Bowling Green State University
Indiana
Falcons Down Indiana, 68-50, to Win Hampton Inn Classic
November 26, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team put together its most complete effort of the young season, and the result was the team's biggest win of the year to date. The Falcons posted a 68-50 road win over Indiana University Saturday night (Nov. 26), in the championship game of the Hampton Inn Classic at Assembly Hall.
The win gives the Falcons a 4-0 record for the first time since the 1991-92 team began the year with five consecutive wins. The tournament title is the Falcons' first in an in-season tournament in 16 years.
The Hoosiers drop to 1-3 on the season, with the other losses coming to Notre Dame (by 13 points) and defending national champion Baylor (12 points).
Junior Carin Horne led four Falcon double-digit scorers with 15 points in the win, while classmate Liz Honegger added 12, all on second-half three-point field goals. Sophomore Kate Achter and junior Ali Mann had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
For the hosts, Cyndi Valentin and Jenny DeMuth combined for 39 of the 50 points, with Valentin scoring a game-high 21.
Honegger, a native of Lafayette, Ind., was named the tournament's MVP, while Horne and Achter earned all-tournament team honors. DeMuth, Valentin and IUPUI's Tanika Mays rounded out the team. IUPUI downed Youngstown State, 53-50, in the tournament's consolation game.
The Falcons spotted the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead -- IU's only lead of the game -- then went on a 9-0 run. Horne began BGSU's scoring with a steal at midcourt and a layup, and a Mann rebound and putback gave the Brown and Orange the lead. Achter's coast-to-coast layup was followed by a right-wing three-pointer by Horne off a Casey McDowell pass, prompting IU head coach Sharon Versyp to take a timeout at the 16:32 mark.
The hosts battled back, getting within 11-9 and 13-12. But, a three-pointer by freshman Lindsey Goldsberry began an 8-2 BGSU run. Goldsberry started and finished that run with three-pointers, with her second triple giving the Brown and Orange a 21-14 lead at the 11:02 mark.
IU fought back to tie the game at 26-26 on a Carrie Smith hoop with 2:26 left in the half. But, a Horne right-side jumper with 1:24 left concluded the first-half scoring and gave the Falcons a lead they would not relinquish.
Horne led the Falcons with 11 first-half points, while Valentin (13) and DeMuth (nine) combined for 22 of IU's 26 points in the half.
In the second half, Horne picked up where she had left off, hitting a jumper 13 seconds in. After the teams traded baskets, Mann drove and scored with 17:06 left, in the process drawing the third foul of the game on IU starter Whitney Thomas.
Thomas remained in the game, and Goldsberry's drive toward the basket resulted in the fourth foul of the night for Thomas, with 15:43 left in the game.
Less than a minute later, Honegger -- who had been held scoreless in the game to that point -- took a pass from Mann and hit a trey, putting the Falcons up by a 37-29 count. The Falcon defense forced a turnover, and IU took a timeout. Out of the timeout, however, Honegger took a pass from junior Megan Thorburn and hit another triple. BGSU's lead was in double digits for the first time, 40-29, with 14:23 remaining.
Neither team scored for nearly three minutes, before Valentin scored in the lane with 11:42 left. That broke an IU scoreless streak of 5:17, and a streak of 7:09 without a field goal.
Honegger countered, however, with a left-side three-pointer off of a pass by Horne at the 11:25 mark. Then, after a Hoosier timeout, Honegger took an Achter inbounds pass and hit a straightaway three, giving the Falcons a 46-31 lead with 10:50 to go. Honegger scored 12 consecutive BG points over a four minute span.
The Hoosiers brought Thomas back into the game with four fouls with 9:51 to go, and the hosts proceeded to draw Mann's fourth foul just 24 seconds later. But, with exactly nine minutes remaining, junior Amber Flynn followed her own missed shot, grabbed the rebound and laid it in while drawing the fifth foul on Thomas. Flynn missed the free throw, but followed her own miss less than a minute later and again converted the rebound. BG had a 50-35 lead with 8:13 to go.
The lead ballooned to 18 as Achter was fouled and made her first free throw before missing the second. Flynn was there again, however, grabbing the rebound and laying it into the hoop in one motion.
The Hoosiers came to life with approximately four minutes left. Trailing, 57-42, the hosts went on a 6-0 run in just over a minute's time. Apair of Valentin buckets were followed by a Kim Roberson hoop, and BG's lead was down to nine points, 57-48, with 2:50 left.
After a BG timeout, however, each team misfired on a three-point attempt before the Falcons hit a back-breaking basket. With the shot clock winding down, Mann took a pass in the lane with her back to the hoop. She backed her defender down, turned and hit a fadeaway jumper as the shot-clock buzzer sounded. The Falcons led, 59-48, with 1:45 left.
IU got one more basket, with 1:33 on the clock, but could draw no closer. The Falcons made 9-of-10 free throws over the gam'e final minute and a half to seal the win and the tourney title.
In addition to the four double-digit scorers, the Falcons got nine points from Flynn, who just missed posting her first career double-double. Flynn had a game-high 10 rebounds, including six at the offensive end.
Goldsberry had six points on 2-of-2 shooting from behind the three-point arc, while McDowell added four points.
Valentin and Hawkins, as mentioned, combined for 39 points, but the Falcons held the other three IU starters to a total of just five points. Angela Hawkins had three points, although she tied Valentin for team honors with seven rebounds. THomas had two points in 10 minutes before fouling out, while Kali Kullberg played just eight scoreless minutes.
Each team pulled down 37 rebounds in the game. The Falcons blocked seven shots, with Honegger rejecting three and Achter and Flynn two apiece.
BG forced 19 IU turnovers, and the Falcons had a 23-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Falcons are back in action on Wednesday (Nov. 30), heading to the Motor City to face the University of Detroit Mercy. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m.
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