Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
Falcons Pull Away From Buffalo, 75-48
January 10, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team used a balanced attack and solid team defense to post a 75-48 win against the University at Buffalo Tuesday night (Jan. 10). The Mid-American Conference game was held at Alumni Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in MAC play, while the Bulls drop to 6-7 and 1-1, respectively.
Four juniors led the way at the offensive end, as Carin Horne scored 17 points and Liz Honegger and Megan Thorburn chipped in with 14 apiece. Thorburn hit a career-high four three-point field goals, while Honegger had a double-double, with a team-best 10 rebounds.
Ali Mann added 10 points and nine rebounds, while the Falcons' fifth starter, sophomore Kate Achter, had eight points and four assists.
Heather Turner paced the Bulls with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Stephanie Bennett joined Turner in double figures, with 10 points and a game-high five assists.
The Falcon defense forced the hosts into 26 turnovers on the night, and BGSU held a 27-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Horne had a game-best four steals as BG posted 15 as a team.
Both teams got off to a slow start, as the Falcons scored on just one of the team's first six possessions of the night, yet found themselves trailing by just a 4-2 score, as UB missed three shots and had a turnover on the Bulls' first six trips down the floor. Still, Falcon coach Curt Miller used an early timeout after UB's Flynn Pyykkonen gave the hosts that 4-2 advantage at the 17:38 mark.
The lead grew to 6-2 on Turner's second basket in the early going, but BG scored the next four points on a pair of Honegger shots. UB quickly retook the lead on a Rachelle Matthys three-pointer, and the Bulls led, 13-8, after another layup by Turner.
After struggling mightily at the offensive end over the first nine-plus minutes, the Falcons began to show some signs of life. Senior Casey McDowell found Horne on the right wing for a three-pointer, and the pair teamed up for another hoop on the next possession, as McDowell's pass led to an easy layup for Horne in transition. Horne was fouled on the play, and completed the three-point opportunity to give the Falcons a lead they would hold the rest of the night.
The run would increase to 10-0, with Horne scoring eight of the points during that time, culminating with a running one-hander off a baseline drive.
UB broke the scoreless spell with a Brooke Meunier jumper, but Mann hit a jumper at the other end, and Achter found a trailing Honegger for a three-ball from the top of the arc. BGSU led by a 23-15 count, and the Bulls burned a timeout at the 7:55 mark.
The Falcons built the lead to 12 points, 35-23, at the intermission. Horne (14) and Mann (10) combined for over two-thirds of BGSU's first-half points. After trailing by that 13-8 score, BG outscored the Bulls, 27-10, over the remainder of the opening half.
In the second half, the Falcons again started slowly at the offensive end, but BGSU did not let the Bulls draw any closer than 10 points. After a Thorburn layup 38 seconds into the second stanza, the Brown and Orange went 6:37 without a point. But, BG allowed just four UB points during that same span. The Bulls got back-to-back baskets from Jamie Schiebner to cut BG's lead to 39-29, but the hosts also missed five field-goal attempts, four free-throw tries and committed five turnovers before scoring again.
Finally, the Falcons offense heated up, going on a 10-2 run to take a 47-29 lead. Honegger scored off a McDowell assist, and after a Bennett basket, Achter slashed through the lane, taking a Honegger pass and converting a layup in traffic. Then, Horne hit a three-pointer off another pass from Honegger.
Then, Horne returned the favor 32 seconds later, finding Honegger for a left-side three-ball in transition. Less than a minute after that, Honegger scored again and BG's lead was 49-32.
A Thorburn triple at the 8:17 mark gave BG an 18-point margin, 52-34, and the junior hit another long-distance shot two minutes later to build the lead over 21 points, 57-36.
BGSU's biggest lead of the night was 28 points, coming on a - you guessed it - Thorburn three-pointer at the 2:37 mark. The teams traded points over the remainder of the game, with Bennett scoring six points in the final two-and-a-half minutes for the hosts.
The Falcons' starters - Achter, Honegger, Horne, Mann and Thorburn - combined to score 63 points in the win. Junior Amber Flynn added five points and freshman Jasmine McCall four off the bench. Another freshman, Jessica McKenzie, converted a three-point play, and pulled down four rebounds in just six minutes of action.
The Falcons had a field-goal success rate of 42.4 percent on the night, slightly higher than Buffalo's 41.7% rate. But, BGSU turned the ball over just 11 times to UB's 26.
BGSU will travel to Northeast Ohio to face Kent State University Saturday (Jan. 14) in a 2:00 p.m. start.
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