BGSU Surges Past Buffalo with Late Run, 73-63

Saturday, February 22

Buffalo, NY

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Buffalo

February 22, 2014 | Women's Basketball

Rogers scores 25, Donovan 24 as Falcons clinch top-four seed for MAC Tournament

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Alexis Rogers vs CMU - Brad Phalin photo

Senior Alexis Rogers scored a game-high 25 points, including five-straight points as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team took the lead for good en route to a 73-63 win over the University at Buffalo Saturday afternoon (Feb. 22). The Mid-American Conference game was held at UB's Alumni Arena.

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POSTGAME AUDIO: Coach Roos

Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan had 24 points as the Falcons improved to 23-3 overall and 13-1 in the MAC. BGSU has clinched no worse than the fourth seed for the MAC Tournament, and the Falcons will earn at least a 'double-bye' and a game in the third round.

The Bulls drop to 15-10 and 8-6, respectively.

BGSU has won nine games in a row, and the Falcons now have captured 20 consecutive meetings with the Bulls. BG leads the all-time series with Buffalo by a 24-5 margin.

Rogers made 10-of-13 shots from the field in the victory, and was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range. In addition to points, she also paced the Falcons with seven rebounds.

Donovan was 9-of-15 from the floor, setting career bests in points scored, field goals made and attempted and three-point field goals made. She was 4-for-9 from beyond the arc on Saturday, and added six rebounds in the win. Donovan had 18 of her points in the first half alone.

Saturday's game featured 18 lead changes, the last of which came with just over four minutes remaining. Rogers hit a jumper to give the Falcons a 58-57 lead, and that shot began an 11-0 run for the Brown and Orange.

The BG defense forced the Bulls to miss a pair of shots on the next possession, as both a three-point try by Alexus Malone and a putback by Christa Baccas would not drop. After a BG three-point attempt was unsuccessful, Rogers came up with the offensive rebound to keep the possession alive.

Another BG shot was blocked out of bounds with 3:03 on the clock, but after the final media timeout of the game, Rogers took an inbounds pass from senior Jillian Halfhill, took one dribble to her left and knocked down a three-point shot from near dead center. That hoop gave the Falcons a 61-57 lead.

The Falcons fouled the Bulls' Mackenzie Loesing with 2:32 left, but the UB sophomore missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. The Falcons rebounded the ball, but turned it right back over to the hosts. However, Kristen Sharkey missed a jumper, and Halfhill grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Loesing.

That foul, Loesing's fifth of the game, came with 1:48 left, and began a stretch in which BGSU went 12-of-14 at the free-throw line to end the game. Halfhill hit both of her charity tosses, and after the Bulls missed three shots on the ensuing possession, senior Jill Stein went to the floor to grab the rebound with multiple UB players around her, and the Falcons used a timeout with 1:14 remaining.

On the ensuing possession, the Falcons used nearly all of the shot clock before junior Jasmine Matthews was fouled with 53.4 seconds to go. Matthews hit both of her free throws, the Falcons had a 65-57 lead, and BG was never headed again.

The Bullls made a pair of three-pointers in the final 30 seconds, but could draw no closer than seven points. Over the final 1:48, Halfhill and Matthews each went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, while Donovan was 2-for-2 and Rogers and Stein 1-for-2 apiece.

Halfhill scored 13 points and handed out a team-leading four assists in the game. The Falcons were 10-of-25 from three-point range, with Donovan making four long-distance shots, Rogers three and Halfhill two. Rogers, as mentioned, was a perfect 3-of-3 from long range.

Malone led the Bulls with 18 points, while Loesing had 13 points for the home team. Malone, who entered the game having gone 2-for-8 from three-point range on the season, was 3-of-8 from long distance on Saturday. But, the rest of the Bulls combined to go just 1-of-13, as the team shot 19.0 percent (4-of-21) from three-point land.

The Falcons led for most of the first half, beginning when Halfhill knocked down a three-pointer on BG's first possession of the game. Halfhill made the 'extra pass' to Donovan for a triple and a 6-2 lead, and BG's third bucket also came from beyond the arc, as junior Deborah Hoekstra fed Rogers for a 9-4 lead.

That Rogers hoop came just over a minute after a nifty hustle play by Halfhill. After a BG shot was blocked, the Bulls looked to get out and run. Loesing, ahead of the pack, took a long pass from a teammate and headed in for a layup. But, Halfhill showed great hustle to get downcourt and swat Loesing's shot out of bounds.

The home team got within a point on a Margeaux Gupilan pull-up jumper and a turnaround shot by Karin Moss, but back-to-back Donovan buckets gave the Falcons a 13-8 lead. The first came when Hoekstra found her under the hoop, and the second was a floater in traffic.

