Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Late Rally Pushes Kent State Past Falcons, 71-62
February 21, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Visiting Kent State University used a game-ending 14-2 run to post a road win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21). The Mid-American Conference game was held at Anderson Arena.
With the victory, the Golden Flashes improve to 16-8 overall and 9-4 in MAC play, while dropping the Falcons to 15-9 and 8-5, respectively. KSU has won a season-high five consecutive games, while BG has lost back-to-back games for the first time since December.
La'Kia Stewart led the Flashes with a double-double off the bench, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Three other KSU players joined her indouble digits, as Lindsay Shearer had 12 points and Malika Willoughby and Melissa DeGrate 10 apiece.
For the Falcons, freshmen Carin Horne and Ali Mann each had double-doubles for the second consecutive game. Both players had 15 points, with Mann grabbing a game- and career-high 16 rebounds and Horne corralling 10. Eight of Mann's boards came at the offensive end of the floor.
Falcon senior Stefanie Wenzel had 10 points, and became the 17th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point career plateau. Wenzel converted a three-point play with 11:09 remaining in the second half, with the free throw lifting her to the millennium mark.
The Falcons struggled offensively, shooting just .258 from the floor in the first half and .300 for the game. BGSU made only four three-point field goals in 29 attempts on the day. By contrast, KSU's .410 field-goal percentage included a 6-for-12 performance from three-point land.
The Brown and Orange fell behind by eight points, 14-6, with five minutes gone, but slowly battled back. BGSU used a 7-0 run, with a Liz Honegger triple bringing the Falcons within a point and two Megan Thorburn free throws putting the Falcons up, 20-19, with 7:33 left. The lead changed hands several times before a Malika Willoughby trey with 53 seconds on the clock gave the Flashes a 29-28 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Falcons did not lead in the first eight minutes. But, a pair of free throws by junior Kelly Kapferer tied the score with 11:58 left, and a Horne layup gave the Falcons a 45-43 lead just 23 seconds later.
An Andrea Csaszar three-point play gave KSU the lead again, but Wenzel duplicated that feat at the other end. The free throw to cap that play was her 1,000th career point, and put the Falcons up by a 48-46 count.
A Horne three-pointer put the Brown and Orange ahead by five, and her layup with 8:52 left gave the hosts a 55-48 lead. The teams traded points over the next few minutes, with a Honegger layup restoring BG's seven-point edge, 59-52, with 7:18 remaining. That, however, would be the Falcons' final field goal of the afternoon.
KSU scored the next five points before a Wenzel free throw gave BG a 60-57 lead with 6:15 left. A Csaszar free throw was the only scoring over the next two-plus minutes, before two Shearer tosses tied the score at 60-60 heading into the final media timeout.
After that break, BG was called for an offensive foul, Shearer hit a jumper, and Stewart got a steal and layup to put KSU up by four with three minutes left.
Mann made the second of two free-throw tries with 2:53 left, but the Falcons could not score again until only 17 seconds remained. KSU made 5-of-7 free throws, one of which capped a Stewart three-point play with 43 seconds left.
In addition to the four double-digit scorers, Tiffany Kelly had nine points for the Flashes. Kelly, who entered the game having made just three three-pointers (in 13 attempts) on the season, went 2-of-2 from long distance against the Falcons. Heather Harris added seven points.
For the Falcons, junior Tene Lewis provided a spark off the bench. Lewis had four points, two rebounds and four steals in just nine minutes of action. Her point total tied a season high, while her game-high steals total matched her career best.
The Falcons now hit the road for the next two games, facing Marshall Wednesday (Feb. 25) and Ball State in Sunday (Feb. 29) action. BGSU returns home to face arch-rival Toledo in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday, March 2.
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