Bowling Green State University
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (Quarterfinal)
Second-Half Run Sends Falcons Past CMU, 82-65
March 13, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 13, 2009
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BGSU-CMU Boxscore in PDF Format 
A Few Notes for Saturday's Toledo Game in PDF Format
POSTGAME AUDIO: Miller, Pontius and McCoy
CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opened the second half on a big scoring run, en route to an 82-65 win over Central Michigan University Friday morning/afternoon (March 13). The game, a quarterfinal-round contest in the 2009 Mid-American Conference Tournament, was held at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 27-3 on the season. More importantly, BGSU advances to the conference tourney semifinals to face arch-rival Toledo. The BGSU-UT game will begin at noon Saturday (March 14) at 'The Q.'
CMU sees the season come to an end with a record of 18-14.
Ten different Falcons scored in the game, with nine of them scoring at least five points. Junior Niki McCoy led BG off the bench for the second-straight game, with 16 points vs. the Chippewas. Sophomore Tracy Pontius joined her in double digits, with 14 points, and tied for game honors with five assists.
Britni Houghton had 15 points to lead four CMU players in double figures.
Leading by just three points, 29-26, at the half, the Falcons went on a 9-1 run to begin the second period. That was the start of a larger run of 31-8 that put BG ahead by a 60-34 count midway through the half.
The Falcons shot over 65 percent in that second period, making 19-of-29 shots from the field after the break. BGSU shot 54.7% for the game, while holding CMU to a 35.4% field-goal rate.
Although the Falcons had just two players score in double digits, four more players had at least eight points. Sophomore Jen Uhl scored nine points on the day, while junior Tara Breske and sophs Chelsea Albert and Lauren Prochaska all had eight apiece.
Senior Lindsey Goldsberry and freshman Victoria McGowan had six points each. McGowan, playing in the biggest game of her young Falcon career, set or tied career highs in no fewer than nine categories, including points and minutes played (12). Friday's game marked the first time this season that freshman Jessica Slagle did not see action. Slagle missed the contest due to an injury suffered in the final regular-season game vs. Ohio.
The Chippewas took a 5-0 lead with just 61 seconds gone, forcing Falcon coach Curt Miller to call an early timeout. The Falcons had two turnovers in the first 30 seconds of the game, with the second leading to a layup by Houghton. Then, after a Falcon miss, Angel Chan connected from long range for Central. That three-pointer would be her team's only long-distance make of the half.
The Falcons battled back, as Prochaska split a pair of free throws, then hit a jumper in traffic. Uhl made a layup at the 17:22 mark, then sank a free throw a minute later, cutting BG's deficit to 7-6 at the game's first media timeout.
Out of that timeout, junior Sarah Clapper hit Pontius for a left-corner three-pointer, giving the Falcons the lead. The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes, with Shonda Long and Houghton scoring for the Chippewas, and Breske and McCoy answering for the Falcons.
When Albert got to the line and knocked down both free throws, the Falcons led by a 15-11 count as the teams entered the second media timeout of the morning.
Clapper hit a layup for a 17-12 Falcon lead, and when McCoy drained a triple off a Goldsberry pass several minutes later, the Brown and Orange went up by a 20-14 count.
The Chippewas scored four-straight points, but late in the shot clock, Goldsberry faked a shot from beyond the arc and spotted McCoy for a layup and a 22-18 advantage.
With 8:28 left before halftime, however, Pontius was whistled for her second foul of the game, and headed to the bench for the remainder of the half. The Chippewas scored four more points, with a pair of free throws by Long tying the contest at 22-22.
BG scored five-straight points, beginning with a Goldsberry three-pointer. With the Falcons leading, 25-22, Goldsberry and Uhl teamed up for a crowd-pleasing play that seemed to get the BG team fired up as well. Goldsberry knocked the ball away from Latisha Luckett on the baseline in BG's defensive end, then the Falcon co-captain saved the ball as she was falling out of bounds, whipping it toward midcourt. With the ball headed out of bounds near the scorer's table, Uhl raced past a CMU player, grabbing the ball and throwing it off the Chippewa player's leg. The ball went out of bounds to BG, to the delight of the Falcon players and their fans.
The BG crowd had even more to cheer about a moment later, as McGowan drove the lane, made a nifty spin move and laid the ball off the glass and through the hoop. The Falcons had a 27-22 lead with 3:49 remaining before halftime.
Houghton's layup cut that lead to three points at the 2:28 mark, and the teams split free throws, leaving BG's lead at three points heading into the intermission.
All nine BG players that saw game action in the first half scored.
In the second half, the Falcons scored the first five points, and BG put the lead into double digits for good with 17 minutes left.
Uhl drove and kicked to Pontius for a left-corner triple to open the second-half scoring, and the Falcons forced a Central miss. A Pontius shot in traffic, would not drop, but the rebound was tipped out to Goldsberry at the top of the arc. She quickly fired a pass to Breske, who banked a shot home, leading to a CMU timeout.
Houghton split two charity tosses, but Uhl slipped her defender, took a pass from Prochaska and hit a layup at the 18:10 mark, putting the Falcons ahead by nine. After Goldsberry tied up a CMU for a jump ball on BG's next possession, Pontius find Uhl for another layup. Kaihla Szunko scored, for the Chippewas' first bucket of the half, at the 17:18 mark. But, Pontius found Albert for a fast-break layup, giving the Brown and Orange a double-digit lead for good.
With the shot clock running down, Goldsberry knocked down a three-pointer from out top, keying a 9-0 run. Pontius made a nice driving layup, and Albert and Pontius then combined to give the Falcons four more points at the free-throw line. BG led, 49-30, with 14:51 remaining.
A minute-and-a-half later, Prochaska took a pass from Pontius and hit a right-corner three-pointer, giving the Falcons a 20-point lead at 52-32. Then, Pontius fed Clapper for a straightaway trey and a 55-32 advantage.
When McCoy made a layup, BG's seventh-straight successful shot, the Falcons led by a 57-34 count. That lead grew to 60-34 after McGowan grabbed an offensive board, drew a foul and split a pair of free throws. Then, the freshman picked Luckett's pocket at midcourt and sailed in ahead of the pack for a layup with 10:51 remaining.
A 7-0 CMU run cut the Falcons' lead under 20 points, but BG pounded the ball inside to Breske to stop that run. The Chippewas made four three-point field goals over the final 6:09 of the game, with Chan's trey in the final minute providing the final 17-point margin.
The Falcons had a 37-12 advantage in bench scoring, and BG scored 36 points in the paint to CMU's 30.
Szunko had a double-double for Central, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Brandie Baker scored 11 points and Long added 10. Prochaska tied Szunko for game honors with 10 boards, as the Falcons hald a 47-32 margin on the glass.
Both Pontius and Goldsberry had five assists.
Szunko had a game-best six steals, as CMU had 15 steals on 19 Falcon turnovers. Te Chippewas had 12 turnovers on the day.
The Falcons, as mentioned, will take on Toledo on Saturday. The Rockets defeated Ohio by a 77-70 final in Friday's first quarterfinal. Saturday's second semifinal will pit Ball State vs. Buffalo. The Cardinals downed Miami, 76-51, on Friday afternoon, while UB defeated Kent State by a 66-54 score.