BG took advantages of 16-10, after Donovan kicked the ball out to Rogers for a trey, and 19-12, when Stein found Donovan beyond the arc for the Falcons' fifth triple of the game. But, Loesing and Gupilan answered with layups to cut BG's lead to three points. Rogers powered a shot up and over Sharkey, but Malone answered with a three-pointer to cut BG's lead to 21-19 at the under-eight-minute media timeout.

The Bulls were within a single point when some nifty passing by the Falcons culminated with Stein firing a pass to Donovan for yet another trey and a 25-21 lead. Stein, however, was whistled for her third foul with 4:47 left in the half, and a Loesing layup cut the BG lead in half.

Halfhill was fouled on a three-point try, and was momentarily shaken up. She stayed in the game, but missed two of the three ensuing free-throw attempts. Halfhill hit the third, however, for a 26-23 advantage.

The Bulls, though, tied the game when Jenna Rickan converted a three-point play around the final media timeout of the period. BG answered when freshman Abby Siefker threw the ball inside to Rogers for an 'and-one' layup, but Malone hit a shot that was ruled a three-pointer, and the game was tied once again.

UB took the lead on Rickan's jump-stop layup, but Halfhill spotted Donovan in the right corner off of an inbounds pass, and the redshirt soph's triple try was true, giving the visitors a 32-31 lead.

The lead changed hands several more times before the half. Malone hit a pair of free throws with 1:12 remaining, but Donovan knocked down a short-corner jumper. Malone got back to the line with 23.4 seconds left & again hit a pair of short, but Rogers blew past her defender for a layup with six seconds to go, and the Falcons had a 36-35 lead at the break.

Donovan, as mentioned, scored 18 points -- or 50 percent of her team's total -- in the opening half. She made 7-of-9 shots from the floor, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point land, prior to the intermission.

Donovan and Rogers combined for 31 of the Falcons' 36 first-half points and made 12 of BG's 13 field goals.

UB opened the second-half scoring, taking the lead on a Malone layup, but Donovan answered with a jumper. After Gupilan gave the home team the lead with a jumper, Hoekstra -- who started the second half with Stein in foul trouble -- hit sophomore Miriam Justinger for a corner three and a 41-39 BG lead.

Moments later, however, Sharkey's putback gave the Bulls a one-point advantage, and BG turned the ball over on the next possession. Justinger stole the ball right back, however, and Rogers drove past a gaggle of players for a left-side layup and a 43-42 BG lead.

Malone hit a jumper, but Stein answered with a floater in the lane with just over 13 minutes left. Then, Malone was called for an offensive foul -- her third -- as UB appeared to be in the process of throwing the ball away anyway, and Loesing picked up her fourth foul of the game with 12:30 to go, just seconds after she had checked back into the game.

Less than a minute after Loesing's fourth foul, Gupilan was whistled for her fourth foul as she hacked Halfhill on a three-point try. Halfhill hit the second and third of the ensuing free throws, and after the senior point guard found a cutting Donovan for a layup with 11:06 remaining, the Falcons had a five-point lead, 49-44.

Back came the Bulls once again, as Sharkey hit a short jumper after a near turnover, and Baccas knocked down a jumper as well.

Rogers flew past her would-be defender for a layup and a 51-48 lead, but Sharkey's putback cut the lead to a single point yet again. After another Rogers layup, UB proceeded to score five-straight points, holding BG scoreless for just under four minutes.

That mini-run began when Malone split a pair of free throws, and Rickan's layup with 8:13 on the clock tied the score. Moss threw the ball toward the hoop, and it hit off the backboard and dropped through the net, giving the Bulls a 55-53 lead at the 6:06 mark.

BG missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the teams traded turnovers. After Rogers leaped to steal a Moss pass, Halfhill's three-pointer gave the Brown and Orange a 56-55 advantage with 4:40 remaining.

A baseline jumper by Moss gave UB the lead for one last time, but Rogers' jumper at the four-minute mark gave the Falcons the lead for good and began the game-changing 11-0 run. Following that Moss jumper with 4:20 left, the Bulls would not score again until just 26.7 seconds remained in the contest.

BGSU shot 47.9% from the field for the game, including a 52.0% rate in the first half, while holding UB to a 41.7% effort from the floor. The Bulls made two more field goals than the Falcons, but BG hit six more three-pointers than UB, and the Brown and Orange hit 17 total free throws, while Buffalo attempted 14 (making nine).

For just the second time in MAC play, and only the third time this year, BGSU was out-rebounded. Buffalo held a narrow 34-32 advantage on the boards, with Sharkey pulling down a team-leading eight. The only other teams to have had an advantage over BG on the glass this season have been Butler (Nov. 18; 37-34) and Ball State (Jan 15; 31-29).

The Falcons now return home for the next two games, beginning with a Thursday night (Feb. 27) contest vs. Kent State University. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center.