Wednesday, December 19
Amherst, MA
5:30 PM
Bowling Green State University
64
at
61
Massachusetts
Falcons Rally for 64-61 Win at UMass
December 19, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Rogers scores 18, including four FTs in final minute
FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Jennifer Roos
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 8-3 on the season, and BGSU has won five consecutive games. The Minutewomen drop to 2-9.
After Rogers hit a pair of free throws with 28.5 seconds remaining to give her team a one-point lead, UMass had three chances to take the lead, but saw each shot bounce off the iron. Rogers rebounded the third miss and hit two more tosses to provide the final margin.
Rogers and senior Chrissy Steffen each had 18 points to lead the Falcons. Steffen now has 991 career points.
Rogers had a double-double, with a game-high 12 rebounds as the Falcons held a 34-28 advantage on the boards. Jasmine Watson had a game-high 21 points for the hosts.
The Falcons led by four points at the half, and BGSU took a game-high nine-point lead on a Rogers layup with 14:25 left in the game. But, the Minutewomen proceeded to score the next 11 points as part of a 22-6 run. When Rashida Timbilla split a pair of free throws with 8:01 remaining, UMass had a seven-point lead.
The Falcons cut the lead to two points with just over five minutes left, and the Brown and Orange got within a single point after a Rogers driving layup with 3:17 remaining. Junior Jillian Halfhill's nifty no-look steal gave the ball back to BGSU, and when senior Danielle Havel made a free throw at the 2:57 mark, the game was tied, 57-57.
Almost immediately, however, the home team responded in the form of a Millie Niggeling three-pointer, and the Falcons trailed again. Rogers got an offensive rebound and laid the ball back up and in, cutting the UMass lead to 60-59 with 2:14 remaining.
Watson drove and drew a foul, splitting a pair of tosses. But, Rogers was fouled on a drive as well. She missed the first free-throw try -- her only miss in nine shots from the line -- but made the second with 1:56 on the clock.
The Minutewomen missed a shot on the next possession, and Rogers rebounded the ball with just over a minute left. BG threw the ball right back to the hosts, however. As UMass looked to throw the ball inside, though, Rogers grabbed the ball and was immediately fouled. She hit both ends of the resulting one-and-one opportunity, giving the Falcons a 62-61 lead with 28.5 seconds remaining.
The home team's Emily Mital misfired on a three-point try, and as the teams scrambled for the rebound, a jump ball was called with 10.2 seconds to go, with the possession arrow pointing toward the Minutewomen.
UMass inbounded the ball, and Mital missed on a left-side layup try with roughly five seconds to go. The rebound went to Niggeling near the foul line, but her jumper was off the mark as well. Rogers grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 1.3 seconds to go. She hit both free throws, and a desperation heave by the Minutewomen fell well short as the final horn sounded.
The game featured nine ties and seven lead changes. UMass scored on the game's opening possession, but Rogers tied the contest with a putback. Neither team scored for over two minutes after that, before Steffen put back a teammate's miss. Rogers drove and kicked the ball to sophomore Jasmine Matthews for a three-pointer and a 7-4 lead at the game's first media timeout.
Back-to-back layups, however, gave the hosts the lead, and Aisha Rodney made yet another UMass shot inside for a 10-7 advantage with just over seven minutes gone.
Junior Jill Stein knotted the score, taking a pass from Halfhill and knocking down a three-point try. Stein is now a perfect 3-of-3 from long distance this season. Then, senior Allison Papenfuss received a pass from freshman Miriam Justinger and banked home a jumper for a 12-10 BGSU lead.
Watson's layup tied the score midway through the period, but Justinger drained a three-point attempt. Jasmine Harris answered with a trey for the hosts, before a Steffen putback gave the Brown and Orange a two-point lead.
Watson scored inside again, but Steffen counted with a nice hesitation move and a driving layup for a 19-17 advantage at the 4:23 mark. Niggeling's layup produced the seventh tie of the period, but Halfhill fed Papenfuss and Stein for a pair of layups for the Brown and Orange. Stein's contested layup, coming with 3:04 remaining in the period, marked the first time either team led by more than three points in the game.
The Minutewomen were whistled for an over-and-back violation, and the next possession resulted in Steffen drawing a foul and making a pair of free throws. Two more tosses by the senior gave the Falcons a 27-19 lead with just over two minutes left before the half. But, a Watson layup ended a UMass scoring drought of just over four minutes, and Mital's layup with 28 seconds left cut the BG advantage to four points, 27-23, at the break.
When the second half began, the lead fluctuated between two and four points for the first few possessions. But, Rogers hit a determined, driving layup, was fouled and made the resulting free throw, and after Matthews blocked a Watson shot at the other end, Havel took a Halfhill pass and made a trailing three for a 35-27 BGSU lead.
Mital answered with a triple of her own, but Halfhill made a nifty layup after a just-as-nifty spin move along the right baseline. Rogers' driving layup gave BG a 39-30 lead, but UMass responded with the aforementioned 11-0 run.
Nola Henry had five of the hosts' 11 points during that run, including the three-pointer that gave UMass a 41-39 lead with 11:07 on the clock. Justinger made the 'extra pass' that resulted in a corner three from Halfhill, but the home team scored five-straight points to take a 46-42 lead. That 5-0 run included a Watson layup and a Mital transition trey.
Steffen took an inbounds pass and drained a three, but Niggeling answered with a shot of her own from behind the arc. Watson's layup and a Timbilla free throw put the hosts up by a 52-45 count with 8:01 remaining.
Steffen hit a three-point try from out top, but Watson responded by scoring inside yet again. She went 9-of-15 from the floor on the night.
Two Rogers charity tosses cut the home team's lead to 54-50 with 5:57 left, and Steffen came up with an offensive rebound and banked a shot off glass and in at the 5:13 mark. Timbilla knocked down a jumper, but Halfhill drove the lane and hit a layup to put BG within two once again at 56-54. Henry split a pair of free throws, and Rogers made a layup at the 3:17 mark. The Havel free throw with 2:57 left tied the score at 57-all and set the stage for the finish.
BGSU shot 38.6 percent from the field, going 12-of-26 (46.2%) from the floor after halftime. UMass shot 56.0% in the second half en route to a 48.1% success rate for the game.
Halfhill had nine points, five assists and three steals for the Falcons, leading the team in helpers and tying with Steffen for the team lead in steals.
Watson was the lone UMass player to score in double digits, but three players had eight points apiece for the hosts. That group included Henry, Mital and Niggeling, with Henry also dishing out a game-high 11 assists. Timbilla had seven points and led the Minutewomen with eight rebounds.
The Falcons, led by Rogers, went 13-of-15 from the free-throw line. Rogers made eight of her nine attempts, and Steffen was a perfect 4-for-4 from the stripe.
The Falcons are now idle for the next week and a half. BGSU's next game will be Sunday, Dec. 30, when nationally-ranked Dayton comes to the Stroh Center.
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