Bowling Green State University
MARSHALL
Falcons Hold Off The Herd, 77-67
February 25, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2004
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team built a big lead, then held off a late Marshall University rally for a 77-67 win over the Thundering Herd Wednesday night (Feb. 25). The Mid-American Conference game was held at MU's Henderson Center.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 16-9 overall and 9-5 in MAC play, while dropping the Herd to 14-11 and 6-8, respectively.
Senior Stefanie Wenzel led all scorers with 21 points, including a 5-of-7 night from three-point land. Freshman Ali Mann had 20 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and made three treys in five long-range attempts.
Senior Lindsay Austin and junior Kelly Kapferer each had 10 points in the win. Austin, who played all 40 minutes, added seven assists, six rebounds and a blocked shot. Kapferer came off the bench to shoot 5-for-6 from the field.
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall scored 18 points for the hosts, while Mary Pat Statler had 17 points off the bench.
The Falcons led from wire to wire, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points. Mann scored the first four points, and after a pair of Shepard-Hall free throws, freshman Carin Horne scored seven-straight points in a 51-second span.
Horne hit a jumper, then got a steal and basket just 14 seconds later. After a Mann steal, freshman Liz Honegger fed Horne for a three-pointer on the fast break, and the Falcons led by an 11-2 count.
The Herd battled back to within a single point on two occasions in the first half. Each time, however, a Wenzel trey restored a four-point Falcon advantage. BGSU used a 9-0 run late in the first half to open up a 32-21 lead with 1:50 left, and the Falcons took a 37-25 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, the Falcons opened up an 18-point lead, as a Wenzel triple gave the Falcons a 50-32 lead. The Herd scored four-straight points before the Falcons responded.
After a Kapferer hoop gave BG a 52-36 lead, Mann hit back-to-back three-pointers. Then, Austin drove and found Kapferer for a wide-open layup, and BG led by 22 points, at 60-38, with 10:55 remaining.
But, the Herd wasn't finished.
MU scored the game's next seven points, in a span of only 28 seconds, to cut the lead to 15 at the midway point of the second half. Mann hit a layup, but the Herd got six more points to cut the BG margin to 62-51.
Wenzel hit a pair of free throws, then made a layup, but seven consecutive points by the Herd got the hosts within single digits, 66-58, with 4:51 left.
Statler hit a three-pointer with 4:31 left, and a Modupe Ishola layup cut BG's lead to 67-63 with 3:34 on the clock.
Honegger got an offensive rebound, drew a foul and made a pair of free throws, but Shepard-Hall got a layup with 2:31 left. The Falcons were called for a five-second violation while attempting to inbound the ball on the next possession, and the Herd had a chance to cut the lead to one or two points. But, Marshall missed several layup opportunities, and Austin fed Wenzel for a back-breaking trey with 1:23 left, giving the Falcons a seven-point lead. The Herd could get no closer than five points thereafter, and BG, while struggling from the free-throw line down the stretch, made enough to secure the win.
The Falcons shot .500 from the floor in the first half and .446 for the game, while holding the Herd to a .362 field-goal percentage, including .290 in the opening half. The Falcons' 10-of-21 three-point night (.476) included a 6-for-9 long-range effort in the second half, while Marshall made five treys in 24 tries (.208).
BGSU went 17-of-29 from the free-throw line, while Marshall was 10-of-16. The Herd held a 46-40 rebounding advantage.
Mann and Horne tied for game honors with four steals, while junior Tene Lewis had three points and seven rebounds in 10 minutes of action off the bench. Honegger had six rebounds and a block.
For the Herd, Catie Knable had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
The Falcons will return to intra-divisional competition, facing Ball State in a Sunday (Feb. 29) road game. That contest, scheduled to begin at noon at Worthen Arena, will be televised on Fox Sports Net Ohio as part of the MAC TV package.
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