Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois Wins Game For The Ages, 102-97
February 18, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - In an epic game at Anderson Arena, Northern Illinois University outlasted the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, 102-97, in four overtimes Wednesday night (Feb. 18). The four-OT game is tied for the longest in BGSU history.
In fact, the number of overtimes tied an NCAA Division I record. The Falcons are the only team in NCAA Division-I history to have been involved in two four-OT affairs.
With the win, the visiting Huskies improve to 10-14 overall and 5-8 in Mid-American Conference play, while dropping the Falcons to 15-8 and 8-4, respectively.
Falcon freshman Carin Horne scored a game-high 28 points, including 18 in the overtime sessions. Horne paced five BG players in double digits, and was one of three with double-doubles.
For the visitors, Joi Scott led four double-digit scorers with 26 points, and had a game-high 16 rebounds.
Horne had a season-high 11 rebounds for her first career double-double, while senior Stefanie Wenzel scored 18 points in the game. Frosh Ali Mann and Liz Honegger also had double-doubles. Both players had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Megan Thorburn was the fourth Falcon freshman in double digits with 15 points off the bench, in only 20 minutes of action.
The Huskies got 19 points from Monique Davis and 17 from both Stephanie Raymond and Lindsay Secrest. Jennifer Youngblood had eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Falcons got off to a slow start from three-point range, missing the first 11 long-range attempts of the night before a Wenzel make with 6:07 left in the first half. BGSU made just 1-of-13 treys in that first 20 minutes.
Wenzel's shot had tied the game at 19, but the Huskies took a five-point lead with a Scott layup and a Raymond trey. NIU then went cold, however, and BGSU ended the half on a 10-0 run to take a 28-23 lead into the lockerroom. The Falcons forced the Huskies to miss the final seven shots of the half, and NIU shot just .235 (8-for-34) in that opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Falcons led by as many as 11 points, before a Scott layup midway through the half began an 8-0 Huskie run. Honegger answered with a hoop, to up the Falcon lead to 46-41, but the visitors kept battling.
BG was up six, 53-47, after a Horne trey with 6:07 left. But, an 8-2 NIU run over the next two-plus minutes tied the score. BG regained the lead on a pair of Mann free throws, with a driving layup by Scott tied the game once again with 1:30 left.
Then, Davis hit a pair of free throws with 57.0 seconds left, and the visitors were up by a 59-57 count. When Youngblood tied up Honegger at the other end for a jump ball, the possession arrow was in NIU's favor with only 44.3 seconds on the clock.
But, the Falcons forced a Secrest miss, and Mann grabbed the rebound. After a BG timeout, Honegger rebounded a missed shot and was fouled with only 8.3 seconds left. The freshman hit both free throws to tie the score, and Youngblood's off-balance three-pointer caromed off the rim at the buzzer.
The teams had combined for 118 points in regulation. Little did anyone know that 20 minutes of basketball remained, and that the Falcons and Huskies would combine for 81 more points.
The Huskies went ahead by as many as six points, 66-60, with 2:06 left in the first overtime. After Jennifer Uptmor's free throws provided that six-point margin, Wenzel answered with a conventional three-point play that cut the lead in half with 1:56 on the clock.
Raymond split a pair of free throws, giving the Huskies a four-point lead. But, the Falcons -- 4-for-22 from three-point range over the first 43-plus minutes -- got back-to-back triples from a pair of freshmen over the next minute. Junior Kelly Kapferer and Honegger played the inside-outside game, with Kapferer kicking the ball to the freshman center for a trey with 1:24 left.
Then, after an NIU miss, Horne took an Austin pass and drilled a triple from in front of the Falcons' bench, putting BG ahead by two points with 33.0 seconds left.
Wenzel split a pair of free throws with 11.2 seconds remaining, giving the Falcons a 70-67 lead. But, Raymond drilled a three-point field goal with five seconds on the clock to force a second OT.
The Huskies again burst out to an early lead in the second overtime, scoring the first four points of the period on free throws. After a Honegger layup, Secrest's triple gave Northern a 77-72 lead with 2:54 left. Another long Horne trey cut the lead to two, but Davis hit a jumper to restore a four-point lead with two minutes left.
