Feb. 28, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A strong first-half effort gave way to a second-half fade as the Miami University women's basketball team (12-17; 6-10 MAC) fell the No. 18/19 Bowling Green Falcons (26-3; 15-1 MAC), 92-62, Wednesday night in both team's regular-season finale. After Miami trailed by three at intermission, Bowling Green opened the second half on a 27-10 run and never looked back as it handed Miami its fourth straight loss.
In front of a raucous crowd on Senior Night at Anderson Arena, Bowling Green scored the first six points of the game and forced Miami to burn a 30-second timeout less then three minutes into the game. Sophomore Ashley Hawkins buried a 3-pointer from the right wing out of the timeout, and after a Bowling Green basket, a mid-range jumper from junior Jaclyn Leininger and a baseline 3-pointer from junior Amanda Jackson knotted the game at 8-8 with 16:04 remaining.
The Falcons scored six straight points, taking a 14-8 lead, before sophomore Stephanie Ford's 15-foot jumper at the 11:08 mark ended a five-minute scoring drought for the RedHawks. Bowling Green extended its spurt to 15-2 with Liz Honegger's 3-pointer from the top of the key, which put Miami in a 23-10 hole and forced the RedHawks to use another 30-second timeout.
Following sophomore Jenna Schone's baseline 3-pointer from in front of the Bowling Green student section, Miami pulled within nine at 30-21 by the four-minute mark. After the Falcons pulled ahead by double digits at 36-24, Schone's three free throws after she was fouled on a 3-point attempt sparked a 9-1 run to end the half. Miami scored the final six points of the half, including a jumper from Hawkins and a pair of free throws from both Schone and freshman Courtney Reed.
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Despite hitting only 9-of-30 shots in the half, Miami kept within striking distance by hitting all 11 of its free throw attempts and forcing 11 Bowling Green turnovers. Schone led Miami in the first half with 13 points, hitting 3-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from behind the 3-point line. Ali Mann paced the Falcons with 13 first-half points, as Bowling Green shot 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) from the floor.
Bowling Green opened the second half on an 8-2 run, as it scored the first six points of the half and pushed its lead to 45-35 with 18:24 remaining. After Jackson's 3-pointer cut the Falcons' lead to 45-38, Bowling Green scored 10 straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers from Honegger and Megan Thorburn, as it surged in front 55-38 with 15:49 remaining.
Bowling Green pushed its lead to 21 points at 64-43 by the 12-minute mark and led by double digits for the remainder of the game. It was the Falcons 26th win of the season.
Schone finished with a team-high 19 points for Miami, while Jackson added 17 points. With her scoring effort, Jackson moved to within 12 points of breaking the Miami single-season record of 524 points set by Heather Cusick in 2001-02.
Miami opens the Mid-American Conference Tournament Sunday at 1 p.m. in Cleveland against Western Michigan, which lost to Toledo tonight and will enter the tournament as the West's No. 5 seed.
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