Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Fall to Flashes, 62-53
January 26, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2005
KENT, Ohio - Melissa DeGrate and Lindsay Shearer combined for 40 points as host Kent State University downed the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Wednesday night (Jan. 26). The Mid-American Conference game was held at the M.A.C. Center.
With the win, the Golden Flashes improve to 11-7 overall and 4-3 in the MAC, while BGSU dropped to 12-6 and 5-2, respectively.
DeGrate scored 21 points, including 11 consecutive KSU points as the Flashes opened an early 13-4 lead. DeGrate scored 13 points in the first half. Shearer added 19 points for the hosts.
Sophomore Carin Horne led the Falcons with 20 points, including 17 in the second half, while classmate Ali Mann scored 14 points on the night.
For the Falcons, the loss snapped a three-game winning streak. The game marked BGSU's first road loss in a month and a half, since a Dec. 10 setback at New Mexico. BGSU had won five consecutive road games, including three in MAC play.
"This game was determined early," said BGSU head coach Curt Miller. "I thought Kent State's physical approach at the defensive end of the floor took us out of rhythm early and frustrated us all night. They really made us work for points. They were physical at all five positions on the floor.
"But, I'm proud of our kids. We didn't quit tonight. We have played nearly two years of basketball without a MAC team beating us by double digits, and it shows the character of our team that we did not quit tonight."
The Falcons drew first blood on a Mann jumper, but the Flashes then scored the next 10 points, with the last eight coming from DeGrate. BGSU also ran into some early foul trouble, particularly at the guard position, where Casey McDowell and Kate Achter each were whistled for two fouls in the game's first six-and-a-half minutes.
Horne soon joined that duo, picking up her second foul with 12:07 left in the first half, as the Falcons were called for six of the game's first seven fouls.
The Falcons cut KSU's lead to six points on several occasions in the first half, but could get no closer. Another DeGrate hoop gave the hosts the game's first double-digit lead, 25-15, with 7:26 left in the half.
BG was still within 10 points, at 27-17, after Mann found senior Sakima Smith for a layup with 1:10 left in the half. But, over that final minute-plus, nothing went the Falcons' way.
BGSU was called for three fouls in the final 12.9 seconds of the half, then a technical foul at the intermission. The 15-point margin marked BGSU's biggest halftime deficit of the season, and KSU opened the second half at the free-throw line, as Shearer sank a pair of tosses to give the Flashes a 34-17 lead.
The lead grew to 19 points on a Malika Willoughby layup at the 15:52 mark, but the Falcons scored the next five points -- with four coming from Horne -- to narrow the gap to 37-23. Several minutes later, the visitors put together a 7-0 run, capped by a pair of layups. Horne grabbed a rebound and put back a BG miss, then freshman Kate Achter stripped Shearer of the ball at midcourt and drove in for an uncontested layup. The Flashes' lead was back in single digits, at 41-32, as KSU took a timeout.
But, BG could get no closer until the game was already decided. The Flashes scored the next three points before another Achter steal and layup cut the lead to 44-34 with 8:01 left. But, DeGrate hit a key three-pointer just under a minute later, to give Kent a 13-point margin.
That trey sparked an 8-2 KSU run that restored the lead to 16 points, at 52-36. BG could not get within single digits until the final minute of the game. In that final minute, the teams combined for eight fouls and 17 free-throw attempts.
The Falcon defense held the Golden Flashes to a field-goal percentage of 41.9%, and BG forced KSU into 26 turnovers. But, the Brown and Orange could not overcome the team's poorest-shooting game of the season.
BGSU shot just 26.2% from the field in the game, including a rate of 18.8% in the first half. The Falcons made only 3-of-25 shots (12.0%) from three-point range on the evening.
Horne and Mann, the Falcons' top-two scorers on the night, also paced the Brown and Orange in rebounding. Horne tied for game honors with nine boards, including five at the offensive end, while Mann had eight.
Horne also had a game- and career-high six steals, as BG had 17 as a team, while Achter had four steals and a team-high three assists. The Flashes held Liz Honegger, BG's leading scorer, to one point and three rebounds. Honegger did block two shots on the evening to run her team-leading total to 37 this season.
Achter had seven points, while senior Kelly Kapferer also had seven points and four rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.
For the Flashes, Willoughby had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Mallorie Griffith had eight rebounds and Shearer seven.
Kent State remains the only team BG has not defeated in the Miller Era. In fact, the Golden Flashes have won 12-straight series meetings, and 17 of the last 18 games between the teams.
"We will learn from this, but we are not going to push the panic button," said Miller. "We survived the month of January at 5-2 in the MAC, so we won't change what we do. But, we certainly learned a lot about ourselves tonight."
The Falcons now are idle for a week, before playing a pair of home games. BGSU will host Northern Illinois next Wednesday (Feb. 2) before facing Ohio three days later at venerable Anderson Arena.
