Bowling Green State University
Northern Illinois (Quarterfinal)
Second-Half Scoring Surge Sends Falcons to Semis, 73-61
March 08, 2006 | Women's Basketball
March 8, 2006
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - When tournament time rolls around, style points are not awarded. Sometimes, the name of the game is survival.
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team survived a frigid shooting first half, scoring 57 points after halftime en route to a 73-61 win over Northern Illinois University Wednesday night (March 8). The game, a quarterfinal-round contest in the Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament, was held at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.
 Curt Miller in action during the Falcons' 73-61 win over NIU (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)  |
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Northern Illinois sees the season come to an end at 12-17.
Falcon junior Liz Honegger had 17 points to pace four BG players in double digits in the scoring column. Sophomore Kate Achter had 14 and junior Carin Horne 13, while junior Ali Mann scored 12.
Mann had all 12 of her points in the second half, and also had a game-high 15 rebounds. Mann dished out five assists as well, tying Achter for game honors in that category.
Stephanie Raymond led the Huskies with a game-high 24 points, playing all 40 minutes. Kristin Wiener also hit double digits for NIU, scoring 12 points.
BGSU shot just 18.8 percent in the first half, making only 6-of-32 field-goal tries. But, the Brown and Orange shot 60.0% after halftime, going 18-for-30.
Both teams got off to an extremely slow start offensively. After Northern's Jessie Wilcox hit a layup on the game's opening possession, the teams would combine for just eight points over the game's next 10 minutes.
Honegger picked up a pair of fouls, 10 seconds apart, and headed to the bench with just 1:43 elapsed. BGSU went scoreless until junior Amber Flynn grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a putback at the 16:57 mark.
The game's next scoring would not come for nearly three minutes, until Horne hit a left-elbow three-pointer off a pass from senior Casey McDowell. That was the Falcons' lone hoop in a span of nearly eight minutes, but the Brown and Orange held a 5-3 lead.
The Falcons, 1-for-11 from the field prior to Horne's triple, then missed the next six shot attempts of the game. The Huskies, meanwhile, were experiencing similar difficulties at the offensive end of the floor. When Raymond hit a jumper to tie the game at 5-5, it marked Northern's first points in 8:09 and the Huskies' first field goal in a span of 9:27. The teams combined to make just 3-of-26 shots over the first nine-plus minutes.
BGSU retook the lead when Honegger faked a three-point try, then made the `extra' pass to freshman Lindsey Goldsberry, who buried a three at the 8:58 mark. Then, however, NIU scored seven-straight points in a two-minute span to take a 12-8 lead.
BG battled back, as Honegger slipped inside to take Achter's pass and hit a layup at the 5:23 mark, and Horne drilled a trailing three-pointer on the break less than 30 seconds later to give the Falcons a 13-12 lead.
NIU's Mary Basic canned a jumper, but Honegger then converted a three-point play to give BG the lead. Raymond, however, tied the game with a jumper at the 4:04 mark, and Nikia Odom's jumper with 3:08 on the clock marked the final scoring of the first half.
Whereas the first half was a 20-minute scoring drought, the start of the second half was a scoring frenzy at both ends of the court. The teams combined for 34 points in the first half, but 23 in the first 3:40 of the second stanza. BGSU had 12 points in that 3:40 span, while NIU made four consecutive layups to start the half.
Wiener made a pair of layups, with a Honegger three-pointer in between. A Raymond layup gave NIU a 24-19 lead - the Huskies' largest margin of the game - but junior Megan Thorburn took an Achter kick-out and hit a three-ball just 21 seconds later.
Basic scored at the other end, but Achter got herself to the line and converted a pair of free throws, then spotted a cutting Horne for a layup, and the Falcons were showing signs of life. The game was tied, 26-26, with 17:14 on the clock.
Basic gave the Huskies the lead once again, hitting a left-side three-pointer, but Horne's pass found Honegger for a long right-baseline two-pointer. A Raymond three at the 15:49 mark gave NIU a 32-38 lead, but Thorburn answered with her second triple less than half a minute later. Then, a Mann pass resulted in a Flynn layup and a 33-32 lead with 14:36 remaining, and BG never trailed again.
Flynn was fouled on the play, and completed the three-point opportunity for a two-point lead. Mann, scoreless for the game's first 25-plus minutes, hit a short jumper out of a timeout, then drilled another jumper a minute later, and the Falcons had a 10-0 run and a 38-32 lead.
Northern responded with a short jumper by Wiener, but Mann scored another layup, then found Honegger for a jumper at the 11:10 mark. Raymond responded with a jumper to cut BG's lead to 42-36, but Honegger scored another layup, off another Mann assist.
Moments later, Mann hit a left-elbow three-pointer, then grabbed a defensive rebound, led the fast break and fired a pass to Horne for a layup, a Northern foul and a three-point opportunity. Horne hit the free throw to complete an 8-0 run and give BG a 50-36 lead. That play also capped a 22-4 BGSU run.
Mann converted a three-point play of her own just 22 seconds later, and the Falcons had a 16-point lead, 53-37. The Falcons, after that woeful 18.8% first-half shooting percentage, made 14 of the first 19 shot attempts of the second half, a percentage of. 73.7%.
The Huskies battled back, getting within nine points on several occasions, the last with 2:53 left. But, an Achter jumper began a 7-0 run that put BG ahead by a 69-53 count with 1:22 on the clock. The lead got as high as 17 points in the final minute, before NIU scored seven of the game's final nine points.
The Falcons hit eight three-point field goals in 19 attempts, with Honegger, Horne and Thorburn making two apiece. NIU was 4-of-16 from beyond the arc.
Flynn had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Brown and Orange, while Horne matched her classmate with seven rebounds. Thorburn had six points, while McDowell pulled down six boards. The teams tied in the rebounding department, 46-46.
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