Rockets Hang on for 66-65 Win at Anderson Arena

Wednesday, January 26

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Toledo

Maggie Hennegan scores 2 of her 14 second-half points (Brad Phalin photo)

January 26, 2011 | Women's Basketball

Toledo snaps BGSU's homecourt winning streak in thriller

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com)

In a game that saw both teams make big plays down the stretch, the University of Toledo came up with just enough big plays to escape venerable Anderson Arena with a 66-65 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Wednesday night (Jan. 26).

FINAL STATISTICS - HTML
BOXSCORE - PDF
BGSU POSTGAME AUDIO: Lauren Prochaska   |   Curt Miller
BGSU POSTGAME VIDEO: Lauren Prochaska   |   Curt Miller
TOLEDO POSTGAME VIDEO: Melissa Goodall   |   Naama Shafir   | Tricia Cullop
BGSU-UT PHOTO GALLERY: By Brad Phalin & Nathan Dreimiller, BGSU Photo Services

The win gives the Rockets an overall record of 14-6 and a Mid-American Conference ledger of 6-1. BGSU is now 17-3 on the season -- with three one-point losses -- and the Falcons drop to 5-2 in conference play.

The loss snapped a 23-game overall home winning streak for the Falcons, and also broke a 39-game regular-season win streak at "The House That Roars." BG's last loss in the building came in the 2009 WNIT, and the Brown and Orange had not lost a regular-season game in Anderson since January of 2008.

The win was Toledo's first in Anderson Arena in 12 years, since January of 1999.

UT's Naama Shafir led all players with 21 points, as each team had three double-digit scorers. Melissa Goodall added 15 points and Jessica Williams 11 for the visitors.

For the Falcons, a trio of seniors hit double figures, led by Jen Uhl's 17-point night. Maggie Hennegan had 14 points, all in the second half, while Lauren Prochaska scored 11.

The Rockets had a 39-30 rebounding advantage, including a 24-11 margin in the first half. UT had 17 offensive rebounds, while the Falcons pulled down 16 defensive boards on the night.

The rebounding margin helped the visitors offset a total of 22 turnovers. Sixteen of those UT turnovers came in the game's first 20 minutes.

A crowd of 3,315 witnessed what was likely the last BG-UT battle inside Anderson Arena, as the Falcons will move into the brand-new Stroh Center next season. The attendance was the sixth-highest home crowd in BGSU women's basketball history, and the largest since the building's seating capacity was reconfigured several years ago.

The Falcons led only once, going ahead by a 4-3 score on Uhl's layup with four minutes gone in the game. UT retook the lead just 21 seconds later, and led by as many as 11 points on three occasions. The last Rocket double-digit lead came with just over 15 minutes left in the second half.

The Brown and Orange would battle back to within a single point on no fewer than five occasions in the final seven-and-a-half minutes, but could not take the lead. The final few minutes of the game featured numerous twists and turns, and the game's last 64 seconds saw the teams score a total of 18 points.

After turning the ball over, Shafir was whistled for her fourth foul with 4:12 on the clock. Falcon sophomore Chrissy Steffen went to the line and hit both ends of a one-and-one opportunity, getting the home team within a point at 56-55.

On the next possession, the Falcons forced UT's Courtney Ingersoll to miss a three-point attempt, but BG was called for a foul on the rebound, giving the ball back to the Rockets as the teams entered the final media timeout of the night. Out of that timeout, Goodall converted a driving layup to give her team a 58-55 lead.

After Goodall's hoop, which came with 3:38 on the clock, the teams then would go 2:34 without a point. The Falcons missed a three-point try and a follow try, but the BG defense then forced the Rockets into a shot-clock violation with 2:46 remaining. The Brown and Orange missed another shot, though, and UT rebounded the ball and took time.

Goodall missed a three-point try late in the shot clock, but Ingersoll came up with the offensive board, giving the Rockets a fresh 30 seconds. This time, Williams fired up a three that was off the mark, and -- after a long scramble for the ball -- Hennegan went to the deck to come up with the rebound as Goodall was draped all over her. Goodall was called for the foul, and Hennegan went to the line for a one-and-one. The senior made both shots, putting BG within a point, 58-57, with 1:04 left.

Back came the Rockets, and Goodall threaded the needle with a pass that resulted in an 'and-one' layup by Lecretia Smith with 48.1 seconds left. The ensuing free throw was good, giving the Blue and Gold a four-point lead.

BG responded with a quick layup, as Prochaska found Hennegan for an open layup with 36.5 seconds remaining. After the Rockets inbounded the ball, the Falcons fouled, sending Andola Dortch to the line. Dortch made both shots in her one-and-one opportunity for a 63-59 lead with 33.3 seconds left.

The Falcons answered once again, as senior Tracy Pontius curled off of a screen, took a pass from Prochaska and drilled a three-pointer from the left elbow, in front of the BG bench, with 21.3 seconds left. BGSU was within a single point once again, as Falcon coach Curt Miller took a timeout.

Out of the timeout, but before the Rockets could inbound the ball, Prochaska fouled Shafir. The UT junior went to the line and hit her first free throw, but missed the second. However, Goodall came up with a huge offensive rebound, and the Falcons were forced to foul her with 19.4 seconds remaining.

The foul was the Falcons' 10th of the half, giving Goodall two shots, and she made both for a 66-62 lead. Back came the Brown and Orange, though. BGSU was 3-of-3 from the field in the final minute, including a pair of three-pointers. This time, Uhl drained a three-ball with 7.2 seconds left, bringing the Falcons to within one point yet again.

BG fouled Shafir with 4.9 seconds left, but the UT point guard missed both charity tosses. Pontius rebounded the ball after the second miss and headed upcourt. Guarded closely, however, the BG senior was not able to get a shot off, and the Rockets had just their second win over the Falcons in the teams' last 15 meetings.

