Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Iona
BGSU Bounces Back, Tops Iona, 62-45
December 29, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2005
Final Stats | Quotes
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Trailing by six points at the half, the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team exploded for 45 second-half points en route to a 62-45 win over Iona College Thursday afternoon (Dec. 29). The game, the consolation contest at the Hawk Classic, was held at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 9-1 on the season, while the Gaels drop to 3-7.
Junior Liz Honegger carried the Falcons through a rough first half, and finished the game with 24 points and 12 rebounds en route to earning a spot on the all-tourney team. Honegger, who led all players in both categories, scored 12 of BGSU's 17 first-half points.
Juniors Ali Mann and Carin Horne each finished with 10 points, with 19 of those 20 points coming in the second half. BGSU held a 45-22 scoring advantage in the second stanza.
Honegger was BGSU's lone representative on the Hawk Classic All-Tournament Team.
The Basketball Hall of Fame will not be calling to request the tape of the first half any time soon. BGSU shot just 20 percent from the field, and turned the ball over 13 times. If not for the play of Honegger, the Falcons might have dug themselves a deep, deep hole.
In that first half, Honegger made five of her nine shots from the field, including a 2-for-4 effort from three-point range. The rest of the Falcons were just 1-for-21 from the floor, including an 0-for-7 showing from beyond the arc.
Honegger had 12 points and eight rebounds in the opening half of play.
For their part, the Falcons did not let Iona have a great deal of success, either. Both teams started the game very slowly, as each team scored just two points in the first 6:40 of play. BGSU missed seven shots before Honegger took a pass from freshman Jessica McKenzie for a layup with 16:08 left in the half.
After that make, however, the Falcons would miss eight-straight shots before Honegger's next hoop. The Gaels scored seven consecutive points while holding the Brown and Orange without a point for a span of 5:04. Toni Horvath, the lone double-digit scorer on the day for IC, capped that run with a three-point play at the 12:20 mark, putting the Gaels up by a 9-2 count.
Honegger finally broke that drought, picking up a loose ball and laying it in, and the junior scored off a Horne pass less than a minute later, bring the Falcons within three points.
Horne split a pair of free throws, and a Honegger three-point field goal gave BG a 10-9 lead, BG's first of the game, with 7:23 left in the half.
Iona's Jen Ritz snapped a scoreless streak of 5:38 for her team, hitting a triple at the 6:42 mark, but Honegger came right back with another trey, off a pass by junior Megan Thorburn.
Horvath answered for the Gaels, but McKenzie responded with her first collegiate field goal, taking a pass from sophomore Kate Achter and giving the Brown and Orange a 15-14 lead with 5:23 left in the half. The hoop, BG's first by a player not named Honegger, would prove to be BG's final field goal of the first 20 minutes.
IC answered by a 9-0 run, with five different players scoring during that time. BG went scoreless for 5:11, as the Gaels built an eight-point lead before freshman Jasmine McCall hit a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds left before intermission. Iona took a 23-17 lead into the lockerroom.
The Falcons seemed to begin the second half with more focus and intensity than in the opening 20 minutes. BGSU scored 11 of the first 13 points of the half to take a 28-25 lead.
Honegger opened the half by taking a pass from Mann and hitting a jumper. Than, Horne ripped the ball away from Iona's Martina Weber. The ensuing possession saw the Falcons get a pair of offensive rebounds, and Mann battling inside, drawing a foul and hitting a free throw. She missed the second charity toss, but the Falcons were showing signs of aggressive play.
After a hoop by IC's Regan Pettijohn, Honegger spotted Mann underneath the hoop and found her classmate for a layup. Mann, who missed most of the first half due to foul trouble, scored all of her 10 points after the intermission.
She was at it again a moment later, crashing the hoop, fielding an Achter no-look inbounds pass and drawing another Iona foul. Mann's free throw at the 17:04 mark cut the Gaels' lead to 25-23.
That lead was gone less than a minute later, as Mann's nifty slashing layup in traffic tied the score. Then, Horne took a pass from Achter and hit a three-ball to put BG up, 28-25, with 15:59 left.
The Gaels scored the next four points, on hoops by Lauren Huber and Tiara Headen, to briefly retake the lead, 29-28. But, BG was about to go on a major run that put the game away.
After Iona took that 29-28 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the game, the Falcons outscored the Gaels by a 27-4 count over the next 10 minutes.
BGSU scored nine-straight points, beginning with an Achter free throw that tied the score. The sophomore got to the line just 16 seconds later, and knocked down both tosses to put the Falcons ahead for good at the 13:55 mark.
After a couple of Honegger free throws, Achter hit a field goal, then found Honegger inside for a layup at the 11:35 juncture. BG then built the lead to nine points on a wacky play.
After a BG shot caromed off the rim, the Falcons grabbed the offensive board. The shot clock, however, did not reset, and the near official appeared to recognize the problem, but let the teams continue to play. Honegger had the ball at the top of the arc, and saw the shot clock (erroneously) winding down. She fired a long three-point try, and the shot found nothing but net to put BG ahead, 40-31, midway through the half.
Then, after an Iona miss, Achter fired a long pass to a streaking Mann for a layup and the first double-digit lead of the game. Iona stopped the run with a Joanne Smith hoop at the 8:45 mark, but the Falcons then scored the game's next 13 points while holding the Gaels scoreless for 4:04.
Nine of those 13 points came at the free throw line, as the Falcons were 9-for-9 from the stripe during that span. Mann hit a pair, before Horne elevated for a right-side jumper off a McCall inbounds pass. Horne scored six-straight BG points, draining two free throws and another jumper, this time off Whitney Taylor's assist.
Honegger was fouled on a three-point attempt at the 5:13 mark, and made all three free-throw tries, making the lead 55-33.
After a Horvath free throw, Thorburn heated up, scoring seven of the game's next nine points. The junior hit a triple off Achter's kick-out, and after a Pettijohn bucket, took a Taylor pass and knocked down a jumper. After an Iona miss at the other end, Taylor's long pass to Thorburn resulted in an Iona foul and a pair of Thorburn free throws. BGSU's lead was 62-36 with 3:17 left, before the Gaels scored the game's final nine points.
For the game, the Falcons went 21-for-29 at the free-throw line, including an 18-for-23 effort in the second half. Iona was 7-of-13 from the stripe.
In addition to the three double-digit scorers, the Falcons got seven points from Thorburn, and five points and a game-high seven assists from Achter. McKenzie added four points in her first collegiate contest.
Horvath had 10 points to lead the Gaels, while Ritz and Jessica Anger added eight apiece.
The Falcons held a 53-35 rebounding advantage, led by Honegger's 12 boards. Six of those came at the offensive end, where BG had a total of 22 rebounds. Horne added nine boards and Mann six.
Honegger was joined on the all-tournament team by Iona's Horvath, Delaware's Alena Koshansky and the Saint Joseph's duo of Jen Oyler and Hillary Klimowicz. UD's Melissa Czorniewy was named the tourney MVP. Czorniewy hit a foul-line jumper at the buzzer to lift UD to a 49-48 win over host SJU in the tournament's championship game.
The Falcons open the 2006 calendar year and close the non-conference schedule with a Monday (Jan. 2) game at the University of Kentucky.
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