Bowling Green State University
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Falcons Dial Long Distance in 72-58 Win Over Central Michigan
February 15, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack and a hot three-point shooting touch to pick up a 72-58 win over visiting Central Michigan University Tuesday night (Feb. 15). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 17-6 overall and 10-2 in MAC play to remain in first place in the West Division. BG has won five consecutive games heading into a Saturday (Feb. 19) showdown at Eastern Michigan. BGSU leads EMU (18-4, 8-3 MAC) by a game-and-a-half, with Eastern playing at Miami Wednesday before hosting the Falcons three days later.
Central dropped to 9-13 overall and 3-9 in MAC action. Tuesday's 14-point loss matched the Chippewas' worst setback in league play this season.
Four BGSU starters hit double digits in the scoring column, with sophomores Carin Horne and Ali Mann each netting 16 points in the win. Another soph, Liz Honegger, scored 13, while redshirt junior Casey McDowell tied her career high with four three-pointers en route to 12 points. McDowell's scoring total set a season high.
Erin Kuhl led the Chippewas with 14 points, all in the first half. Kuhl, 5-for-7 in the opening 20 minutes, including a 3-for-3 performance from three-point land, was held to just one unsuccessful shot from the field in the second half. Lindy Hatfield also hit double digits for the visitors, with 12 points.
The Falcons shot 50.9 percent from the field on the night, including a 56.0% success rate in the second half. Just one game after seeing a 193-game three-point streak come to an end, the Falcons made 10 treys in 17 tries (58.8%). Central shot 45.3% for the game, cooling off after a 57.1% performance in the first half.
After going the entire 40 minutes without a successful three-point field goal in Saturday's (Feb. 12) win at Akron, BGSU took just 11 seconds to hit a triple in Tuesday's game. Honegger took a pass from freshman Kate Achter and hit a trey on the game's opening possession.
Hatfield answered with a triple for the visitors within 30 seconds. But, Horne and Mann each hit long-range shots before the first media timeout, giving the Brown and Orange an 11-5 lead with just over four minutes elapsed. Mann, the reigning MAC West Division co-Player of the Week, had five points in that stretch.
Central, however, responded with an 8-0 run, with Kuhl scoring four points during that time, before an Achter driving layup stopped the run and tied the game at 13-13 heading into the second media timeout of the night. At that juncture, the Falcons had made 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc, but were only 2-of-10 from two-point range.
Achter's shot kick-started a 7-0 BG spurt, as senior Tene Lewis rebounded her own miss and hit a layup, and Mann converted a three-point play. The lead grew to seven points, 23-16, after senior Kelly Kapferer was fouled and converted both free-throw attempts, but CMU would battle back.
Trailing by a 25-20 count several minutes later, the Chippewas' continued their hot first-half shooting, as a Hatfield jumper began a 7-2 run for the visitors. Chasidy Myers followed with a basket, and after a Horne jumper, Kuhl hit a triple to tie the score at 27-27 with 4:18 left in the half. At that point, Central was shooting a blistering 64.7% (11-for-17) from the field.
After Kuhl's game-tying trey, though, the Falcons forced CMU to miss three consecutive shots and turn the ball over twice while going scoreless over the next four minutes. BG went on a late 8-0 run, bookended by a pair of Achter hoops, before a Kuhl three-pointer, her third of the half, cut the lead to 35-30 at halftime.
Kuhl's halftime totals of 14 points and three treys set personal single-game bests for the season, as she had not scored more than 10 points or hit more than two triples in a 2004-05 game. The Falcon defense, however, held Kuhl scoreless for the rest of the evening.
BG, after shooting 46.4% in the first half, came out shooting (and making) to start the second half. The Falcons went 4-for-4 to begin the half, with McDowell hitting two treys in the first three minutes. The result was a 10-2 run, and suddenly, the Falcons had a 45-32 lead and the Chippewas took time. The lead would remain in double digits the rest of the game.
McDowell hit a third trey at the 14:56 mark, converting off a Lewis cross-court pass to give the Brown and Orange a 50-36 lead. Minutes later, five-straight points from Horne put the Falcons up by a 55-39 count.
An Achter jumper midway through the half gave the Falcons an 18-point margin, the largest of the game. The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes, and Central got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Achter had eight points and a game-high six assists on the night, making 4-of-5 shots form the field. She grabbed five rebounds and tied for game honors with three steals.
Lewis also had three steals, along with four assists, and her six rebounds tied Mann for game honors.
Myers had seven points, three steals and a team-high five rebounds for the Chippewas, as the teams battled to a 29-29 deadlock on the boards. BGSU and Central also were even in points in the paint, at 30-30.
Stacey Verhoff had eight points off the bench for the Chippewas, while Candace Wilson scored six.
Honegger blocked three shots for the Falcons, while Horne and Mann had two apiece and Achter one.
Mann made seven of her 10 shots from the field, while Horne was 6-of-10. Achter was 4-for-5, while all four of McDowell's successful shots came from three-point land (in five long-distance attempts). Honegger was 3-for-6 from three-point range in the win.
Saturday's game at Eastern Michigan is a rematch of the 2004 Kraft MAC Tournament's championship game. Eastern won that game, 65-56, and dealt the Falcons a 51-48 setback, BGSU's lone home loss in eight games this season, in the first 2004-05 meeting (Jan. 12). Following the EMU game, the Falcons will return home for a game against MAC East Division-leading Marshall University on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
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