Bowling Green State University
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WESTERN MICHIGAN
Falcons Gut Out Win at Western, 80-67
January 08, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2005
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Sophomore Liz Honegger had 23 points to pace four double-digit scorers, and the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team battled through some foul trouble to post a road victory, 80-67, over Western Michigan University Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8). The Mid-American Conference game was held at University Arena.
With the win, the Falcons move to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in MAC play, and BGSU has won six consecutive games. WMU drops to 4-9 and 1-1, respectively.
In addition to Honegger's 23 points, classmates Carin Horne and Ali Mann added 15 and 11 points, respectively. Senior Kelly Kapferer came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points.
Carrie Moore had 22 points to lead three WMU double-figure scorers.
Kapferer hit her first two three-point field goals of the season, and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in 18 minutes of play in the 100th game of her Falcon career. Her previous season bests had been five points and 11 minutes played.
"The bench was great today," said BGSU head coach Curt Miller. "When we got into some foul trouble, Kelly (Kapferer) really came up big. When she hit a couple threes, it really gave her confidence. She had a big breakaway steal and layup, and really gave us some good minutes. That's her best game of the year, and that's what fifth-year seniors can do.
"We also got good performances off the bench from Amber (Flynn) and Jill (Lause). And, another unsung hero for us was Tene Lewis. She gave us minutes at the two-guard, which she hasn't done for most of the year. She really defended and changed the tempo. I couldn't be more pleased with our bench."
BGSU's bench outscored Western's, 30-3 (the Broncos had only two players off the bench, who played a combined nine minutes), and the Falcon reserves shot a combined 12-for-17 from the floor.
Honegger's 23 points included three three-point field goals and a perfect 8-for-8 performance from the free-throw line. She tied for game honors with eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
The first half featured no fewer than seven ties and eight lead changes. The Falcons started off well, scoring the game's first six points to open up what would be the largest margin of the half for either team. But, the Broncos battled back to tie the contest at 9-9. Moore, who was nearly unstoppable in the opening half, scored seven of the Broncos' first nine points.
The Falcons saw Honegger and Mann each pick up a pair of fouls by the time eight minutes were gone in the game, and the Broncos went to the line eight times in that span. The last two of those tosses, by Kate Verseput, gave WMU a 14-10 lead at the 12:54 mark.
The Falcons tied the score at 14-all at the 11:44 mark, when Mann's layup broke a BG field-goal drought of 4:16. Neither team led by more than three points over the next few minutes, until a Moore three-pointer gave the Broncos a 27-23 advantage at the 5:53 mark.
Kapferer, however, responded with a triple of her own just 14 seconds later, off a feed by freshman Kate Achter. Then, Achter stole the ball right back and found an open Honegger for a trey.
That basket, at the 5:15 mark, put Honegger over the 500-point mark for her Falcon career. She would finish the game with 517 total points in the Brown and Orange, trailing only Mann (562) among current Falcons.
Verseput responded with a trey, but Honegger hit again from long range. The lead changed hands several more times before the Falcons scored the last five points of the half. Horne hit a trey off an Achter pass with 1:20 left, then sophomore Amber Flynn sank a driving layup with 37 seconds on the clock, and the Falcons took a 39-37 lead into the break.
Moore led all players with 16 points and seven rebounds in that first half, going 5-for-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from long distance. But, the Falcons would hold her to only six points (on 2-of-7 shooting) in the second 20 minutes.
In that second half, the Falcons opened up a six-point lead after a pair of fouls were called on the Broncos. The first was a technical foul on the Western bench, and Honegger sank a pair of charity tosses. Then, she went back to the stripe just 16 seconds later, and drained two more free throws for a 51-45 BG lead with 14:47 left. But, the Broncos were far from finished.
Moore cut the lead in half on a conventional three-point play, and five WMU free throws over the next minute and a half tied the game at 53-53. The first foul during that free-throw frenzy was Mann's fourth of the game, which came with 13:48 left.
The teams exchanged layups before Kelly Koerber gave the hosts the lead at the 10:56 mark. Kapferer hit a free throw, and junior Casey McDowell found Horne for a basket that gave the Brown and Orange the lead for good. The score was 58-57, BG, with 9:13 remaining.
After a Moore miss, Lewis rebounded the ball and quickly found Horne sprinting ahead of the pack to the other end of the floor. Her layup increased the lead to three.
The Broncos drew a foul, but missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. At the other end, the Falcons missed a shot, but grabbed a rebound, and Horne found an open Kapferer for a layup at the 7:47 mark. That capped a 7-0 BG run.
Kim Driggett finally broke Western's scoring slump of 3:28, hitting a triple, but the Falcons proceeded to go on another run. The Falcons scored the game's next eight points.
That run began when Honegger converted a layup off a Horne pass. Then, Kapferer stole a cross-court pass at center court and headed in all alone for an uncontested layup. Lewis stole the ball on the Broncos' next possession, and BG's ensuing possession ended with a pair of Achter free throws at the 6:14 mark.
The Falcons took a 10-point lead on a driving, hanging layup by Lewis with 5:50 left. Moore split a pair of free throws to stop the Falcon run. But, an Achter charity toss was followed by a Honegger layup off a nifty look by Lewis, and BG led by 12, 73-61. That Honegger hoop capped an 18-4 BG run, and the Broncos never cut the lead below eight points again.
The Falcons shot 52.0 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring the hosts by a 41-30 count in the last 20 minutes. For the game, BG had a field-goal pct. of 48.3% to the hosts' 46.8%.
BG was 8-for-20 from three-point land, with Honegger going 3-for-6 and Kapferer a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Western made five triples in 15 tries, with Moore going 3-for-6.
BG held a 35-25 advantage on the boards, outrebounding the opponent for the fourth consecutive game. Achter had nine points, six boards and four assists for the Falcons, while McDowell had five points.
For the Broncos, Koerber scored 19 points, while Brittney Tyson added 11. Four Western starters played at least 38 minutes, with two -- Driggett and Moore -- playing the entire game. The fifth Bronco starter, Verseput, played 33 minutes in the game.
The Falcons return home to face Eastern Michigan University Wednesday (Jan. 12), in a rematch of last year's MAC Tournament championship game. Tipoff is 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
