Bowling Green State University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
WESTERN MICHIGAN
Broncos Upend Falcons, 79-73
January 30, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2008
Achter & Uhl (BGSU) post-game audio | Miller (BGSU) post-game audio | Ron Stewart (Western Michigan) post-game audio |
Final Stats
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The final five-minutes of play became a battle to outlast the opponent as the Bowling Green State University Falcons (15-6, 4-3) and the Western Michigan University Broncos (9-12, 6-1) found themselves tied on six occasions as the last came with only 30-seconds remaining in the contest. WMU's Tiera DeLaHoussaye proved to be the X-factor scoring four of her 19 points as the game clock ticked downward toward 00:00 to give WMU the eventual MAC win, 79-73.
DeLaHoussaye not only scored a game-high 19 points, but the Broncos' junior playmaker also recorded a contest-best 13 assists; as a unit WMU dished a total of 17 on the night. Three others joined the point guard in double-figures including a pair of starters who notched 13 on the night.
Fellow MAC standout Kate Achter contributed a game-high 19 points for the home squad while passing along eight helpers for the Orange and Brown. She would go on to finish the night with two steals and three rebounds to compliment her scoring output. Additionally, her twin three-pointers matched her career-high from behind the arc which was set late in the non-conference season at Iowa State (Dec. 28).
The Falcon freshmen also had a good night as Lauren Prochaska and Jennifer Uhl were each responsible for 14 points while Crystal Murdaugh chipped in 12 points and seven boards. Sophomore post Tara Breske ripped down a game-high eight rebounds with five coming on the offensive end - a number that would match the entire WMU roster.
Bowling Green opened the game winning the tip and subsequently the first possession, but would not score until their second possession when Achter found Murdaugh for a jumper in the paint. In their next trip down the court, Murdaugh restored the BGSU lead, 4-2, as a result of knocking down her second field goal in the paint at 18:16.
Lindsey Goldsberry's steal on the baseline set-up the Falcons' next bucket, a three pointer by Prochaska which upped the ante on the visitors, 7-2, at 17:15. By the 16:18 media timeout, BGSU was ahead 7-4, but a three by DeLaHoussaye gave the game its second tie, 7-all, at 14:36. Seconds later BG pulled ahead again, this time on Goldsberry's three-point answer, 10-7.
Ebony Cleary's ensuing lay-up gave WMU its first lead of the night and the Bronco's would remain ahead for the majority of half; but holding that edge would not come without a price. Despite pushing themselves ahead eight on a quartet of lay-ups by 9:45, the Broncos' 20-12 lead was not safe.
With Uhl as the ringleader, Bowling Green nipped at the heels of the Broncos scoring six unanswered points. Uhl began the scoring drive making the front and back ends of the free throws the post was awarded as she was fouled while bringing in the rebound from Whitney Taylor's missed lay-up.
Uhl would go on to grab the defensive board on WMU's next shot and would also create a steal on the following possession; both led to a pair of Falcon points. WMU's Sarah Dreher's retaliated with a jumper at 7:13 to cushion the lead back to four points, but it was Uhl who sunk a pair in the paint the next time she touched the ball to bring BG back within two, 22-20.
Chelsea Albert and Uhl then made back-to-back lay-up attempts to negate the WMU lead and level the playing field with 5:32 remaining in the first half, 24-24. The Bronco's bounced back from their previous loss of possessions of a missed Sara Vest lay-up and a DeLaHoussaye turnover with a three by Dreher to make it 27-24 in the visitor's favor and then followed the performance as Molly Dwyer drained another to make it 30-24 in favor of the Broncos at 4:21.
Out of the thirty-season BGSU timeout, Uhl continued to impact the game with a made three from the corner near the BGSU student section and kept the Falcons within a long range field goal, 30-27, with four-minutes and changed left in the first half of play.
Western Michigan got as far as five points ahead of the home squad in the lingering moments of the half, but a pair of made free throws by Albert drew BGSU within one point of their competition, 33-32, as 29.0 showed on the clock.
The Falcons created a chance to take lead heading into break after another WMU foul at 18.1, but turned it over. As a result, DeLaHoussaye utilized her lighting quick step to steal a bit of the Falcons growing thunder as she laid in the final shot of the half, a transition lay-up at 6.0.
