outscored the Colonials, 43-20, in the second half, got 18 points from freshman Kate Achter. Sophomores Liz Honegger and Ali Mann had 16 and 12 points, respectively.
DeSheyna Perry had 21 points before fouling out for the hosts, while Sugiery Monsac, the nation's leading rebounder, had 15 points and 10 boards.
In the greater Pittsburgh area, as in Northwest Ohio, Monday dawned with temperatures in single digits. The game was to be played with a large number of elementary school-aged children in attendance, but with nearly all area schools on a two-hour delay, the chilly Sewall Center was devoid of screaming kids.
Early on, it looked like a win might come easily for the Brown and Orange. BG forced four RMU turnovers in the first 2:09 of the game, while taking an 8-0 lead. Honegger scored six points during that span, while Achter had the other two points and assisted on two of Honegger's hoops. After junior Casey McDowell found Honegger inside for a layup, the Falcons led by eight and the Colonials took time.
But, Robert Morris was far from finished. The hosts proceeded to go on a 14-point run, holding the Falcons scoreless for a span of 7:18. Monsac scored six points and Perry five during that run, with each player hitting a three-point field goal.
The pendulum swung back in the Falcons' favor, as BG scored six consecutive points to tie the contest. The Brown and Orange held RUM scoreless for a 5:32 stretch, before a Monsac layup on the fourth shot attempt of a Colonial possession put the home team ahead at the 4:49 mark.
Seniors Sakima Smith and Kelly Kapferer then hooked up for a hoop, with Smith finding Kapferer inside for a layup, and the game was deadlocked once again. But, the hosts proceeded to go on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes, highlighted by a long trey by Le'Sheala Dawson. Momentum was back in the Colonials' favor, as Tess Cooley got an offensive rebound and putback to give RMU a 25-16 lead.
Achter drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws to stop the RMU run with 1:52 left in the period, but a Perry triple gave the Colonials a 10-point lead, 28-18. A Monsac free throw put the hosts up by 11 points, before a late Achter hoop cut the lead to eight (31-23) at the half.
In the second half, Monsac began the scoring with a steal and a layup. Achter responded with a hoop, but Perry hit a three-pointer to put the Colonials up by a 36-25 score. Two minutes later, the margin was still 11 when the Falcons began to cut into the lead.
Honegger found Mann inside, and Mann converted a layup while being fouled, then sank the free throw for her second three-point play of the game.
Senior Tene Lewis and sophomore Megan Thorburn followed with layups, and suddenly the run was 7-0 and the score was 38-34 with 15:54 left in the game.
Perry responded yet again, hitting a three-pointer off an inbounds pass to put the Colonials up by seven points. Lewis hit a layup at the 15:01 mark before the teams went scoreless for nearly two minutes.
It was Monsac who broke the drought with a hoop at the 13:08 mark, but the Falcons then sent the Colonials into a prolonged drought. The 18-0 run didn't begin immediately, as the Falcons did not score until 11:36 remained in the game. But, BG cut into the seven-point lead in a big way.
Sophomore Carin Horne hit a three-pointer -- the Falcons' first triple of the game -- as RMU's Perry was called for a foul away from the ball. The foul was Perry's fourth of the game.
BG kept possession, and the Falcons completed a five-point trip down the floor with Honegger's rebound layup. After an offensive foul on Dawson, Mann found Honneger for the game-tying basket with 10:53 left in the game.
Less than a minute later, BG got the ball back after a Monsac miss, and Achter's pass found Mann for a leaning layup. The Falcons had the lead for good, 45-43, with 10:15 left in the game, but the run was far from finished.
Horne hit two free throws after an RMU foul, and swatted an Amie Harris shot attempt with nine minutes left. Forty-four seconds later, Achter hit two charity tosses of her own, and followed with a nifty driving layup to put BG ahead by eight.
A Thorburn trey concluded the run, before Dawson finally broke the hosts' scoreless slump with a triple at the 4:04 mark. That shot also snapped a string of 14 consecutive misses by the Colonials.
Mann and her teammates, however, kept RMU from getting any ideas of a comeback. Mann's entry pass found Honegger for a layup, and she then got a steal at midcourt and went in for a layup of her own to put the Brown and Orange up by 12 points with 3:04 remaining. The hosts could get no closer than nine in the final few moments.
In addition to her team-high 18 points, Achter had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in only 23 minutes of action. Honegger had team-high totals of nine rebounds and four blocked shots, while Mann had eight points while playing 38 minutes.
For the second-straight game, Lewis had a game-high five steals. The senior co-captain has had 10 steals in just 30 total minutes of action over the past two games.
For the hosts, Perry had half of the game's 10 three-point field goals made, going 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Monsac had a double-double while playing all 40 minutes, but BG actually held her under her averages in both points (21.5) and rebounds (13.1).
For the second time in three games, the Falcons held the opponents to under 30 percent shooting from the floor, as the Colonials had a field-goal pct. of 29.7%, including a rate of just 21.9% (7-of-32) in the second half. BG, by contrast, shot 53.6% (15-for-28) in the second half and 45.5% for the game.
BGSU did struggle from three-point range, going just 2-of-17, while RMU was 8-for-24 from long distance. The Falcons, outrebounded by four in the first half, held advantages of 24-15 after the intermission and 43-38 for the game.
The second-half comeback was the Falcons' second in a three-day span in Western Pennsylvania. BGSU trailed by nine points at Saint Francis before rallying back for an overtime victory Saturday afternoon (Dec. 18).
The Falcons now will enjoy some time off for the holidays, before returning to game action on Thursday, Dec. 30, in a rare home non-league contest. BGSU will host Bucknell in a 7:00 p.m. contest to close the non-conference portion of the slate.
