Falcons Down Akron, 60-55, to Clinch Share of Division Title

Saturday, February 18

Akron, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Akron

Danielle Havel drives to the hoop during second-half action. Havel scored all 10 of her points after halftime (Larry Clapper photo)

February 18, 2012 | Women's Basketball

By: AKRON, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Senior Jessica Slagle scored 15 points, and redshirt junior Danielle Havel scored all 10 of her points in the second half, as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team picked up a 60-55 win at the University of Akron. Saturday afternoon's (Feb. 18) Mid-American Conference game was held at James A. Rhodes Arena.

FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Curt Miller
PHOTO GALLERY: Photos by Larry Clapper

With the win, the Falcons improve to 22-4 overall and 12-1 in MAC play. BGSU has clinched a tie for the MAC's East Division title, as the Falcons are three games ahead of second-place Miami University with three games remaining.

The Zips drop to 12-15 and 6-7, respectively.

After BGSU took an early 7-4 lead, the Zips responded by scoring eight-straight points, and UA would lead for nearly all of the first half. Buckets by redshirt sophomore Alexis Rogers and Slagle tied the game, 28-28, at the intermission.

The Zips scored the first three points of the second period, but the Brown and Orange got three consecutive layups for a 34-31 lead. After UA scored the next three points to tie the contest, sophomore Allison Papenfuss gave the Falcons the lead for good with an offensive rebound and putback with just under 15 minutes left.

The Falcons opened up a seven-point lead on a Papenfuss three-point play with 4:49 remaining, but the hosts rallied to within two points on three occasions down the stretch before BGSU put the game away.

Papenfuss and freshman Jasmine Matthews each scored nine points for the Falcons. For Papenfuss, the point total was a season high. Kacie Cassell had 15 points off the bench for the Zips, while Sina King scored 11.

Akron entered the day averaging a MAC-leading 73.8 points per game, but the Falcons held the Zips to their second-lowest point total of the season. BGSU leads the conference in scoring defense, yielding just under 55 ppg.

At the outset, however, it seemed like Saturday's game might turn into a high-scoring affair. There was only one stoppage of play in the first four-plus minutes as both teams looked to push the ball upcourt quickly. The Zips took a 4-2 lead before Slagle fed junior Chrissy Steffen for a three-pointer with just over two minutes gone.

Slagle then grabbed a defensive rebound and fired a long pass to Papenfuss. The junior caught the ball on the run, and was able to stop turn and bank the ball off glass. That layup gave the Brown and Orange a 7-4 lead before Taylor Ruper's three-pointer tied the score at the day's first timeout.

That triple began the aforementioned 8-0 run for the hosts. King knocked down a trey, and Jasmine Mushington's jumper put the Zips ahead by a 12-7 count.

Matthews hit a jumper for the Falcons, but Cassell was wide open and hit a three-pointer for a 15-9 UA lead. Sophomore Jill Stein scored inside, but another Ruper triple put UA up by seven, and BGSU took a timeout with 9:33 left before the half.

After the teams exchanged baskets, Falcon soph Noelle Yoder scored four-straight points, hitting a layup and then getting herself to the line and knocking down a pair of free throws. BG's deficit was just three points, 20-17, at the 5:38 mark.

Cassell hit a trey, but Slagle worked her way around a defender for a basket inside, then hit a shot from beyond the arc to cut the UA lead to a single point. Cassell, however, answered with her third trey of the half, then pulled up for a jumper on the break. The Zips had a 28-22 lead, and Cassell had 13 points, with two-and-a-half minutes before the intermission.

But, the Falcons went on a 6-0 run to end the period. Slagle hit a layup with exactly two minutes on the clock, and after an Akron miss, Rogers scored inside as well. When Slagle hit a runner with 1:03 left in the half, the teams were tied, 28-all.

The Falcons shot 35.3 percent in the opening 20 minutes. The Zips were just 5-of-19 from inside the arc, but went 6-of-10 from long range. For the half, UA shot 34.9% from the field.

Just over a minute into the second half, Rogers was whistled for her third foul of the day. Entering the game, the redshirt sophomore was the only player in the MAC to be ranked in the top five in both scoring and rebounding in league games. But, she would be limited to just five minutes of action in the second half, and 19 for the game, due to her foul trouble.