Though three points separated the teams, 35-32, on paper the two were in a dead heat. Each squad mustered 16 points in the paint, while WMU's bench narrowly outscored the hosts by a point, 15-14. Also while the Falcons gained 9 pts. in second chances, Western found 8 pts. off their fast break.
The second half molded itself much like the first with neither team finding a way to surpass more than a handful of points in the lead. By 13:55 Western, who owned the lead for the entire second half to that point, found itself ahead three thanks to a successful and-one by Amanda Parker. Parker had been held scoreless in the first half, but would go on to rattle-off 13 before the night's end.
Previously Achter had hit a running jumper in the paint (14:06) to cut the lead 45-43, but was soon shadowed by Parkers' eventual three-point lay-up.
As a senior on her own court, Achter would not back off and soon hit her second three pointer of the night; combined with Breske's prior free throw, the Falcons were back in business and just a point behind Western Michigan, 48-47.
Yet again Uhl came up big for BG as she knocked down a three to give Bowling Green its first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 50-48 at 12:43, when they were up 10-9 on the Broncos.
A pair of Achter free throws forged BG ahead by four, but the two basket lead lasted only 20-seconds as Brenna Banktson mirrored Achter's effort from the stripe. At 10:00 on the dot Bankston would hit another duce from the line and the game was once again even, 52-all, and anyone's for the winning. With Achter's FT, she had accounted for 12 of BG's then 19 second half points.
WMU retained the lead, 54-52, at 8:10 on lay-up by DeLaHoussaye only to be followed by a successful Vest lay-up less than minute later.
With still much fight left in the Falcons, from the corner Prochaska converted yet another three pointer at 6:32, for the single point lead, 57-56.
Showing there was much fight left in the Broncos too, Parker killed a pair of consecutive three's to raise the steaks to a five point lead, 62-57, with 5:49 until the final buzzer.
Again Prochaska knocked-down a triple to lessen the WMU lead, but as mentioned earlier, the Broncos' were able to get the best of the Falcons by the final curtain call out scoring the hosts 17-13 in the last five-minutes for the cross-divisional win.
With the help of Ohio's overtime win against Ball State, Western in the lone one loss team left in the conference and occupies the top slots in the West and the league. The Falcons are now tied with Miami with their 4-2 conference records in the East; Ohio leads at 5-2.
Up next for the Falcons will be a trip up I-75 to face the arch-rival Toledo Rockets this Saturday (Feb. 2) at 2:30 p.m. Toledo will also be hungry to avenge a MAC loss from tonight as Kent State stuck it to the Rockets with an 87-61 victory.
*Falcon Notes*
* BG's loss marked the first time the Falcons have lost three-straight contests going back to February of 2003. That also marked the last time the Falcons lost two-straight homers as they fell first at Buffalo, before dropping home games to Miami and Ball State.
* The win by Western Michigan was just their second at Anderson Arena against a Curt Miller coached team with the last coming on Feb. 14, 2002 (67-58).
* Kate Achter's 19 points were the most she has scored in a MAC game this season. Her season-high is 32, which she netted against St. Bonaventure.
* Jennifer Uhl recorded her first double-digit effort in a MAC game this season as she tallied 11 points in the first half alone on way to a 14-point night. Uhl came in with 11:03 left in the first half with the Falcons trailing 16-12 and would score 11 of the Falcons next 15 points. Additionally, her two treys in the game gave the freshman forward a new career-best single-game mark. In all, the BG freshmen recorded 24 of the Falcons' 32 first half points.
* Lauren Prochaska's four three-point field goals in the game gives the Plain City, Ohio native four games in MAC play this season with at least four or more treys. She went on to tally 12 of her 14 points in the game's final 6:32.
* Crystal Murdaugh's seven boards mark the fourth MAC game in which she has snatched-up seven or more rebounds and the third consecutive occasion that she has brought home seven-plus. Kent State and Buffalo are the only programs to successfully keep Murdaugh away from the glass. She recorded five and four rebounds versus the pair of MAC East schools.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
