Feb. 25, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes
ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio took the nation's 25th-ranked team down to the wire, but Bowling Green managed to hold off a furious second-half Bobcat rally to take a 65-61 decision Saturday in The Convo.
Ohio (7-19, 4-11 Mid-American Conference) tied the game with less than eight minutes to go in the second half and trailed by a single possession with seven seconds left in the game. Bowling Green (24-2, 15-0 MAC) held on down the stretch to stay perfect in the league and count its 15th-straight win.
Rachel Frederick (Gibsonia, Pa.) hit for 12 points and 10 rebounds, marking her third-straight double-double and team-leading seventh overall this season. After pulling down her eighth rebound of the game in the second half, the true freshman became the first Ohio player to record 300 points, 200 boards and 50 steals in a single season since Nicki Smith hit the mark in the 1991-92 season.
Point guard Quintana Ward (Park Forest, Ill.) led Ohio with 14 points on the night, including three three-point goals. Lauren Revesz (Bridgeville, Pa.) knocked down 5-of-7 tries from the floor for 12 points.
The Bobcats dominated Bowling Green in the paint, outscoring the Falcons 24-16. Ohio shot 35.1 percent from the field on the day and 37.5 percent from behind the arc.
Bowling Green was led by 20 points from Ali Mann, a 14 point, 12-rebound effort from Liz Honegger and 14 points from Casey McDowell.
Ohio trailed by just five at the break and went on to tie the score deep into the second half. The Bobcats outscored the Falcons in the second half, but Ohio never was able to take a second-half lead, falling just short of pulling off the upset.
The Bobcats came out hot in the first half, but an early run was answered by an even larger Bowling Green spurt in the early going. The Bobcats jumped out to a 7-2 advantage with 17:30 left in the half, but the Falcons would respond. McDowell hit three-straight three-pointers and Bowling Green went on a 15-0 run over the next six minutes to erase Ohio's lead and go on top, 17-7, with 11:17 left in the half.
Simone Redd hit a three to stop the bleeding and in doing so cut the deficit to single digits for the remainder of the half. Ohio pulled to within a bucket as the clock neared zero, but an Ali Mann three as time expired pushed Bowling Green's lead to five, 28-23, at intermission.
At the break, six players shared scoring duties for the Cats, with Revesz leading the way with six. Redd had five and four other players scored three, including Domenica Silva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) who paced Ohio with six first-half rebounds. The Bobcats shot 29.6 percent from the field in the half and converted 2-of-8 tries from three-point line. Ohio committed nine turnovers and matched Bowling Green's 21 first-half boards.
McDowell hit three triples on her way to a game-high 11 points at the break for the Falcons. Honegger connected on just 1-of-8 tries from the floor, but she did lead the pack with six rebounds--all on the defensive end--four blocks and three steals. Mann went to the break with nine. Bowling Green shot 34.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc in the half. The Falcons turned the basketball over just six times.
Ohio slowly chipped away at the deficit throughout the second half. Bowling Green led by eight with just less than 11 minutes left, but the Cats responded with a 9-1 run to tie the score at 46 with 7:48 left. Ohio stayed within a bucket or two for most of most of the next seven minutes, until Bowling Green took an eight-point edge with 29 seconds left. But Ohio wouldn't go away. The Cats used three-pointers by Frederick and Katie Reihmann (Marengo, Iowa) to pull to within three with seven seconds left. Ohio fouled on the inbounds pass, sending Kate Achter to the line for two. Achter missed the first, but knocked down the second to put the game out of reach.
Saturday's game marked the final regular season home contest for Ohio's lone senior, guard Ciara Iglehart (Mission Viejo, Calif.) After being honored prior to the contest, Iglehart scored nine points with six boards and a couple assists.
KeyAuna Jenkins (Cleveland, Ohio) logged four minutes off the bench for Ohio. It was her first appearance since Nov. 26, after sitting out with an injury.
Despite the loss, Ohio remains in the hunt to host a game in the first round of the upcoming MAC Tournament.
The Bobcats are set to close out the regular season on the road this Tuesday. Ohio will look for a season sweep of Akron. Tip-time is set for 7 p.m. in James A. Rhodes Arena.
