Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
Falcons Bull Past Buffalo, 65-51, to Clinch Tie For East Division Title
February 18, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team used a run early in the second half to surge past a pesky University at Buffalo squad, 65-51, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 18). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 22-2 on the season and 13-0 in MAC play, and BGSU has clinched no worse than a tie for the MAC's East Division title. The Bulls drop to 8-16 and 3-10, respectively.
The Falcons, ranked 25th in the nation in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches poll, got 11 points from each of three starters -- juniors Liz Honegger and Carin Horne and sophomore Kate Achter. Achter had the first double-double of her career, with a game- and career-high 11 rebounds.
Stephanie Bennett had a game-high 15 points to pace three double-figure scorers for the Bulls.
Achter paced the Falcons in the first half, while Honegger led the way in the second. Achter fell just shy of amassing a double-double in the first half alone, with nine points and 10 boards before intermission.
Honegger played just four first-half minutes, going without a point or a rebound, but led the BG charge after the break. She had four steals in the first 5:44 of the second half, and scored all 11 of her points in a span of just over six minutes later in the half. Honegger went 4-for-5 from the field, including a 3-for-4 effort from three-point range, and added four boards, three assists and a game-high five steals in just 16 minutes of action.
Achter led the Falcons with four assists, and had a pair of steals of her own.
Neither team could get into any kind of an offensive rhythm in the first half, as the Falcons and Bulls combined for 26 personal fouls and 23 turnovers. UB had a total of 16 fouls, with seven different players whistled for two. UB had 14 turnovers to the Falcons' nine in the opening half.
The visitors led for the first five-plus minutes, with three-pointers by Brooke Meunier and Bennett putting UB up by an 8-4 count. Achter, though, hit a free throw and converted a layup, and a pair of charity tosses by senior Casey McDowell gave the hosts a 9-8 lead at the 14:29 mark.
By that time, however, Honegger had picked up her second foul of the day, and was relegated to the bench for the remainder of the half.
Neither team would score for nearly two-and-a-half minutes, before another Achter free throw put the Falcons up by a pair. A Heather Turner layup for the visitors, however, tied the score and proved to be the last field goal by either side for more than three minutes.
The teams exchanged free throws during that time, until Viorica Badinici banked in a three-point field-goal try to give the Bulls a 15-12 lead with 8:48 left in the half. Junior Amber Flynn's layup a minute later tied the score, 15-15, and Horne hit a jumper out of the next media timeout, giving the Falcons a two-point lead.
UB, however, tied the game on a wacky play. Badinici threw a pass over the head of teammate Barbora Homolova, but the ball went right to Flynn Pyykkonen under the basket for an easy layup and a three-point opportunity. She missed the free throw, and the game stayed tied at 17-17.
The Falcons proceeded to score the next seven points to take the lead for good. The 7-0 run began innocently enough, as Achter and junior Ali Mann each went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line. Mann split two more tosses at the 4:57 mark, and Achter's steal and driving layup 30 seconds later put the Brown and Orange ahead by a 22-17 count. Then, junior Megan Thorburn's wraparound pass found Flynn for an uncontested layup and a seven-point margin.
Bennett broke the UB drought with a jumper, but Mann grabbed her own miss and got a putback, and two Achter free throws gave the Falcons a nine-point margin, 28-19, with 1:50 on the clock. A Homolova jumper closed the first-half scoring.
Each team shot 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, and the Falcons were held without a successful three-pointer in five tries.
The teams began to score at a more consistent pace in the early going of the second half. A Bennett triple got the visitors within six, 32-26, at the 17:32 mark, but Thorburn answered with a trey of her own.
Meunier's jumper cut the lead back to seven points, but Honegger's cross-court pass found Horne in the right corner for a trey and the day's first 10-point lead, 38-28, with 15:59 left. Bennett rebounded her own miss and scored, but Thorburn kicked a pass out to Honegger for another Falcon three-pointer.
Then, off Honegger's fourth steal of the half, Thorburn banked home a pull-up, fast-break jumper, and the Bulls took timeout with 14:13 left in the contest. The Falcons led by a 43-30 score.
The run continued, as A free throw by freshman Jessica McKenzie was followed by another Honegger trey (off another Honegger assist) for a 47-30 lead at the 13:07 mark.
Turner's layup snapped a 9-0 BG run, but Mann's drive-and-dish found McDowell for a three-pointer midway through the half, sparking a 7-0 run. Just 30 seconds after McDowell's three-ball, she and Flynn worked a give-and-go that led to an easy fast-break layup from Flynn, and the lead was 20 points for the first time.
Honegger hit a jumper off Achter's pass at the 9:14 mark. Meunier answered with a jumper of her own, but Honegger came right back with her third three-pointer of the half. When sophomore Whitney Taylor took classmate Achter's pass and hit a jumper in the lane in traffic, the hosts held a 61-36 lead with 7:38 on the clock.
The Bulls outscored the Falcon reserves by a 15-4 margin over the remainder of the game, but -- despite holding BG scoreless for the game's final 4:31 and scoring the final 10 points of the afternoon -- could get no closer than the final 14-point margin.
Pyykkonen had 11 points and Meunier 10 for the visitors, joining Bennett in double figures. Bennett, in addition to her game-high total of 15 points, led the Bulls with nine rebounds, but also had a game-high eight turnovers.
Mann and Flynn had eight points apiece for the Falcons, with Mann adding three assists and three steals. THe Falcons had 10 steals on the day, as UB committed a total of 20 turnovers.
BGSU had 14 fast-break points on the day, holding the Bulls scoreless in that category. The Falcons shot 46.4% in the second half to finish the game with a 38.9% field-goal rate. The Bulls shot 37.5% from the floor on the night.
Both teams struggled at the free-throw line, but the Falcons got to the stripe more than three times as often as the Bulls. BGSU went 17-of-26, while UB was 3-of-8.
The Falcons conclude the home schedule with Wednesday's (Feb. 22) game vs. Kent State University. Starting time for the 'Senior Night' contest is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Anderson, with the team's two seniors, McDowell and Jill Lause, recognized in ceremonies prior to the game.
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