Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Bowling Green
Eagles Clipped by the Falcons
2/1/2006 9:40:24 PM | Women's Basketball
BGSU claims battle of the final conference unbeatens
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- In a battle of Mid-American Conference women’s basketball unbeatens, Bowling Green State University took a step forward in to claiming the regular season championship by capturing a 76-69 victory over an Eastern Michigan University squad here Wednesday night in Anderson Arena. BGSU led by as many as 18 in the second half, but the Eagles put up a valiant effort outscoring the Falcons 28-17 over the final 10 minutes. Eastern pulled as close as six points on a Ryan Coleman layup with 22 seconds left, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
The Eagles had four players in double figures in scoring, led by Ryan Coleman. Coleman had a double-double with 25 points and 11 boards, while Patrice McKinney added 17. Annie Malatinsky (11 points) and Nikki Knapp (10) rounded out the Eagle double-digit scorers. The loss drops EMU to 13-6 overall and 7-1 in league play.
Bowling Green, now 17-2 (8-0 MAC) on the year, was paced by Kate Achter with 20 points while Ali Mann added 17.
The game marked the first time in MAC history, according to the league office, that a pair of 7-0 conference teams squared off. The Falcons’ victory improved the team’s winning streaks to eight games overall, 14-straight games (regular-season and tournament) against league foes and 15 in a row at home. The BG win also snapped Eastern’s school-record nine-game winning streak.
Bowling Green went to the free-throw line a staggering 42 times on the night The Falcons made 29 of those attempts for a 20-point margin in that category, while EMU was only 9-of-13 from the charity stripe.
Knapp opened the game with a pair of free throws just 25 seconds in, but the Falcons would score the next nine points and lead the rest of the night. Bowling Green held a 9-2 advantage just 2:12 into the game, but five-straight points from Coleman, got the Eagles right back into the game.
Both teams went cold from the field for the next few minutes. Following Coleman’s three-point play, the Eagles went scoreless for nearly five minutes, but the Falcons could manage just four points over the same span. Malatinsky snapped the Eagles’ scoreless slide with a three-pointer, her first of three on the night, at the 11:05 mark. However, Bowling Green countered the score of its own to keep the deficit at seven points.
Eastern Michigan would not go away, using a 6-0 run using a pair of jumpers by McKinney and one by Coleman to cut the BGSU lead to just three, 21-18. The Falcons were unfazed rolling off a 6-2 run of their own to claim a 27-20 advantage. Once again the Eagles proved up to the test scoring five consecutive points to shrink the lead to two, 29-27, with 2:22 left in the half.
But the Falcons would score the last six points of the half to take a 35-27 lead into the locker room. EMU shot just 34.4 percent (11-of-32) as a team. Coleman was 6-for-11 from the floor, while the rest of the team combined to go 5-for-21.
Eastern opened the second-half scoring, but Liz Honegger scored four consecutive points to open up the first double-digit lead of the game. Coleman cut the lead to eight points, but an Achter three-point play pushed the margin to 11, 42-31. Bowling Green would score their next nine points from the free-throw line as the Falcons would go 5:22 without a bucket, but would actually increase the lead during that time to 14 points. BG’s Horne connected on a three-pointer to balloon the advantage to 17, 53-36, with 12:24 remaining forcing the Eagles to burn a time-out.
A Malatinsky triple from the corner pulled Eastern back within 14 as the teams would exchange baskets for the next few minutes. The Bowling Green lead grew to 18, but the Eagles clawed back within 12 until another three-pointer by the Orange and Brown saw the edge return to 15, 64-49, remaining in the contest.
The Eagles continued to chip away, getting back to a 10 deficit as a McKinney jumper made it 68-58. Achter scored once again for BGSU, but a Coleman jumper was followed by McKinney’s three-point play, and the lead was down to seven points, 70-63, with 1:27 left. Eastern fouled Achter, who hit both of her free throws, but again Eastern scored. Following another foul, Achter converted both tosses from the free throw line to make it 74-65 lead with 57 seconds left. Despite missing six of their eight free throws over the remainder of the game, the hosts would not let the Eagles get any closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Eagles return to the friendly confines of the Convocation Center Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. when they battle the University of Akron Zips. Tickets are available by calling the EMU Ticket Office at 734.487.2282.