The Zips would hit a total of three free throws before the seas parted for Slagle, giving the senior a wide-open layup and starting a 6-0 run for the Falcons.

A Havel steal resulted in another layup, as Slagle found Matthews for a transition hoop. Then, Matthews spotted an open Havel under the basket, and the resulting layup gave the Falcons a 34-31 lead and prompted a UA timeout with 16:50 remaining.

The hosts tied the score on a King layup several moments later, but Papenfuss grabbed a teammate's miss and laid the ball up and in with 14:59 left. The Falcons would not trail again.

On the next possession, Papenfuss came up with a steal to give the visitors the ball back. The sophomore threw the ball inside to Havel for another BG layup and a 38-34 lead. That lead grew to five points as Slagle split a pair of charity tosses, but Cassell then beat everyone downcourt for a quick layup.

Ti'eshia Stubbs scored for the hosts, but Havel got to the stripe twice in a span of just over a minute, hitting all four free throws for a 43-38 advantage. King scored four-straight points, but Havel got to the line yet again, knocking down two more tosses with 8:35 left.

Papenfuss blocked a King jumper, then went to the floor for a loose ball. A jump ball was called, with the possession arrow pointing the Falcons' way as the teams entered the second-to-last media timeout of the afternoon.

Out of that timeout, BGSU missed a pair of shots, but Papenfuss came up with an offensive board and scored again, for a 47-42 lead. Ruper, however, almost immediately answered with a triple to cut BG's lead to two points with 7:10 left.

Steffen converted on a drive, putting the ball high off the glass and through the hoop for a 49-45 advantage. That lead grew to seven points after Havel threw the ball in to Papenfuss for an 'and-one' banker. The ensuing free throw, with 4:46 left, gave BG a 52-45 lead.

Mushington's putback cut BG's lead to five points, and the Zips were called for a foul on Slagle's drive, as the teams entered the final media timeout of the day. The senior made one of her two free-throw tries for a 53-47 lead with 3:32 left.

Natasha Williams made a jumper for the hosts, and after a BG miss, Williams found Stubbs for a layup with 2:45 left, cutting UA's deficit to 53-51. Matthews responded with a driving layup at the 2:18 mark, restoring the Falcons' four-point lead.

Mushington hit a pair of free throws with exactly two minutes left, but Matthews found Rogers for a layup, and UA's Williams threw the ball away. BG had a four-point lead and the ball with 1:23 remaining.

Slagle, however, was called for an offensive foul 10 seconds later, giving the ball back to the Zips. The hosts got the ball inside to Carly Young, who missed two shots but rebounded the ball each time. Her third attempt was the charm, cutting BG's lead to 57-55 with 41.3 seconds remaining.

On the Falcons' next possession, Matthews was fouled with 20.4 seconds left. She hit the first free-throw try, but her second shot was waved off after a teammate was whistled for a lane violation. BG's lead was three points, 58-55.

The Zips next possession saw Stubbs fire a three-point try from the right elbow, in front of the Akron bench. That shot was off line, and Rogers came up with the rebound and fired the ball to Slagle. Young fouled the Falcon senior with just 0.6 seconds left, and Slagle hit both tosses to provide the final margin.

The Falcons held the Zips to a 32.1% field-goal rate in the second half, including just a 1-for-7 effort from three-point land. For the game, UA shot 35.1% to the Falcons' 34.9%.

Rogers, despite missing over half the game due to foul trouble, had nine rebounds as BGSU held a 42-38 edge in that category. Havel, in addition to her double-digit scoring effort, had eight boards.

Papenfuss had a solid game off the bench, with the nine points, six boards, an assist, a steal and a pair of blocked shots. BG had a season-high seven blocks as a team.

Hanna Luburgh had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Zips, while Ruper had nine points on three three-pointers. Ruper and Cassell combined to go 6-of-9 from three-point land, with Cassell perfect on her three long-range tries. She had made a total of four triples in the Zips' first 12 conference games.

BGSU turned the ball over 15 times on Saturday, but the Falcons forced the Zips into 19 turnovers. Four different Falcons had two steals apiece as BG recorded 10 as a team.

The Falcons return to the road for a Wednesday (Feb. 22) game at Ohio University. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center in Athens.