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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MIAMI (OH) (Quarterfinal)
Falcons Top Miami, 84-68, Behind McDowell's Career Day
March 09, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2005
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Junior Casey McDowell shattered her career high with 31 points and tied a Bowling Green State University record with seven three-point field goals, leading the Falcons to an 84-68 win over Miami University Wednesday afternoon (March 9). The game, a quarterfinal-round contest in the Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament, was held at Gund Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 21-7 on the season, and BG will face Eastern Michigan in Friday's (March 11) semifinal round. Eastern was a 72-64 winner over Ball State in Wednesday's second game. The BGSU-EMU game will begin at noon at Gund Arena.
BGSU's total of 21 wins ties last season's total, when the Brown and Orange went 21-10 and advanced to the tourney championship. Miami falls to 15-14 on the year.
McDowell's 7-for-11 shooting day included seven successful treys in nine attempts, and she was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Her seven triples tied the school record held by Angie Farmer (two such games) and Kim Griech.
After some back-and-forth play in the early moments, the Falcons erased an 8-6 MU lead by scoring 11-straight points. After a pair of free throws by sophomore Liz Honegger, freshman Kate Achter's inbounds pass found soph Ali Mann for a layup, and McDowell hit a triple, her second of the day, to give BG a 13-8 lead at the 15:54 mark.
Out of the day's first media timeout, the Falcons' offensive success continued. McDowell fed Honegger for a hoop, then another Achter pass found Mann inside, and the lead was 17-8.
The teams traded field goals before Miami made a run. Eight consecutive RedHawk points were capped by a pair of Laura Markwood layups, and the Falcon lead was a single point, 19-18.
The Falcons' responded with the game's next five points, on a McDowell three-ball and a Mann jumper, but the RedHawks hung around. An Amanda Jackson layup several minutes later cut the BG lead back to two points, the first of four times in the half's final 8:11 that the margin was two. But, each time, the Brown and Orange responded with the next points.
The lead was back up to seven after a pair of Honegger free throws with 5:01 left, and a Mann layup at the 4:30 mark had BG ahead by a 35-28 count.
Again, the RedHawks cut the lead to two, with Cindi Merrill hitting a jumper in the paint at the 3:24 mark. But, BG scored the last seven points before the intermission, beginning with an Achter layup.
Then, McDowell's fifth triple of the half, immediately out of the media timeout, gave BG a seven-point lead with 2:35 left. Neither team would score again for over two minutes, but a Mann layup with 25 second remaining broke that drought and gave the Falcons a 44-35 lead as the teams headed for the lockerrooms.
Each team got off to a slow start in the second half. After a Jackson layup started the scoring just 17 seconds into the half, each team went scoreless for over a minute-and-a-half before an Achter jumper. Then, after another scoreless spell of roughly the same length, McDowell's sixth triple of the day gave the Falcons a 12-point lead, the largest of the game to that point, with 16:51 left.
Merrill answered with a jumper in the lane, but a Carin Horne rebound and layup restored the 12-point lead and prompted a RedHawk timeout.
After committing just three turnovers in the entire first half, Miami had five miscues in the first 4:14 of the second stanza. But, the RedHawks would battle back.
BG led by 11, 53-42, with 11:52 left, but Merrill proceeded to score the game's next six points, forcing Falcon coach Curt Miller to take a timeout exactly midway through the second half.
Achter drew a foul and hit both free throws, but Merrill responded with another jumper, McDowell's record-tying seventh trey, at the 8:30 mark, snapped a BG skid of 7:31 and gave the Falcons an eight-point lead, 58-50.
Again, though, the RedHawks refused to go away. Merrill hit a jumper, and Kim Smith's rebound and layup cut the margin to four points at the 7:43 mark. But, an Achter jumper in the paint kick-started a 7-0 Falcon run, and Miami never drew closer than seven points the rest of the way.
After Achter's pull-up jumper, a Honegger steal resulted in a Horne left-side shot off the glass, and the Falcons were on their way to a victory.
Horne found Honegger -- 1-of-11 from the field at that point -- for a layup, and she converted it while being fouled. The free throw gave the Brown and Orange an 11-point lead, 65-54, with 5:56 left.
With the margin still at 11 points, Mann hit a back-breaking three-pointer with exactly three minutes left, and McDowell made six free throws in as many tries the rest of the way.
Achter and Mann joined McDowell in double digits, with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Achter had game-high totals of six assists and five steals.
Honegger had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, as the Falcons held a 38-35 edge on the boards, while Horne scored seven points. Senior Sakima Smith was a perfect 2-for-2 from the field en route to four points off the bench, while classmate Tene Lewis scored BG's other two points and grabbed six rebounds.
Merrill had 24 points for the RedHawks, making 11 of her 21 field-goal tries. Jackson had 16 points and a team-high seven boards, while Sarah Hull scored 11 off the bench.
The Falcons shot 53.3 percent in the first half en route to 47.3% for the game, while MU had a field-goal percentage of 43.1%. Miami made only two treys in 21 tries (9.5%).
The Falcons went 23-for-25 at the free-throw line, including a perfect 17-of-17 in the second half.
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