The Rockets shot 46.3 percent from the field on the night, including a 15-of-29 (51.7%) effort in the second half, while holding BGSU to just a 39.7% success rate. The Falcons did make seven three-pointers on the night, shooting 46.7% (7-of-15) from long range. BG made 6-of-9 triple tries in the second half. UT hit five treys in 13 attempts.

The Falcons did not attempt a single free throw in the opening half, but wound up going 12-of-14 (85.7%) on the night. UT was 11-for-17 (64.7%) from the stripe.

Shafir began each half by quickly converting a layup. In the first half, she hit a shot with just 10 seconds gone. Dortch made a free throw for a 3-0 Rocket lead, and BG did not score until 3:33 into the contest.

When the Falcons did score, however, they were just a single point behind. And, Goodall had picked up her second foul of the night within the first 2:24, and was on the bench.

That first BG basket came on Prochaska's spinning, driving layup, and after a Steffen steal, Pontius fed Uhl for a fast-break layup and a 4-3 advantage.

That lead disappeared as Williams knocked down a three-pointer at the 15:44 mark, giving UT a 6-4 lead at the night's first media timeout. Little did anyone know that the Falcons would not lead again in the game.

The Rockets committed six turnovers within the game's first four minutes, and UT had eight turnovers by the 13:17 mark of the half. Within that time, though, both Hennegan and Pontius were called for their second fouls of the night, and each senior headed to the bench.

A jumper by Prochaska put the Falcons within a 7-6 score at the next media timeout, but BG then would go over six minutes without scoring. UT proceeded to score 10-straight points, beginning with Yolanda Richardson's third-chance putback midway through the period.

A few moments later, the Rockets got another third-chance layup, this time from Shafir. The visitors led, 11-6, as the Falcons used a timeout with 8:42 left in the half.

But, the BG offensive drought continued. Dortch split two free throws, and Williams' three-pointer gave the visitors a 15-6 lead and prompted another Falcon timeout. But, a Dortch layup gave the visitors an 11-point margin with 6:44 on the clock.

Finally, however, the Falcons got a shot to drop. Sophomore Allison Papenfuss came up with a steal, then took a return pass from Steffen for a layup in transition. Seconds later, Steffen stole the ball from Smith near midcourt, sailing in all alone for another layup.

The Rockets used a timeout, but Papenfuss came up with the Falcons' third steal in as many UT possessions. This time, the Brown and Orange scored within the half-court offense, as Steffen found a wide-open Uhl for an easy layup. UT's lead was down to 17-12.

BG forced a Toledo miss on the next possession, but Williams came up with the rebound under the hoop, dribbled out to the arc and hit a trey for a 20-12 UT lead. Uhl scored at the other end, but Shafir answered with a layup and an opportunity for a three-point play as the teams headed into the final media timeout of the first half.

Shafir's free throw was no good, but after a BG miss, Goodall's layup gave the Gold and Blue a 10-point lead. Papenfuss banked a shot home, though, and Pontius spotted Uhl beyond the arc for a triple that cut Toledo's lead to 24-19 with two minutes left in the period.

Goodall answered with a three of her own, however, restoring the Rockets' eight-point advantage. Papenfuss hit a pair of shots in the final 85 seconds, sandwiched around a pair of Dortch free throws, and UT's lead was 29-23 at the break.

Uhl and Williams each had nine points in that first half to lead their respective teams, while Papenfuss had eight first-half points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting.

The Rockets scored on first of their first five second-half possessions, with Shafir scoring six of those eight points. Only Hennegan's three-point shooting kept the Falcons in the game, as the senior post made two long-distance shots in as many tries during the first three-plus minutes of the period. Her second triple cut UT's lead to 37-30.

The visitors scored four points for an 11-point lead. After the teams traded points, junior Jessica Slagle hit a left-side triple after Hennegan's touch pass. BG then got a pair of tosses from Prochaska with 14:18 left, and the Falcons were within six points.

Shafir had an answer, though, killing the BGSU momentum with a three-pointer that gave her team a 46-37 lead. Hennegan scored quickly, and Steffen knocked down a long two-pointer. When Uhl went to the floor for a rebound at the defensive end, then hustled downcourt to take a pass and hit a trailing three, BG had regained that momentum. The run was 7-0, and the deficit was just two points, at 46-44.

Shafir quelled that run with a layup, and Uhl countered with a layup of her own. But, Shafir answered with a jumper for a 50-46 lead. Prochaska split two free throws before Williams scored for a five-point UT advantage with 11:32 left.

The teams were scoreless for nearly two minutes. A 6-2 run, though, capped by Prochaska's driving one-handed banker, cut the Rockets' lead to 54-53 with 7:26 on the clock. On the next possession, Hennegan stole a Shafir pass, but the Falcons turned the ball back over after a shot-clock violation. Goodall's jumper in the paint gave the visitors a three-point margin, 56-53, and set the stage for the final four-plus minutes.

Uhl's 17-point total tied her season high. The senior was 7-of-12 from the field. Uhl and Hennegan, the team's starting post players, combined to make 5-of-6 three-point attempts, with Uhl hitting three to tie her career high (3-of-4) and Hennegan making both of her long-distance tries.

Papenfuss and Steffen scored eight points apiece in the game. Papenfuss made 4-of-5 shots from the field, while Steffen led all players with six assists and four steals.

The Falcons will take to the road for the next two games, beginning with Saturday's (Jan. 29) game at Western Michigan. After a Tuesday (Feb. 1) contest at Northern Illinois, BGSU will return home to face Ball State on Saturday, Feb. 5.