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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Mann Reaches Milestone, Leads BGSU Past Akron
January 07, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Ali Mann, just a junior, added yet another milestone to her already-impressive list of accomplishments as she led the Bowling Green Sate University women's basketball team to a 71-54 win over the University of Akron Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7). The game, the Mid-American Conference opener for both schools, was held at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena.
With the win, the host Falcons improve to 10-2 overall, while dropping the Zips to 3-9 on the year.
Mann led all scorers with 25 points in the win, in the process becoming just the 19th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career. The Chelsea, Mich., native became only the sixth BGSU player to reach the millennium mark in her junior season.
Junior Megan Thorburn joined Mann in double digits, posting a season-high 11 points, while sophomore Kate Achter also scored 11. Thorburn tied her career best with three three-point field goals, going 3-for-4 from long range.
Niki McCoy led the Zips with a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Jessie Crooks joined her in double dights with a 10-point afternoon.
The Falcons forced Akron into 27 turnovers, including 19 in the first half alone. The Zips actually had a better field-goal percentage than the Brown and Orange, as UA shot 43.9% for the game to the Falcons' 43.1%. But, the Falcons took nearly 20 more shots than the visitors, due to the Zips' turnovers. BG committed 15 turnovers for the game.
BGSU got started quickly, as junior Carin Horne hit a three-pointer off an Achter pass just 39 seconds into the game. The Zips, however, scored the game's next four points, and BG head coach Curt Miller took a quick timeout at the 17:25 mark. Out of that break, however, Mann grabbed a rebound and hit a layup, and the Falcons never trailed again.
Junior Liz Honegger sank a jumper off a Horne feed to give the Falcons a 7-4 lead at the first media timeout, and Honegger added a free throw less than a minute later for a four-point lead.
The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, and Mann hit a driving jumper in traffic in the lane just before the 11:49 media timeout, giving the Falcons a 14-10 advantage.
Out of that break, McCoy scored for the Zips to cut BG's lead in half, but Thorburn drained a triple at the other end for a 17-12 Falcon lead.
Foul trouble would begin to plague the Falcons, however, as Honegger was called for a pair of fouls just two seconds apart midway through the half, and had to head to the bench. Horne replaced Honegger in the lineup, but was whistled for her third foul of the game at the 9:46 mark, and was forced to miss the remainder of the half.
The Zips cut the Falcons' lead to 17-14 on a pair of McCoy free throws, but junior Amber Flynn stole an Akron pass at midcourt and drove in for a layup at the 8:32 mark. That was the first of three consecutive UA possessions that ended with a steal by Flynn. Those three steals came within a 59-second span.
A three-pointer by freshman Lindsey Goldsberry built the Falcons' lead to eight points, 22-14, with 6:49 left in the half, but UA's Courtney Stewart responded with a triple of her own.
Mann's driving bank shot with 4:20 on the clock moved her within five points of 1,000, and gave the Brown and Orange a seven-point margin, but Crooks hit a layup at the other end. Then, though, Mann fueled a 7-0 BG run.
The junior hit back-to-back shots on similar plays to put the Falcons up by a 28-19 count. Both times, Mann drove the right baseline and converted shots off the glass, with the second shot putting Mann's total at 999 career points. Then, with just under a minute remaining in the half, freshman Jasmine McCall found Thorburn for her second three-pointer of the half, giving the Falcons a 31-19 lead.
UA's Allison Schoff ended the run, hitting a layup with 15 ticks on the clock. But, Stewart fouled Mann at the top of the arc with 3.5 seconds left in the half, and Mann calmly sank the first free throw to give her 1,000 points in her career. The Anderson Arena crowd, cognizant of Mann's reaching the record, cheered wildly, and she swished her second free throw during the din. The Falcons took a 33-21 lead into the lockerroom.
In that first half, the Zips shot 50.0% to the Falcons' 40.6%, but UA took exactly half as many shots as BGSU due to the turnover disparity. Akron had the 19 first-half turnovers, which meant the Zips got only 16 first-half shot attempts, making eight.
By contrast, the Falcons took 32 shots, sinking 13. BGSU had eight offensive rebounds in the opening half.
In the second half, the Falcons scored the first five points to take a 17-point lead. Achter, who did not attempt a shot in the first half, hit a jumper 20 seconds into the second, and Horne took a pass from Honegger and drained a triple.
McCoy's layup cut the lead to 38-23, but Mann hit a free throw, then took a pass from McCall and hit a fastbreak layup, and UA burned a timeout at the 15:19 mark.
The Zips got as close as 13 points, at 50-37, on a Mandy Holzer three-point play midway through the half, but BGSU slowly began to pull away.
After a Crooks layup put the visitors within 14 points, 53-39, with 8:17 left, the Brown and Orange went on a 16-4 run to take a 69-43 lead with three minutes remaining. Achter scored eight of BG's points during that run, including six consecutive points during a 1:04 stretch.
The Zips ended the game on an 11-2 run, including a long three-pointer by Ashley Veal at the buzzer, to produce the final margin.
In addition to her 25 points, Mann led the Falcons with nine rebounds, including six offensive boards. The teams tied, 31-31, on the boards.
Horne had eight points for the Brown and Orange, while Honegger had seven points and seven caroms. McCall had four points and a game-best four steals, tying her season high in the latter category. The Falcons had a season-best 17 steals vs. the Zips, with Flynn, Horne and senior Casey McDowell getting three apiece.
Stewart had nine points for UA, before fouling out with 4:41 left in the second half. Veal had five points for the visitors, who also had seen Holzer foul out midway through the second stanza.
The Falcons have little time to enjoy the win, as BG leaves Monday for a Tuesday (Jan. 10) game at the University at Buffalo. UB is also 1-0 in MAC play after a 78-75 win at Miami Saturday. Tuesday's game begins at 7:00 p.m.
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