Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Falcons Win at Akron, 61-52
February 12, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2005
Final Stats | Quotes
AKRON, Ohio - Sophomore Ali Mann had 15 of her game-high 17 points in the second half, helping the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to a 61-52 win over the host University of Akron Saturday afternoon (Feb. 12). The Mid-American Conference game was held at UA's James A. Rhodes Arena.
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 16-6 overall, and remain atop the MAC's West Division with a league ledger of 9-2. The Zips drop to 3-20 and 3-9, respectively.
Sophomore Carin Horne joined Mann in double digits, scoring 12 points, while senior Kelly Kapferer scored nine, all in the first half.
The Falcons held a rebounding advantage of 37-30 in the game, pulling down 14 offensive boards. BGSU had 18 second-chance points to the Zips' four.
Jessica Deville led the hosts with 16 points in the game, going 5-for-7 from the field and making all six of her free-throw attempts.
Sophomore starter Liz Honegger was whistled for two fouls in the first three minutes of the opening half, and was forced to the bench for most of the opening 20 minutes. But, Kapferer stepped up with a team-leading nine points in that half.
The Zips held several early leads, at 4-2 and 6-4, before a Kapferer layup off an assist by junior Casey McDowell tied the score at the 15:19 mark. Kapferer's hoop started a 7-0 run, with seniors providing all of the scoring in that time.
Kapferer split a pair of free throws at the 14:46 mark, giving the Falcons the lead for good. Then, Tene Lewis grabbed a rebound and converted a layup, and Kapferer again scored off of a McDowell pass, putting BG ahead by an 11-6 count.
Akron broke a scoring drought of nearly four minutes on a Krissy Marco three-point field goal, but Lewis found McDowell inside for a layup, with the Falcon junior drawing a foul on UA's top scorer, Jessie Crooks, in the process. McDowell successfully completed the three-point play, and Crooks was forced to the bench for much of the remaining 10:30 of the half.
A pair of Horne layups two minutes apart gave the Falcons a seven-point lead, 18-11, and forced an Akron timeout with 7:54 left. Four-straight points from freshman Kate Achter pushed the margin to nine points, the biggest of the half, at the 6:03 mark, before UA's Courtney Stewart hit a trey. But, junior Jill Lause responded with a layup off a Horne pass, restoring an eight-point advantage.
The Zips, however, would not go away, ending the half on a 6-2 run to cut BG's lead to 29-27 at the break.
BGSU started the second half on a 6-0 run, with Honegger and Mann each hitting their first baskets of the game during that time. The Falcon defense forced the Zips into turnovers on the first five possessions of the half.
Honegger hit a short right-side jumper with a minute elapsed, and Horne rebounded a miss and laid the ball in. Then, Achter rebounded a teammate's errant shot, and started a nifty tic-tac-toe play, passing the ball to Honegger on the low block. Honegger quickly found a wide-open Mann swooping in from the left for an uncontested layup, and the lead was eight points.
The Zips finally stopped the run, with a Deville layup three-and-a-half minutes in, but BG pounded the ball inside for back-to-back layups of their own. An Achter pass found Mann for a layup, and McDowell fed Honegger for a hoop 36 seconds later, and the lead was 10 points.
Two Mann free throws upped that lead to 12 at the 14:17 mark, completing a 12-2 run to begin the half. Still, however, the Zips would not go away.
A Marco three-pointer cut the lead to nine poings at the 10:48 mark. Sophomore Megan Thorburn hit a left-side jumper on the break, but Holzer responded with back-toback baskets to cut the lead to 45-38.
Again, the Falcons pounded the ball inside to Mann, but Lori Krezeczowski, held scoreless to that point, hit a trey, and the lead was six points with 7:38 left. Honegger quickly countered with a jumper, however, starting an 8-0 run.
Layups by Mann and Lewis were followed by a Horne jumper with 3:59 left, and the Falcon lead had ballooned to 14 points, at 55-41. UA could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way, as BG made 5-of-6 free throws over the final 1:20.
Horne had a game-high nine rebounds, including five at the offensive end of the court, while Mann grabbed eight boards and was 9-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Honegger and Achter each had six points, while Lewis had four points, six rebounds and a team-leading four assists. Lewis and McDowell each had two steals to lead the Brown and Orange in that department.
Kapferer had five rebounds, a game-high two blocked shots and a steal in 21 minutes of action. She was 3-for-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
BGSU shot 39.6 percent from the field, including 44.0% in the second half, and the Falcons made 19-of-26 shots from the charity stripe (73.1%). BG was 0-for-13 from three-point range (see note below).
Akron shot 34.0% from the field, making 16-of-47 shots, and the Zips were 5-of-20 (25.0%) from beyond the arc and 15-of-19 (78.9%) from the stripe.
The Falcons forced Akron into 20 turnovers while committing 15 themselves. BG had scoring advantages of 36-20 in the paint and 19-13 off turnovers.
For Akron, Jae Conn scored nine points, while Marco and Holzer each had six off the bench. The team's top scorer, Jessie Crooks, had just four points, all coming in the game's final 2:04.
BGSU returns home for a Tuesday (Feb. 15) tilt vs. Central Michigan University, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
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