Wenzel was fouled -- Raymond's fifth foul -- while attempting a three-pointer, and sank two of the ensuing three foul shots. Raymond was NIU's lone player to foul out, while the Falcons had lost Mann late in the first overtime and senior point guard Lindsay Austin early in the second OT.
After Wenzel's tosses with 1:58 left, neither team would score for nearly the rest of the period. Honegger missed a three-point attempt with 17 seconds left, and the Falcons were forced to foul Secrest. She split her FT attempts with 9.5 seconds remaining, giving the Huskies a three-point lead and leaving the door open for the Falcons. Wenzel brought the ball over midcourt, and her pass was nearly fumbled by Kapferer. Kapferer grabbed the ball just in time to quickly pass to Horne on the left wing, and the freshman drilled another three-pointer just before the horn to force another five-minute session.
In that third OT, it was finally BG's turn to take an early lead. Horne's layup right off the tip was answered by Scott, but Honegger scored on a layup, and two more Horne layups gave the Falcons an 88-82 lead with 1:51 left. Scott hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to four with 1:27 remaining.
Then, Horne came down the floor, looking to put the final nail in the Huskies' coffin. But, her three-point attempt misfired, and the visitors quickly converted on a Secrest trey with 1:02 left.
The Falcons turned the ball right back over to the Huskies, but the BG defense stiffened and forced a shot-clock violation. Northern fouled Wenzel, who split her free-throw attempts with 9.1 seconds left. NIU took a timeout, then got the ball to Davis, who hit a pull-up jumper from the right side as time expired in the third overtime.
BGSU never led in the fourth OT. Davis hit a three-pointer, but Wenzel cut the lead to one point with a pair of free throws with 3:43 left. After a Scott rebound and layup, another Horne three-pointer tied the score, 94-94, with 2:39 left. Scott, however, hit a pair of free throws at the 2:15 mark, before Secrest stole the ball and fed a cutting Rachel Sillar for a layup with 1:04 left.
Falcon sophomore Casey McDowell hit a free throw to cut the lead to three points with 50 seconds left, before a truly wacky half-minute of play.
Sillar's layup attempt was blocked by Kapferer, and Wenzel grabbed the rebound with 27 seconds left. But, NIU pressured Wenzel, and the ball went out of bounds off the Falcon senior. Again, BGSU got a chance when Kapferer stole the ball away from Sillar with 21 seconds left. Her outlet pass, however, went out of bounds as a BG teammate had already turned to head downcourt.
Honegger fouled Youngblood, whose free throws put Northern up by five points with 17 seconds left. A Kapferer basket with only five seconds left cut the lead to 100-97, but NIU was able to inbound the ball, and Secrest hit a pair of free throws to ice the road win.
For the game, the Falcons shot .388 to the Huskies' .333. BGSU made 12-of-22 shots (.545) in the overtime periods, while holding Northern to a .324 success rate in the extra 20 minutes.
NIU, however, outrebounded the Falcons by a 25-12 count in the overtimes, and forced eight BGSU turnovers while committing only five in the OT periods. For the game, NIU made 13 turnovers to the Falcons' 20, and the visitors held a 63-60 rebounding advantage.
In addition to her double-double, Honegger had a game-high four blocked shots and a team-best three steals. Austin had seven points, seven boards and four assists.
BGSU will look to bounce back with a Saturday (Feb. 21) game vs. Kent State University, beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Anderson. Both the Falcons and the Golden Flashes sport 8-4 MAC records heading into the game, which will be the first half of a doubleheader.
NOTES
NCAA RECORD BOOK Overtime Periods 4-Texas A&M (101) vs. St. Mary's (Tex.) (95), Dec. 17, 1984 Creighton (117) vs. Loyola (Ill.) (108), Jan. 12, 1986 Columbia (114) vs. Pennsylvania (111), March 5, 1988 Indiana State (107) vs. SW Missouri St. (101), Jan. 28, 1989 Drake (112) vs. Northern Iowa (106), Jan. 23, 1993 Alabama (121) vs. Duke (120), March 18, 1995 SMU (127) vs. TCU (125), Jan. 25, 1997 Bowling Green (106) vs. Ball State (105), Jan. 6, 1999 Northern Ill. (102) vs. Bowling Green (97), Feb. 18, 2004
