Hot-Shooting Kent State Holds Off Falcons, 55-48

Saturday, January 10

Kent, OH

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

7-7, 0-3MAC

Kent State

3-11, 1-2MAC

Bowling Green

Kent State

Sarah Baer & Deborah Hoekstra at Kent St - Jan 10 2015

Deborah Hoekstra (3) & Sarah Baer battle a KSU player for a loose ball during first-half action

Photo by: David Dermer

January 10, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Flashes shoot nearly 62% from the field in the second half

By: KENT, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Kent State University shot nearly 62 percent from the field in the second half, and the Golden Flashes held off a late charge by the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (Jan. 10), posting a 55-48 win over the Falcons. The Mid-American Conference game was held at the Memorial Athletic & Convocation Center.

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With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-11 overall and 1-2 in MAC play. The Falcons drop to 7-7 and 0-3, respectively.

KSU's win was the Flashes' first over the Falcons in just under four years, and snapped an eight-game BGSU series winning streak. Kent State had gone six-straight games without reaching the 50-point mark against the Brown and Orange.

Senior Deborah Hoekstra led the Falcons with 12 points on Saturday, and she also had eight rebounds, two assists, three steals and a career-best two blocked shots. Hoekstra's steals total tied her career high. Junior Miriam Justinger joined Hoekstra in double digits with 10 points, adding nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

CiCi Shannon led the Golden Flashes with 16 points and 20 rebounds, while Jordan Korinek had 13 points on the afternoon. Kent State hit 13-of-21 shots from the field (61.9%) in the second half, and the hosts shot 51.1% from the floor for the game.

The Golden Flashes scored the last 10 points of the first half, holding the Falcons scoreless for the final 6:27 of the period, to take a 22-16 halftime lead. BG cut the deficit to three points on two occasions early in the second half, but the hosts opened up a 12-point lead, 40-28, midway through the period.

The Falcons went on an 11-2 run to get within three points with 4:30 to go, and BG closed the gap to two points in the final minute of play. The Brown and Orange then came up with a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass, but a three-point try that would have given the Falcons the lead did not drop. The Flashes went 5-of-9 from the free-throw line in the last minute of play, but it was enough to keep BG at bay.

Hoekstra hit a three-pointer on the Falcons' first possession of the day, but Korinek made shots on each of KSU's first two trips down the floor, giving KSU a 4-3 lead after less than a minute of play.

Hoekstra's second three-pointer gave the Brown and Orange a 6-4 lead, but Korinek scored again to tie the score at 6-6. After a BG shot was blocked, junior Miriam Justinger grabbed the ball out of the air and hit a jumper to give the Falcons the lead.

That lead reached five points, 11-6, when Justinger dished out her third assist in the first five-plus minutes, finding freshman Rachel Myers for a three-pointer from the right wing.

After an offensive foul on Shannon gave the ball back to BG, Hoekstra drove the lane with the shot clock winding down. The ball was tipped out of her hands, but the senior regained possession. She whipped the ball to freshman Haley Puk, who knocked down a three-point try from the left corner. But, the shot came after the shot clock had expired, and the score remained 11-6.

KSU hit a jumper, but redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick lobbed the ball inside to true freshman Sarah Baer, who banked a turnaround shot off the glass and in. That bucket came after Hoekstra had blocked a KSU shot, then stole the ball out of Larissa Lurken's hands as the KSU guard went up for a layup.

The Flashes crept within one point on back-to-back buckets before Kirkpatrick hit a catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the left wing. That trey, which came off of yet another Justinger assist, gave the Falcons a 16-12 lead with 6:27 to go in the half. But, the Brown and Orange would not score again before the intermission.

A Lurken layup was followed by Korinek's foul-line jumper which tied the score with four minutes left in the half. Melanee Stubbs hit a pull-up jumper to give the Flashes the lead, and Stubbs knocked down another jumper with two minutes remaining in the period. Shannon's layup in the final minute of the half gave the hosts a 22-16 lead at the break.

The Falcons hit just 6-of-24 shots from the field in the opening period, while KSU was 11-for-26 from the floor in the first 20 minutes.

Myers hit a three-pointer just 12 seconds into the period to cut the KSU lead in half, but Korinek rebounded her own miss and hit a layup. Then, Krista White's layup after a pair of offensive rebounds gave the Flashes a 26-19 lead.

