Falcons Win as a Team, 69-33 over Kent State

Thursday, January 10

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Kent State

January 10, 2013 | Women's Basketball

BGSU bench scores 40 points in MAC-opening victory

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Deborah Hoekstra v KSU - Bianca Garza photo

Kent State University got off to a quick start against the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, scoring five points in the first two minutes.

The last 38 minutes of the game, however, belonged to BG.

The Falcons scored the next 12 points to take the lead for good, and BGSU clamped down defensively en route to a 69-33 win over the Golden Flashes at the Stroh Center Thursday night (Jan. 10).

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POSTGAME VIDEO: Miriam Justinger | Jennifer Roos | BGSU-KSU Highlights
POSTGAME AUDIO: Justinger & Roos (one combined file)
PHOTO GALLERY: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing & Communications

BGSU improves to 10-4 on the season, while KSU drops to 2-12. The game marked the Mid-American Conference opener for both clubs.

Sophomore Deborah Hoekstra and junior Katrina Salinas each scored 12 points -- the most of their respective BGSU careers -- as the Falcon bench outscored their KSU counterparts by a 40-6 margin.

In fact, the BGSU bench not only outscored the KSU bench on the night; the Falcon reserves also outscored the BG starters (who had 29 points) along with the entire Kent State team.

Hoekstra hit half of her team's three-point field goals on the night, going 4-of-6 from long range. Her total of four three-pointers matched her career total entering the game.

With Hoekstra and Salinas each scoring 12 points vs. the Golden Flashes, all 11 of the BGSU players who have seen action this season have hit double digits in the scoring column at least once in 2012-13.

Senior Allison Papenfuss rounded out BGSU's trio of double-digit scorers on Thursday night, with 10 points along with eight rebounds and game-high totals of three steals and three blocked shots. BGSU had seven blocks as a team, and the Falcons had a 25-6 advantage in points off turnovers on the night.

Freshman Miriam Justinger chipped in with nine points and three assists, while senior Danielle Havel scored seven and junior Jill Stein six. Stein had a game-high nine rebounds as BG had a 37-35 advantage on the glass.

Trisha Krewson led the Flashes with 11 points and eight rebounds.

After the Falcons allowed KSU to hit two field goals in the first 1:47 of the contest, BG permitted the Flashes to make just two more shots over the final 18-plus minutes of the half. The visitors went 2-of-18 to end the half, and also committed 12 turnovers in the first period en route to 18 for the game.

Krewson knocked down a three-pointer on KSU's first offensive possession of the game, and after an offensive foul on BG junior Jillian Halfhill -- her second of the game -- KSU's Amber Dunlap hit a layup at the 18:13 mark to give the Flashes a 5-0 lead.

BGSU coach Jennifer Roos took a timeout, with her team trailing by five and her starting point guard on the bench in foul trouble. From there, however, the Falcons slowly but surely took control.

BG forced turnovers on five of the next six defensive possessions, and the Falcon offense proceeded to make eight consecutive shots over a span of five-plus minutes. Five different players scored for the home team during that stretch.

Meanwhile, the Flashes' only other first-half buckets came on a Rachel Mendelsohn jumper with 12:02 left, and an Ashley Evans three-pointer just over halfway through the period. After the Evans shot, Kent State would go 15 minutes and three seconds before hitting another field goal. By the time that Krewson shot went through the net, the Falcons' lead was over 20 points.

The Falcons' 12-0 run began when Justinger stole the ball from Dunlap near midcourt and headed in for a layup. Salinas hit a long two-pointer from out top, and Havel lobbed a pass inside to redshirt junior #Alexis Rogers# for a layup and a 6-5 lead.

Havel hit a nifty step-back jumper with the shot clock winding down, then stole the ball and fed Rogers for another layup. When Salinas drove the left baseline and hit a short jumper, the Falcons' lead was 12-5 with just over seven minutes gone.

Krewson answered with a pair of free throws, but Halfhill scored in transition, and Stein's pass found a wide-open Justinger cutting to the basket for another BG layup and a 16-7 lead.

KSU scored five of the next eight points, with Evans answering Hoekstra's first triple of the game with a trey of her own. That shot, with 9:42 on the clock, put the Flashes within seven points, at 19-12, but Kent State would not hit another field-goal attempt in the half.

Halfhill's three-pointer gave the Falcons a double-digit lead for good, and jumpers by Justinger and Stein put the home team ahead by a 26-12 count. Mendelsohn hit a pair of free throws with 4:10 left in the half, but the Falcons then went on a 9-0 run to take a 35-14 lead into the lockerroom.

That run began with Justinger feeding Hoekstra for a left-corner three, and after Papenfuss split a pair of free throws, Justinger was fouled on a three-point try and knocked down all three of her charity tosses. A Stein layup closed the first-half scoring.

The Falcons held an opponent to just four field goals in a half for the fourth time in the last eight games. Prior to last month's Colorado State game, BGSU had not allowed four or fewer FGM in a half in five years.

The Falcons' first possession of the second half saw Havel hit a three-pointer after nearly turning the ball over. The senior lost the handle, but Halfhill grabbed the ball a split-second before a diving KSU defender could reach it. Halfhill flipped a pass to the now-wide-open Havel, who buried a long-range attempt from in front of the BG bench.

The teams traded buckets over the next few minutes, before a Salinas trey began a 13-2 run that removed all doubt about the outcome. Hoekstra, who made the 'extra' pass to Salinas for that triple, hit a three-pointer of her own moments later. Stein and senior Chrissy Steffen each made a pair of free throws during that run, which culminated with a three-point play by Papenfuss. Her charity toss gave the home team a 55-24 lead with 9:52 remaining.

Papenfuss, who had nine points, eight boards and three blocks in the second half alone, scored on back-to-back shots just 27 seconds apart to give BG a 59-26 lead. The first bucket was a layup that came after a steal and one-on-one crossover dribble to elude her defender. After she grabbed a defensive rebound, Papenfuss took a pass from freshman Bailey Cairnduff for a jumper with 7:02 left.

A straightaway trey from Hoekstra gave BG a 62-27 advantage, and after an Evans jumper, Hoekstra found Papenfuss for a layup at the 5:18 mark. KSU's Tamzin Barroilhet scored four points over the remainder of the contest, but BG responded with five points by Salinas, including two free throws and a long three-pointer as the shot-clock horn sounded with 25 seconds to go in the game.

The Falcons shot an even 50 percent in the first half, and finished 24-of-55 (43.6%) for the game. BGSU held Kent to just 12 field goals made and a 24.0% success rate on the night.

The Brown and Orange went 13-of-14 from the free-throw line, and BG hit eight three-pointers, with Hoekstra knocking down four and Salinas two.

BGSU had 16 assists and nine turnovers, with nine different Falcons recording at least one assist. By contrast, the Flashes had just five assists and 18 turnovers.

Of the 10 Falcons to see action in the game, all played at least 14 minutes, but none played more than 24.

The Golden Flashes' total of 33 points was the fewest allowed by the Falcons in a game in six years, since a 61-32 win at Akron on Jan. 3, 2007. That victory also came in the MAC opener.

The point total also represented the fewest allowed by BGSU against the Golden Flashes since the 1973-74 season, in a 77-30 BG victory.

The Falcons now prepare for a Sunday afternoon (Jan. 13) contest against the University of Toledo. That game will begin just after 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center, and will be televised by SportsTime Ohio and streamed via ESPN3.