Strong Second-Half Start Sends Falcons to 66-55 Win

Sunday, December 7

Bowling Green, OH

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-2

Cincinnati

1-6

Cincinnati

Bowling Green

Deborah Hoekstra scores 2 of her 10 second-half points in Sunday's win

Photo by: Craig Bell, BGSU Marketing and Communications

December 07, 2014 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BGSU scores the first 10 points after halftime

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team began the second half on a 10-0 run, building a double-digit lead en route to a 66-55 win over the University of Cincinnati Sunday afternoon (Dec. 7). The non-conference game was held at the Stroh Center.

With the win, BGSU improves to 4-2 on the year. The Bearcats drop to 1-6 on the season.

Redshirt junior Erica Donovan had a double-double, with a game-high 17 points along with a BG-best 10 rebounds, to pace three Falcons in double figures in the scoring column. Senior Deborah Hoekstra had 15 points, with 10 coming in the second half, while junior Miriam Justinger scored 14.

The Falcons turned the ball over just nine times on the afternoon, and BG had a 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers. Cincinnati had 14 turnovers in the game.

The Falcons actually had a pair of 10-0 runs sandwiched around the halftime break. During that 20-2 stretch, the Bearcats could only muster two free throws late in the first period. UC went nearly nine minutes (8:55, to be exact) without hitting a field goal.

Cincinnati took its largest lead of the game with just over five minutes left in the first period, when Makenzie Cann's layup gave the Bearcats a 22-17 advantage. Sophomore Rachel Konieczki immediately responded with a right-side jumper, and Hoekstra, Donovan and Justinger all scored before Konieczki's free throws gave BG a 27-22 lead with 2:11 to go in the half.

UC's Bianca Quisenberry got to the line and hit two shots with 1:14 left before the break, but Donovan's three-pointer just 10 seconds into the second half began BG's second double-digit run. Donovan's long-range shot came after the Falcons were just 1-of-14 from three-point range in the opening period.

Sophomore Abby Siefker, who just missed a double-double on the day, scored the game's next four points, and Konieczki's three-ball in transition gave the Brown and Orange a 37-24 lead with 17:25 to go in the contest. Konieczki and Siefker each had eight points on Sunday, with Siefker adding nine rebounds.

Quisenberry and Marley Hill each had 13 points off the bench to lead the Bearcats. UC had a 35-17 advantage in bench scoring, but the Falcon defense held the Bearcats' five starters to a total of just 20 points. BGSU got a combined 49 points from the starters and 17 points from the bench players.

BG limited UC's leading scorer, Jasmine Whitfield, to just two points and an 0-of-8 shooting performance from the field. Ana Owens, the Bearcats' second-leading scorer on the year, had eight points on the day. Whitfield and Owens entered the game averaging 14.8 and 12.6 points per game, respectively.

Hill had a double-double for the visitors, with a game-high 15 rebounds as UC held a 41-37 advantage on the glass.

The Falcons scored the first four points of the game, on a Donovan layup and Justinger's jumper from the foul-line extended. UC got on the board on a Brandey Tarver shot with 90 seconds gone, but Justinger hit a jumper that was nearly identical to her first bucket of the day. After an Owens three-pointer cut BGSU's lead to 6-5, both teams went nearly four minutes without a point.

A pair of Donovan layups made it a 10-5 BG lead, but the Bearcats went on a 9-2 run to take the lead. Hill's offensive board and putback gave UC a 13-12 lead, and a Quisenberry triple with the shot clock winding down put the visitors ahead by four points with 7:20 left in the half.

Justinger hit a long two-pointer, and after a Tarver layup, freshman Haley Puk found Hoekstra for BGSU's lone first-half trey, cutting the UC lead to a single point. Another putback by Hill, however, was followed by Cann's layup, and the 'Cats had a 22-17 lead, the visitors' largest of the game.

Quickly, though, Konieczki came downcourt and hit a jumper, and after a UC miss, Hoekstra came up with the rebound in traffic and was fouled. The senior hit both ends of the ensuing one-and-one opportunity, and a steal and layup by Donovan gave the Brown and Orange a 23-22 lead with just under four minutes left in the half.

BG forced a turnover, and Justinger saw a shot blocked, but grabbed the rebound and laid the ball up and in. Konieczki stole the ball from Owens, was fouled, and knocked down two shots from the stripe for a 27-22 lead, before Quisenberry's charity tosses closed the first-half scoring.

Donovan, as mentioned, hit a three-pointer off of a Justinger pass just 10 seconds into the second half, and after a UC miss, Siefker was hacked in the act, and the soph made two free throws for a 32-24 lead. Siefker then went to the floor to corral a teammate's missed shot, and she proceeded to hit a nifty layup to put her team ahead by 10 points for the first time. The Bearcats used a timeout with just under 18 minutes to go.

Out of the timeout, however, Justinger stole an Owens pass and found Konieczki in the right corner for a three-pointer and a 13-point advantage.

UC battled back to within seven points with just under 15 minutes left, but Siefker got back to the line and split a pair of free throws, and Justinger took a Hoekstra pass and buried a three-point attempt from the right wing late in the shot clock. BG's lead was 11 points with 13 minutes to go.

The visitors got within eight points on two occasions over the next few minutes, but each time, the Falcons responded. First, Siefker came up with an offensive rebound and banked the ball home, then freshman Rachel Myers hit a smooth jumper from the right side with nine minutes left. Moments later, Hoekstra took a pass from classmate Jasmine Matthews and splashed home a three-point try, increasing the lead to 52-40.

On the next possession, Hoekstra faked a three-point try, then blew past her defender for a driving layup. Again, UC rallied to cut the deficit to eight, as Quisenberry hit two of the Bearcats' three layups during a 6-0 run, but Konieczki hit a free throw with 3:10 to go, making it a 55-46 game.

Konieczki missed her second toss, but went and got her own rebound, and the possession ended with Hoekstra drawing a foul and hitting two shots for an 11-point lead.

UC's Chelsea Jamison made a layup, but Justinger found Donovan under the hoop with a perfectly-thrown inbounds pass. Donovan was fouled and hit the resulting shots with 2:19 to go, and BG led by a 59-48 count.

Hill's three-point play with 1:44 left cut the lead to eight, but the Bearcats were whistled for a technical foul after the free throw, and Hoekstra split a pair of shots for a 60-51 lead. BG kept the ball, inbounding from the Falcons' defensive end of the court, and Justinger's long, football-style pass found Donovan ahead of the pack. Donovan hit a layup, and the 'Cats were called for an intentional foul as Donovan and her defender hit the basket standard. Donovan was awarded two free throws, and she hit both for a 64-51 lead.

Justinger's jumper with just over a minute remaining gave the Falcons a game-high 15-point advantage, before the Bearcats scored the final four points of the game.

BG shot 34.5 percent from the field for the game, including a 40.0% success rate in the second half. The Falcons went 4-of-9 from three-point range in the second period after that 1-for-14 first-half long-range performance.

BGSU now returns to the road for the next five games, beginning with a trip to Johnstown, Pa., to face Saint Francis (Pa.) in neutral-site action on Saturday (Dec. 13).