Bowling Green State University
Eastern Michigan
Falcons Fall Short at Eastern Michigan, 57-52
February 19, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2005
Final Stats | Quotes
YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team stayed close with host Eastern Michigan University, but the Falcons just could not get over the hump, and the result was a 57-52 loss to the Eagles Saturday night (Feb. 19). The Mid-American Conference game was held at EMU's Convocation Center.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 19-5 overall, and move to 9-4 in the MAC, just a game behind the West Division-leading Falcons. BG drops to 17-7 and 10-3, respectively.
Ryan Coleman led all scorers with 18 points for the hosts, while teammate Nikki Knapp had 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Melis Ulker added 11 points for Eastern.
For the Falcons, sophomore Ali Mann had 16 points to lead three double-digit scorers, while classmates Carin Horne and Liz Honegger added 13 and 10, respectively. Honegger and Mann tied for team honors with seven rebounds apiece.
As was the case in the teams' first meeting this season (a 51-48 EMU win on Jan. 12), Saturday's game may not have been pretty at times, but had a tournament atmosphere, with each possession seemingly taking on added importance.
The Falcons led only once, after a Horne jumper in the game's first minute. Ulker scored the game's next five points, including a tiebreaking three-point field goal at the 17:33 mark, to give the Eagles the lead for good. The Eastern advantage never reached double digits, but the Falcons never drew even again.
The EMU lead was 8-6 at the first media timeout, but the Falcons were in a scoreless stretch of 4:06, with BG missing eight consecutive field-goal attempts as the Eagles scored five-straight points before redshirt junior Casey McDowell hit a three-point field goal to break the BG drought at the 12:09 mark.
Eastern's Kristen Kilgore answered with a rebound and layup just 15 seconds later, but the Falcons then proceeded to claw back into the game, holding the Eagles scoreless for a span of 5:44.
During that time, the BG defense forced the Eagles to miss 11 shots and turn the ball over twice. Meanwhile, however, BG could only score four points in that span, on a pair of free throws by Mann and a layup by senior Tene Lewis.
Coleman finally broke EMU's scoreless slump with a hoop at the 6:09 mark, and a Sarah VanMetre layup in transition restored the six-point lead. Minutes later, Lewis found Honegger along the baseline for a hoop, but back-to-back baskets by Coleman inside gave Eastern a 26-18 lead and prompted a Falcon timeout with just under two minutes left in the half.
Mann scored off a Lewis feed with 17.9 seconds left to cut Eastern's margin to 26-20 at the half.
The Falcons' point total was BG's lowest in a half since the team's last loss, at Kent State on Jan. 26. That KSU game marked the only time BG had a lower first-half field-goal percentage than Saturday's 27.6% rate at EMU.
The second half started well for the Brown and Orange, as McDowell stole the inbounds pass to open the half, and Mann was fouled on a layup attempt. The sophomore hit one of her two free throws.
But, Ulker scored and was fouled in the process. She missed the ensuing free throw, but Knapp grabbed the rebound and quickly laid the ball into the hoop, giving the Eagles a game-high nine-point lead, 30-21, aith 18:19 left.
BG rallied, scoring the next six points. Horne hit a free throw, and Mann hit a layup off a pass from freshman Kate Achter. Then, on BG's next trip down the floor, Mann took a pass from Honegger and nailed a three from the left wing. Eastern's lead was three points at the 15:46 mark.
Knapp got to the line and split a pair of free throws, but a Horne layup cut the margin to two points, 31-29, at the 14:53 mark. Again, though, Knapp responded, with a trey on the Eagles' next possession. After a BG turnover, Erika Ford hit a pair of free throws, and Eastern was back up by seven points.
Out of the 12-minute media timeout, however, a Lewis inbounds pass found Horne for a layup, cutting the lead to 36-31. Neither team would score for over two minutes, before Lewis made a free throw at the 9:52 mark.
Ryann Kilgore hit a jumper, ending an Eastern scoreless streak of 4:37, and the lead was back at six points, 38-32. The lead was seven points, at 42-35, when Achter rebounded her own miss and converted a layup in traffic.
Then Honegger got a steal at the other end. Achter missed a layup attempt, though, and Knapp grabbed the rebound. But, Achter deflected Knapp's outlet pass, and the BG freshman tracked down the ball and found a wide-open Honegger under the hoop. Honegger hit a layup as she was fouled, and her free throw cut the lead to 42-40 with 6:32 left.
Again, however, Eastern Michigan responded, as Coleman hit a three-pointer just 17 seconds later. After a Coleman layup with 4:32 left, the Eagles were ahead by six.
Horne drew a foul and hit both free throws with 3:23 left, and Lewis then stole an EMU entry pass at the other end. But, a BG layup was unsuccessful, and Ford drew a foul and hit a pair of tosses with 2:40 left.
Lewis drove and dished the ball to Mann for a foul-line jumper with 2:21 left, but Knapp went to the line at the other end and was perfect, restoring the four-point lead with 2:02 left on the clock.
Mann responded, grabbing a teammate's missed shot and hitting a layup at the 1:46 mark. Then, McDowell got a steal at the other end, after Mann deflected a pass, but BG could not take advantage as Horne's layup would not drop.
With under a minute left, Ford found Ulker for a layup, and the lead was 53-49 with 41.9 seconds on the clock. But, Horne responded with a three-pointer, and BG was within a single point with 29.9 seconds left, and the Falcons used their final timeout.
The Eagles, however, broke the BG press out of that timeout, and Knapp slipped behind the Falcon defense. She took a VanMetre pass, hit a layup and was fouled with 24.1 seconds left. The free throw was good, and Eastern had a 56-52 lead.
BG could not score on two contested shot attempts on the next possession, and Knapp grabbed the second rebound and was fouled with just 6.4 seconds remaining. She made one of the two free throws to provide the final margin.
BGSU shot slightly better in the second half than the first, making 10-of-29 second-half shots (34.5%) to finish the game with a field-goal pct. of 31.0%. Eastern shot 36.4% for the game.
The Falcons and Eagles combined to make only seven three-point field goals in 31 attempts, with BG going 3-of-16 (18.8%) and EMU 4-for-15 (26.7%). Both teams made 13 free throws in 19 attempts.
Achter and Lewis each scored five points, with Lewis dishing out a team-high five assists and Achter three. McDowell and Honegger each had three steals to tie for game honors.
The Falcons committed 13 turnovers in the game, but forced EMU into 18 turnovers. Eastern held a 41-36 rebounding advantage in the game.
The Eagles have now won five consecutive series meetings, cutting BG's series lead to 37-14. Eastern is a perfect 5-0 against BG at the Convocation Center.
The game was a rematch of last year's Kraft MAC Tournament championship, won by the Eagles, 65-56.
The Falcons' job gets no easier, as BGSU returns home to face East Division-leading Marshall University in Wednesday action (Feb. 23). If the regular season ended today, the Thundering Herd would be the top seed for the league tournament, while the Falcons would be seeded second. Wednesday's game begins at 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
