Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Win at Kent State, 61-58
January 14, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2006
KENT, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team withstood a furious second-half rally by Kent State University, posting a 61-58 victory over the Golden Flashes Saturday afternoon (Jan. 14). The game, an early-season showdown between the Mid-American Conference's East Division leaders, was held at the Memorial Athletic & Convocation Center.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 12-2 overall and 3-0 in MAC play. The Golden Flashes drop to 9-5 and 2-1, respectively.
Junior Ali Mann led the Falcons with 19 points in the victory, which broke BGSU's 10-game road losing streak to the Golden Flashes. The Falcons' last win at the M.A.C. Center came nearly 12 years ago, on Feb. 5, 1994.
Saturday's game was the first meeting between BGSU and KSU since the 2005 MAC Tournament championship game (March 12, 2005), won by the Falcons, 81-75, in Cleveland.
Saturday's game saw the Falcons lead for most of the afternoon, and BGSU held an 18-point advantage with 10 minutes left in the second half. But, the host Golden Flashes battled back to tie the score with 1:32 left before the Falcons rallied for the win.
KSU tied the score on a pair of Lindsay Shearer free throws -- Shearer led all scorers with 20 points -- after BG junior Liz Honegger was called for her fifth foul with 1:32 on the clock. But, Falcon sophomore Kate Achter drew a KSU foul with 48.0 seconds left, and split a pair of charity tosses to give BG a 59-58 lead.
On KSU's next possession, Achter was whistled for a foul -- her fifth -- but the Flashes' Malika Willoughby missed a pair of free throws with 21.1 seconds left, and the Falcons' Casey McDowell grabbed the rebound after the second miss. The Flashes were forced to foul, and freshman Jasmine McCall went to the free-throw line with 10.2 seconds left. Kent State called a timeout to give McCall 60 extra seconds to think about her free throws.
McCall, shooting at the end of the arena that contained over 100 members of the Akron Springfield High School marching band, got her first free throw to rattle in. She swished her second try, giving the Falcons a three-point margin.
After a BGSU timeout, the hosts had one final chance to tie the score. But, Shearer's three-point attempt hit the rim and bounced away as the final horn sounded.
Both teams had struggled at the offensive end at the beginning of the game, as the Flashes and Falcons scored just eight points apiece in the first eight minutes. The lead changed hands seven times during that back-and-forth stretch, which culminated when Mann found Achter ahead of the pack on a length-of-the-court inbounds pass from BG's defensive end. Achter laid the ball in to tie the game at 8-8, and the Falcons would not trail again.
McCall entered the game at the 11:59 media timeout, and immediately made her presence felt at both ends of the court.
Out of that timeout, McCall stole Rachel Bennett's inbounds pass and laid the ball into the hoop in one motion. Then, McCall grabbed the rebound of a KSU miss on the ensuing possession, and found Mann inside for a layup and a 12-8 BG lead. McCall grabbed the rebound on Kent's next miss as well.
A Shearer layup cut the margin in half, but Honegger hit a layup at the other end, drawing a foul in the process and completing the three-point play for a 15-10 Falcon lead at the 9:47 mark.
Two minutes later, Achter found a trailing Carin Horne for a three-point field goal, and the lead was 18-12. Then, Achter handed out a pair of assists. She first drove coast-to-coast and dealt the ball to junior Amber Flynn for a layup, then found freshman Jessica McKenzie for a reverse layup and a 22-12 lead, prompting a KSU timeout with 6:28 remaining before halftime.
Willoughby hit a jumper to snap BG's 7-0 run, but the Falcons were clicking offensively. Horne hit a long triple off of Achter's inbounds pass, and the lead was 11 points. Mann hit back to back jumpers to give the Falcons a 29-16 lead with 4:33 on the clock.
Shortly thereafter, junior Megan Thorburn found Honegger for a left-elbow three-pointer, and the Falcon lead was 32-18.
KSU's Tiffany LaFleur scored at the other end, but Mann drained another jumper at the 2:30 mark, and then found Honegger stepping outside for a left-side triple with 1:51 left before halftime. The Falcons led, 37-20, and the Flashes burned another timeout.
The hosts' Kerrie James closed the first-half scoring with a jumper at the 1:19 mark, and the Falcons took a 37-22 lead into the lockerroom.
That lead would increase to 18 points early in the second stanza, as Mann hit a three-pointer off a Thorburn feed. The teams traded baskets for the next six minutes, with BG's lead staying between 15 and 17 points during that span.
With 13:30 left, KSU's La'kia Stewart scored to cut the lead to 13 points, 44-31. Achter hit a pair of free throws at the other end, but Willoughby -- who had missed the final 3:39 of the first half and the first several minutes of the second half due to an injury -- hit a layup to cut the lead back to 13.
BGSU would score the next five points, however. Mann hit a layup, and a double screen freed McDowell for a left-side three-ball off Achter's pass. The lead was 51-33, Falcons, with 10:08 remaining. However, BGSU would go the next 4:10 without a point, and 6:36 without another field goal.
Willoughby hit a jumper to cut the lead to 51-35. A Shearer foul put the Falcons at the free-throw line, but BG could not convert with 9:16 left. Shearer sank a pair of charity tosses 14 seconds later, and a Willoughby steal led to a Stewart layup. The lead was down to 12 points, 51-39, with 8:42 left.
Two more Shearer free throws, immediately after the eight-minute media timeout, narrowed the margin to 10 points, and a Sarah Burgess layup put the Flashes within single digits at the 7:24 mark.
Willoughby split a pair of free throws and Burgess hit a back-door layup, and the lead was five points, 51-46. Finally, the Falcons stopped Kent's 13-0 run, as Mann converted two free throws after a Stewart reach-in foul.
The Flashes, however, had all the momentum, and went on a 5-0 run. The first three points of that run came on Willoughby free throws. Stewart missed both ends of a two-shot opportunity, but bounced back to hit a jumper at the 3:57 mark, cutting BG's lead to just 53-51.
Honegger found Mann inside for an easy layup at the 3:28 mark, but Shearer quickly answered at the other end. On the next possession, however, Horne hit a big three-pointer, with a defender in her face as the shot clock wound down. The triple gave the Falcons a 58-53 advantage with 2:38 left.
Still, though, the Flashes battled back. Another Shearer layup led to a three-point play with 2:07 left, and the free throw cut the BG lead to two points once again. Then, after a BG offensive foul, Shearer's free throws at the 1:32 mark tied the score and set the stage for the frantic finish.
Achter joined Mann in double digits in the scoring column for the Falcons, scoring 11 points on the day. The sophomore dished out a game-high five assists. Both Honegger and Horne scored nine points, and Honegger had a team-best 10 rebounds as the Falcons held a 43-40 advantage in that category.
Shearer's 20 points paced three double-figure Flashes, as Stewart had 14 points and Willoughby 10. Stewart had a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds, while Willoughby led KSU with four assists.
The Falcons held KSU to just a 29.6-percent field-goal rate in the first half, but the Flashes went 12-for-24 in the second half to finish the game at 39.2%. BGSU shot only 25.0% in the second stanza, making just seven field goals after the intermission. For the game, BG shot 34.4% from the field.
The Falcons made seven three-point field goals, led by Horne's 3-for-5 long-range effort. BG's defense held the Golden Flashes without a three-pointer, as the hosts went 0-for-12 from behind the arc.
BGSU returns home for the next two games, beginning with a Wednesday (Jan. 18) contest vs. Ohio University. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
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