The lead stayed between five and seven points over the next several minutes, as sophomore Rachel Konieczki's short-corner jumper was answered by a Shannon layup, and Justinger's nifty scoop shot was followed by a jumper from White.

Hoekstra drove the lane and drew a foul on Shannon, knocking down both of the resulting free throws. Then, after a KSU turnover, Konieczki drove the length of the court and hit a layup under Shannon, cutting BG's deficit to just three points, 30-27, at the 16:36 mark.

The Falcons got a stop, but a BG shot would drop, and Shannon scored inside. After a Myers free throw, the Flashes proceeded to score eight-straight points, with a Stubbs jumper giving KSU a 40-28 lead with 9:38 left.

BG missed a shot on the next possession, but Justinger stole the ball back, was fouled and hit two free throws at the 8:57 mark. Then, Hoekstra drove and kicked the ball to fellow senior Jasmine Matthews for a left-wing three-pointer just 30 seconds later. That triple cut the Falcons' deficit to 40-33.

Korinek scored for the hosts, but Konieczki knocked down a pull-up jumper from the left side. Then, another Justinger steal resulted in a Hoekstra jumper over a defender, and Hoekstra went to the floor to come up with a steal, calling timeout with 4:46 remaining.

After the timeout, Hoekstra missed a layup, but rebounded her own miss. Konieczki drove toward the hoop, saw the ball knocked out of her hand, but quickly regained possession and put the ball up and in. BG trailed by just three points, 42-39.

But, on the next possession, Naddiyah Cross hit the Flashes' first three-pointer of the game to double the lead. Justinger drove past her would-be defender and hit a layup to make it a 45-41 game with 3:41 on the clock, but McKenna Stephens knocked down a jumper late in the shot clock.

BG turned the ball over, but the Falcons got it back on a three-second violation on the Flashes with 2:33 left. After a BG miss, Puk came up with a rebound to keep the possession alive, and the freshman then hit a three-pointer with just under two minutes remaining.

The Falcons purposely fouled Shannon as she received a pass in the paint, and Shannon missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. The rebound, however, was batted around and ended up in the hands of Shannon, who hit a layup for a 49-44 KSU lead with 1:45 left.

The Falcons missed a three-point try, and Shannon rebounded the ball, was fouled and hit the front end of the one-and-one to make it a six-point game. After BG rebounded Shannon's miss on the second toss, Hoekstra drove and was fouled with 59.1 seconds remaining. She hit both tosses to cut KSU's lead to 50-46.

BG quickly fouled -- the Falcons' ninth of the half -- and White missed a free throw with 58.2 seconds left. Justinger got the rebound, went the length of the court and hit a layup to make it a 50-48 game. BGSU used a timeout with 48 seconds on the clock.

Out of the timeout, Myers stole the inbounds pass, but the freshman's three-point shot, which would have given BG the lead, did not drop, and Shannon came up with the rebound.

BG quickly fouled Shannon, and she split the free throws with 33.7 seconds left for a three-point KSU lead. The sequence repeated itself, as the Falcons missed a long-range shot, Shannon rebounded the miss, and the Falcons fouled her. This time, however, Shannon hit both free throws, and with 20.8 seconds remaining, the hosts had a 53-48 lead. After a BG layup fell off the rim, the Falcons got a pair of free throws in the final seconds to complete the scoring.

BGSU shot 35.5% from the floor in the second half and 30.9% for the game. KSU hit 24-of-47 shots (51.1%) on the day. The Flashes made just 1-of-9 three-point tries, while BG was 7-of-27 from beyond the arc.

Shannon's 20 rebounds led the way as the Flashes had a 39-29 advantage on the glass. White dished out five assists and had eight points for the hosts, while Stubbs also scored eight points on 4-for-5 shooting.

Konieczki scored eight points and Myers seven for the Falcons. All eight BG players to see action in the game hit at least one field goal, with Puk, Matthews and Kirkpatrick scoring three points apiece and Baer two.

The Flashes went just 6-of-14 from the free-throw line, with all but two of those attempts coming in the final two minutes of the game. BGSU was 7-for-9 from the stripe.

The Falcons now return home to face Northern Illinois University on Wednesday night (Jan. 14), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center. It will be 'Dollar Day,' with tickets available for just one dollar apiece at the Stroh Center ticket office (through the close of business on Tuesday). Additionally, hot dogs, popcorn and 12-oz. sodas will also be available for one dollar each.