Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Big Comeback Gives Falcons Win At Ball State, 84-79, In OT
February 29, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 29, 2004
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team rallied from an 11-point second half deficit for an 84-79 overtime win at Ball State University Sunday afternoon (Feb. 29). The Mid-American Conference game, televised as part of the league's TV package, was held at Worthen Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 17-9 overall and 10-5 in MAC play, and BGSU has assured itself of no lower than the fifth seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament. BSU drops to 12-14 and 7-8, respectively.
Freshman Ali Mann led all players with a career-high 28 points, while classmate Megan Thorburn had 17. Senior Lindsay Austin had seven points in the overtime period, and came close to a quadruple-double, with nine points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and nine steals.
The Falcons broke out to an early lead, scoring the game's first 11 points. Thorburn had a basket, then freshman Liz Honegger got a rebound and layup. Another Thorburn basket, this time a three-point field goal, upped the lead to 8-0 and forced the Cardinals to take a timeout.
Mann hit a triple to give the Falcons an 11-0 margin, but the Cards slowly crept back into the game.
With the Falcons ahead by a 30-22 margin, the Cards scored the next seven points to get within a single point at 4:12. Thorburn made a layup off a Casey McDowell feed, but BSU's Raechelle Hampton converted a three-point play to tie the contest for the first time. The Falcons retook the lead on a Kelly Kapferer basket, but a Johna Goff triple gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the game, 35-34, with 2:21 left.
Thorburn hit another triple, but the Cards answered with the final five points of the half to take a three-point lead into the break, 40-37.
The Falcons struggled from the field to begin the second half, making just one of the first 11 field-goal attempts. BSU was nearly as cold, however, going 2-for-8 from the floor to begin the half. BSU lead by a 44-39 count at the first media timeout.
The hosts opened up an eight-point lead, 56-48, on a Kate Endress three-point play, and a Tina Bolte triple gave the Cards an 11-point edge. The teams traded baskets, keeping the Cardinals' lead at 11 points with 9:21 left.
BG battled back, scoring seven consecutive points, including five from Mann, to get within four points at the 4:53 mark. Moments later, a Thorburn jumper brought the Falcons within two points, at 64-62. But, on "Senior Day" at Worthen Arena, back-to-back treys from seniors Jessica Reiter and Goff put the Cardinals back ahead by eight points with only 3:19 remaining.
Thorburn scored on a jumper in the lane, however, and Mann hit a trey off a Tene Lewis feed to cut the Cards' lead to 70-67 with 2:26 on the clock.
Dana Collins missed a three, and the Falcons got the rebound. The Falcons missed a three-point attempt, but Lewis was fouled going for the rebound and went to the line. She made both free throws to make it a one-point game with 1:16 left.
The Falcons got the ball back when Goff and Endress missed connections on a pass with 55.3 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Mann hit a turnaround jumper in the lane, putting BGSU up by a 71-70 margin with 42 seconds left.
Honegger blocked an Endress shot attempt on the next possession, but was called for a foul on the follow-up attempt. Endress, however, made only one of her two free-throw attempts, and the game was tied.
Then, Mann drew a foul with only 5.2 seconds left, but missed both free throws. Endress missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer, and the teams headed to overtime.
Endress got the Cardinals off to a quick start in the overtime, converting a three-point play with only four seconds gone. But, the Falcons proceeded to score the game's next eight points.
Mann was fouled and hit one free throw, and after a Lewis steal, the junior fed Austin for a three-pointer which gave the Falcons the lead for good.
BGSU forced a miss on the next Ball State possession, and Austin grabbed the rebound. The Falcon senior took it all the way to the basket, drawing a foul. She converted one of the free throws, putting BG ahead by two points with 3:24 remaining.
Almost immediately, Austin came up with a steal. On the resulting possession, Lewis found Honegger for an open layup with 3:09 left.
Then, another Austin steal led to another Austin free throw, and BGSU led by five points with 2:45 remaining. A Reiter layup with just over two minutes remaining cut the lead to 79-76, but Austin hit a layup off a Honegger offensive rebound with only 1:33 left.
A Mann free throw put BG ahead by six points 27 seconds later, but Collins hit a layup, drew the foul and hit the charity toss to cut the lead in half with 56 seconds left.
After a BGSU miss, the Cardinals got the ball and had a chance to tie, but a Collins three-point attempt was off the mark, and a follow try was blocked by Wenzel. The ball went out of bounds to BSU with 17.6 seconds left.
Reiter, though, missed a triple try, and Lewis grabbed the rebound and was fouled immediately. She could not convert her free throws, and the Cardinals had one final chance. An Endress three-point attempt was short, and Mann rebounded and was fouled with three seconds left. She hit both charity tosses, and the Falcons had the win.
Honegger, like Austin, had nine points, and the freshman added 10 rebounds and two blocked shots. She was 4-of-5 from the field.
Mann made 9-of-16 shots, including all three of her three-point attempts, en route to her season-high point total. Wenzel also made three treys en route to 11 points, as the Falcons hit 10-of-27 long-range attempts on the afternoon. Thorburn's 7-for-15 shooting day included two treys in five tries.
Goff and Endress had 18 points apiece, with Endress grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds. Reiter also had a double-double, with 13 points and 11 boards, as the Cardinals held a 53-50 rebounding advantage.
Bolte had a season-high total of 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers.
For the Falcons, Lewis had four points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench.
BGSU had a field-goal percentage of .397 to Ball State's .390. The Falcons struggled from the free-throw line, making only 12 of the 24 tosses on the afternoon. BSU was .786 (11-of-14) from the stripe.
The Falcons return to action Tuesday night (March 2), closing the regular season with a home game against the arch-rival University of Toledo. That game also marks "Senior Night," as Austin and classmate Stefanie Wenzel will be recognized in pre-game ceremonies.
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