.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Falcons' Outcome Is Rosy On Valentine's Day
February 14, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2004
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team traveled to Rose Arena on Valentine's Day, and came away with a 69-51 victory over host Central Michigan University Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14).
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 15-7 overall and 8-3 in Mid-American Conference play, while dropping the host Chippewas to 4-18 and 0-11, respectively.
Senior Lindsay Austin, who fueled a 7-0 Falcon run to open the second half, finished with a game-high 17 points. Classmate Stefanie Wenzel joined Austin in double digits with 13 points on the afternoon.
For the Chippewas, Lindy Hatfield was the lone double-figure scorer, with 12 points. Erin Kuhl had nine points before fouling out.
After each team scored a basket in the game's first minute, the host Chippewas went on a 7-0 run to force the Falcons to call timeout with 3:18 gone. Kuhl had the home team's first five points of the afternoon.
BG battled to within three points at 11-8, but back-to-back hoops by Chasidy Myers upped the Central lead to seven points once again. Then, however, freshman Megan Thorburn converted a layup, and sophomore Jill Lause got a rebound and putback. When Austin scored, the Falcons trailed by a single point.
Hatfield hit a three-point field goal for the hosts, but Thorburn and junior Tene Lewis each scored to tie the game at 18-18. An Ann Skufca layup at the other end but Central back ahead, but the lead would be the Chippewas' last of the day.
After a Wenzel layup tied the score, freshman Ali Mann banked home a short turnaround jumper with 3:30 left before intermission, giving BGSU the lead for good.
Austin then hit three free throws over the next minute-plus, and Mann's triple off an Austin feed capped a 10-0 run and gave BG a 28-20 lead. Raina Harmon broke a 5:56 scoring drought for the home team, as her layup with 24 seconds left in the half sent the teams into the break with BG up by six.
For all intents and purposes, the Falcons broke the game open in the first 40 seconds of the second half. Austin drove hard to the hoop, drew a foul and converted both free throws with only five seconds elapsed. Then, she got a steal, headed the other way and found freshman Carin Horne for an 'alley-oop' layup just seven seconds later. After a CMU miss, freshman Liz Honegger drove and kicked it out to Austin for a back-breaking triple at the 19:24 mark. The Chippewas took time with BG up by a 35-22 count.
CMU answered with a Sharonda Hurd layup, but Horne hit a triple, and a Honegger layup upped the Falcons' lead to 40-24 at the first media timeout of the half.
The home team got as close as 12 points, 46-34, on a pair of Skufca charity tosses, but the Brown and Orange got three-pointers from Wenzel and Kapferer, and the Falcons were never headed.
Austin's explosive drive with 6:12 left led to a layup, Kuhl's fifth foul and a free throw for BG's first 20-point lead of the game. The Falcons' largest lead of the game was 22 points, 69-47, before two CMU layups in the last minute provided the final margin.
The Falcons shot .593 from the field in the second half en route to .466 for the game, and BG's defense held CMU to just 19 field goals in 57 attempts (.333) on the day.
Lause had eight points off the bench, making 4-of-6 field goals, and she added five rebounds. Honegger led the Falcons with six rebounds as BG held a 36-35 advantage in that category.
The Falcons return home for a pair of games next week, beginning with a Wednesday (Feb. 18) contest vs. Northern Illinois University. Tipoff for that game is at 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena. Then, the Brown and Orange will host Kent State University in the first half of a basketball doubleheader at Anderson, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
NOTES
