Bowling Green State University
Lehigh
Falcon Comeback Falls Just Short, 77-74, to Lehigh
December 04, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2004
Final Stats | Quotes
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team dug itself a huge hole, then rallied nearly all the way back, but fell just short. The Falcons dropped a 77-74 decision to Lehigh University Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4). The game, a first-round contest in the Brown Classic, was held at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
With the win, Lehigh improves to 4-1 on the season, and the Mountain Hawks advance to face host Brown University in Sunday's championship game. The Falcons, now 2-3 on the year, will play Winthrop University in the consolation game, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Sunday. Brown was a 69-61 winner over Winthrop in Saturday's first game.
Sophomore Carin Horne had 20 points, including 15 in the second half, to pace the Brown and Orange. Classmate Ali Mann had 14 and a team-high seven rebounds, while freshman Kate Achter scored 13 points. Soph Liz Honegger had 11 points.
For the Mountain Hawks, Jessica DePalo had a game-high 24 points, while Mary Frances Hynoski had 16 points and 10 boards. Adrienne Blount had 11 points off the bench.
In the first half, the Falcons seemed to struggle to get into an offensive rhythm. In perhaps the team's best stretch of the opening 20 minutes, BGSU did score nine consecutive points to take a 15-10 lead with 12:41 remaining in the half. Mann had four points during that run, while Achter had the final three in a four-second span, following a free throw with a layup after a BG offensive rebound.
The Brown and Orange still held a five-point lead, 23-18, with 8:52 to go before halftime. But, Lehigh responded with a 14-2 run, fueled by six DePalo points, over the next five-plus minutes. The Falcons cut into that seven-point lead over the half's final few minutes, narrowing the gap to 35-31 at the break.
A Mann layup just 15 seconds into the second half cut that deficit to two points, but that was as close as the Falcons could get for most of the final 20 minutes. The Mountain Hawks proceeded to go on a 6-0 run to go ahead by eight points, the game's biggest lead to that juncture.
Achter battled for a rebound and layup to cut the score to 49-43. But, Lehigh countered with several quick hoops. A DePalo jumper with 11:05 left gave LU a double-digit lead and was part of an 8-0 Mountain Hawk run that extended the margin to 14 points, 57-43.
The lead kept building over the next few minutes, until a Jenny Callan hoop gave Lehigh the biggest advantage of the game, 65-47, with only 7:35 left in the contest.
BGSU slowly but surely cut into that lead. Achter was fouled and hit a pair of tosses with 6:30 left, and Horne got a steal and layup 30 seconds later. Then, Horne found sophomore Megan Thorburn for a three-pointer, and the Falcons were within 10 points as Lehigh called a timeout with 5:25 remaining.
The Mountain Hawks upped the lead to 13 points after a Hynoski jumper with 4:28 left, but the Falcons kept coming back. Mann was fouled and hit both ends of a one-and-one. Then, Lehigh was called for traveling, and junior Casey McDowell hit a triple after an Achter drive-and-kick with 3:24 on the clock.
Mann drew DePalo's fourth foul with 2:59 remaining, and hit two more free throws. The Falcon defense got a stop, forcing another LU turnover, but Horne missed a three-point try. However, she atoned for her miss in quick fashion, getting a steal and layup, and the Falcons were within 70-66 with 2:10 remaining.
The Hawks scored on what proved to be a key play just seconds later, however. After a Falcon foul at the 1:54 mark, Blount made the first free throw, but missed the second. DePalo, however, slipped past her Falcon opponents, grabbing the rebound and laying the ball in. The Mountain Hawks were up by seven points, 73-66, with 1:51 left.
Horne completed a three-point play, however, drawing a Hynoski foul while scoring, and converting the charity toss with 1:35 left.
Then, the BG defense blocked several Lehigh shot attempts, and Mann grabbed the rebound as the clock ticked down to the final minute. She missed a three-point attempt at the other end, but Horne got the rebound and hit a triple of her own, off a McDowell assist. The Falcons trailed by just a single point, 73-72, with 51.8 seconds remaining.
DePalo missed, but a jump ball was called in the scramble for the rebound, and the possession arrow favored Lehigh with 23.3 seconds left. The Falcons were forced to foul, and Sara Ellis made two free throws with 18.8 seconds remaining.
Achter hit a driving layup with 10.1 seconds left, and the Falcons fouled on the inbounds pass. With her team leading by one, Chantal St. Laurent hit two free throws with 8.7 seconds on the clock, and the Falcons were again down by three.
BGSU had one final chance, as Horne took a pass with a defender right in her face. Horne's long three-point try hit the front of the rim and bounced away as the final buzzer sounded.
The Mountain Hawks had a field-goal percentage of 53.4 for the game, including a 57.1% rate (16-for-28) in the second half. The Falcons shot 43.8% in the final 20 minutes and 46.4% on the afternoon.
Lehigh held advantages of 35-27 in rebounding and 48-30 in points in the paint. BGSU was 8-for-23 (34.8%) from three-point range, while the Mountain Hawks were 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.
McDowell had seven points, while senior Kelly Kapferer added five for the Falcons. Achter's six rebounds in the game included a BG-high four at the offensive end.
Saturday's game was the first of a six-game road stretch for the Falcons. Following Sunday's Winthrop contest, the Brown and Orange will head to Albuquerque, N.M., for next weekend's Lobo Shootout, hosted by New Mexico.
