Davidson Rallies to Down BGSU, 60-56

Friday, November 27

Wilmington, N.C.

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

2-2

Davidson

3-2

Bowling Green

Davidson

Lauren Tibbs v Ashland Nov 7 2015 - Larry Clapper photo

Lauren Tibbs led the Falcons with 13 points vs. Davidson (Larry Clapper photo)

Photo by: Larry Clapper

November 27, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Falcons face a quick turnaround, meeting Jacksonville on Saturday

By: WILMINGTON, N.C. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Davidson College scored the final five points of the game, rallying for a 60-56 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Friday afternoon (Nov. 27). The game, part of the UNCW Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic, was held at Trask Coliseum on the UNCW campus.

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 3-2 on the young season. The Falcons drop to 2-2.

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Senior Lauren Tibbs led three double-figure scorers for the Brown and Orange with 13 points. Freshman Sydney Lambert added 12 points, including a game-high three three-point field goals made, while senior Miriam Justinger had 10.

Davidson was led by Dakota Dukes, who scored 14 points, including 12 in the second half. Kianna Speight scored 12 points for the Wildcats, with all 12 coming in the opening half.

The Falcons took an eight-point lead in the third quarter when redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick hit a three-pointer with 2:38 left in the period. BGSU, after going 2-of-15 from three-point range in the first half, missed a long-range attempt to begin the third quarter, then hit five-straight triple tries.

But, the Wildcats battled back to within four points at the end of the quarter, then took the lead on a Dukes jumper with just under four minutes left in the game. The Falcons briefly regained the lead, but a layup by Dukes with exactly two minutes to go gave DC the lead for good. BGSU, after scoring 21 points in the third quarter, could muster just four in the fourth.

The Falcons took an early 7-2 lead. Justinger stole the ball from Dukes on the first possession of the game, and the senior hit a right-side jumper. After the Wildcats tied the score, senior Erica Donovan teamed up with classmate Tibbs for the next five points. First, Donovan found an open Tibbs out top for a three-pointer, then she lobbed the ball inside to Tibbs for a layup and a 7-2 lead.

DC battled back to forge a 7-7 tie on a jumper by Dukes, but Kirkpatrick quickly found freshman Carly Santoro for a layup and a 9-7 lead. That lead doubled when junior Rachel Konieczki scored another transition hoop. DC answered with a bucket, but junior Ashley Tunstall lobbed a pass inside to classmate Abby Siefker for a nice layup in traffic.

Hannah Early hit a reverse layup at the other end, and Mackenzie Latt saw her three-point try bounce around and in, but Siefker drove the lane and spotted Tunstall for a layup and a 15-14 BGSU lead after the first period.

The game featured seven ties and 19 lead changes, with six of those changes coming in the second period. Speight scored 12 of DC's 16 points in the second period, shooting 5-of-6 from the floor during those 10 minutes and 0-of-4 the rest of the afternoon.

She began the period by knocking down a corner three, but Tibbs followed her own miss and laid the ball back up and in, tying the score at 17-all. Diona Johnson knocked down a shot, but Lambert took a Justinger pass and drained a trey from the left corner.

Moments later, Lambert's inbounds pass found Tibbs for a shot off glass, and sophomore Rachel Myers hit a pair of free throws for a 24-21 BGSU lead.

BG got a stop, and Myers hit a fast-break three-pointer from the right corner, but it was ruled that Myers traveled before she took the shot, and the basket was nullified, keeping it a three-point game. Speight scored on the next possession, then came up with a steal and layup that gave the Wildcats a 25-24 lead.

Speight's own personal run reached seven points when she grabbed a defensive rebound, headed down and hit a three-pointer with 3:12 left before the half. Kirkpatrick was fouled on a drive and hit two charity tosses, but Speight answered with a short-corner jumper for a 30-26 Davidson lead. But, the Falcons would score the final five points of the period to take a one-point lead into the break.

First, Tibbs rebounded a teammate's miss and hit a layup. Then, Kirkpatrick knifed through traffic and scored inside with just over a minute left in the period. Konieczki was fouled with 21.2 seconds left in the half and split her free throws, giving the Brown and Orange a 31-30 lead at the intermission.

The lead changed hands eight times in the third period, with all eight coming within the first four minutes. Lambert tipped a DC entry pass on the first possession of the quarter, but the ball caromed high into the air and into the hands of Dukes underneath the basket. Her layup gave the Wildcats a 32-31 lead.

Justinger was fouled and made two shots from the stripe, and after a jumper by DC's Justine Lyon, Lambert hit a pull-up jumper in the paint. But, Dukes' three-point play gave her team a 37-35 lead.

Back came the Falcons, as Tibbs found Lambert for a three-pointer, and after Early's jumper, Donovan found Justinger for a corner three and a 41-39 lead. Lyon scored on a putback, but BG then went on a 9-1 run.

That run began with a Justinger three-pointer out of a timeout, giving the Falcons a 44-41 lead. Then, Kirkpatrick hit Lambert for a long-range shot from the left wing, making it a six-point game. Early split a pair of free throws, but Justinger kicked the ball to Kirkpatrick in the right corner, and Kirkpatrick's three-point try was on target, giving BG a 50-42 lead with 2:38 left in the third.

But, the Wildcats battled back. Latt scored on a nifty step-back jumper with 45 seconds left, and after Tunstall's putback, Latt scored again, hitting a shot in the paint at the buzzer. After three periods, BGSU had a 52-48 lead.

Neither team scored for over two-and-a-half minutes to start the fourth quarter, before Johnson cut BG's lead to two points. Tibbs scored on a turnaround one-hander at the 6:50 mark, but a three-point play by Dukes cut the Falcons' lead to just one, 54-53. After several possessions from each team failed to produce a point, Dukes gave her team the lead with a jumper at the 3:56 mark.

Lambert was fouled on a drive, and hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie the score, and after BG got a stop, Donovan was fouled out top and split her free-throw tries, giving the Falcons a 56-55 edge with 3:07 remaining.

Donovan deflected a Speight pass on the next possession, giving the ball back to BG, but the Falcons could not capitalize, and with exactly two minutes to go, DC took the lead for good as Speight found Dukes for a backdoor layup.

BG was called for an offensive foul with 1:44 to go, but Speight missed a layup on the next possession. Again, though, the Falcons turned the ball over, giving it back to Davidson with 44.8 seconds left. And, Lambert committed a foul, BG's fourth of the quarter, with 37.5 seconds to go.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, however, Latt was whistled for an offensive foul, giving the ball back to BG. But, a Justinger three-point try would not drop, and Early grabbed the rebound. She was fouled and hit both free throws with 15.5 seconds left for a three-point DC lead. A contested three-point try by the Falcons was off the mark, and Early again came up with the rebound and was fouled. She split two tosses with 0.4 seconds left to provide the final margin.

Davidson shot 49.0 percent from the field for the game, including a 13-for-25 (52.0%) effort in the opening half. The Falcons shot 38.5% from the floor, but BG made seven three-pointers to the Wildcats' three. Lambert led the way with a 3-for-5 effort from long distance, while Justinger hit twice from beyond the arc.

For the first time this season, the Falcons were outrebounded, as Davidson held a narrow 33-30 advantage. Donovan led the Falcons with six boards to tie for game honors.

BGSU concludes play in the UNCW Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday (Nov. 28), facing Jacksonville University in a 12:00 p.m. start at Trask Coliseum.