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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
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Western Michigan (Quarterfinal)
Austin Does It Again; Falcons Top WMU, 63-62
March 10, 2004 | Women's Basketball
March 10, 2004
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - It was d‚jà vu all over again.
Bowling Green State University senior Lindsay Austin hit a jumper at the buzzer, giving the Falcons a 63-62 victory over Western Michigan University Wednesday afternoon (March 10). The game, a quarterfinal contest in the Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament, was held at Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland.
With the win, the fourth-seeded Falcons improve to 20-9 on the season, and BGSU advances to Friday's (March 12) semifinal round. The Brown and Orange will face top-seeded Miami, an 85-71 winner over Ball State in Wednesday's opening game. Fifth-seeded WMU drops to 17-12.
The finish was nearly identical to the teams' regular-season meeting at BGSU's Anderson Arena on Feb. 7. In that game, Austin's buzzer-beater in the lane gave the Falcons a 69-67 win.
In the regular-season meeting, the Falcons and Broncos were tied before Austin hit her decisive shot. At the Gund, the Broncos had taken a one-point lead on a pair of Kelly Koerber free throws with 11.8 seconds left. Following Koerber's second successful toss, head coach Curt Miller eschewed a timeout. BG brought the ball upcourt, and Austin found it in her hands with time running out.
The Cincinnati native, at the top of the key, drove to her left and got just inside the three-point line. With a Bronco defender guarding her closely, Austin rose and shot just before the horn sounded, and the ball hit the front rim and caromed in, sparking a wild celebration among the Falcon faithful.
The Falcons began on a successful note, opening a 31-12 lead, but the Broncos went on a 20-2 run spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second, cutting the Falcons' lead to 33-32.
Bronco freshman Carrie Moore, held to 1-for-7 shooting in the first half, scored 16 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. WMU took its first lead of the game on back-to-back three-pointers by Moore with just over 13 minutes left.
The Broncos led by as many as five points on two occasions, the last at 53-48 after a Maria Jilian jumper with 7:49 left, but the Falcons erased that lead with a trio of three-pointers --from Austin, freshman Carin Horne and senior Stefanie Wenzel -- over a two-minute span.
Wenzel's trey, her fifth of the game, put the Falcons head by four, but the Broncos battled back with buckets by Lori Crisman and Koerber, tying the contest with 3:28 remaining.
Junior Kelly Kapferer hit a jumper with 2:36 on the clock, but Crisman got an offensive rebound and drew a fould with 2:10 remaining. She split her free throws to cut the Falcon lead to a single point with just over two minutes left.
The score remained the same until Horne followed her own shot and banked in a rebound layup with 45 seconds left. Jilian responded with a driving, spinning jumper in the lane with 32.9 seconds remaining, cutting the BG lead to 61-60.
On the ensuing possession, Austin was fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and the Broncos rebounded. BG was whistled for a foul on the next possession, sending Koerber to the line for her two successful tosses and setting the stage for the frantic finish.
Wenzel led four Falcons in double digits with 15 points, tying her career best with five three-pointers. Austin and freshman Liz Honegger had 11 points apiece, with Austin adding a game-high nine assists and eight rebounds, while Kapferer scored 10 points off the bench.
Jilian scored 17 points and Koerber 16 for Western. Moore, Jilian and Koerber combined for 36 of the Broncos' 41 second-half points.
BGSU shot .413 from the field for the game, while the Broncos' .387 field-goal percentage included a first-half rate of just .276. The Falcons held a 48-34 rebounding advantage, and BG had 23 offensive boards. But, the Brown and Orange committed 23 turnovers to Western's 11.
MAC Freshman of the Year Ali Mann had seven points and a game-best nine rebounds, while Horne had seven points and seven boards.
Friday's BGSU-Miami game is scheduled to begin at noon at Gund Arena.
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