Bowling Green State University
NOTRE DAME
Irish Fight Past Falcons, 85-81, in OT
November 13, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2006
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. - In a thriller at the Joyce Center, the University of Notre Dame outlasted the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, 85-81, in overtime Monday night (Nov. 13). The non-conference contest was held at the Joyce Center.
In a November game that had a March-like atmosphere, the Fighting Irish move to 2-0 on the young season, while the Falcons drop to 1-1.
Senior Liz Honegger had forced the OT session with a three-pointer at the second-half buzzer, as the Falcons made 11 three-point field goals in the game. All five BGSU starters hit double digits in scoring.
Kate Achter led the Brown and Orange with 20 points, and the junior also posted game-high totals of nine assists and five steals. Senior Megan Thorburn's 17 points included a career-high five three-pointers, as she went 5-for-6 from behind the arc.
Seniors Carin Horne and Ali Mann scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, while Honegger's 12 points came on four 3s in six attempts.
For the Irish, Tulyah Gaines (25) and Charel Allen (21) combined for 46 points, while Ashley Barlow had a double-double off the bench, with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
The physical first half saw two BGSU starters leave the game after being hit in the face, with both returning just minutes later. The Falcons had steals on three of Notre Dame's first four possessions, but could not convert at the other end of the court.
A three-point play by Breona Gray put the Irish up, 6-0, as the Falcons missed four shots and had two turnovers in the first three minutes. With exactly three minutes gone, however, Achter got the Falcons on the scoreboard with a jumper. Then, back-to-back possessions resulted in a driving layup by Achter and a Horne pull-up jumper, pulling the Falcons into a 6-6 tie at the night's first media timeout.
Horne drained a three-ball from the left corner, while drawing the second foul of the night on UND's Melissa D'Amico, at the 14:07 mark. The ensuing free throw was unsuccessful, but Mann's offensive rebound led to a left-side fadeaway jumper from Horne. The Falcons' lead was 11-8, and Irish coach Muffet McGraw took a timeout.
Horne was not finished, however, hitting another fadeaway J on the Falcons' next possession. Horne had nine of BGSU's first 13 points, including seven in a row. Then, Thorburn took a pass from sophomore Jasmine McCall and hit a three-ball from the left side.
The Irish stopped that 10-0 run, scoring six-straight points of their own, but Thorburn answered, recieving Mann's kick-out pass and drilling a right-elbow trey midway through the half.
Then, out of the eight-minute media break, Achter inbounded to Thorburn for another triple, her third of the game.
A few minutes later, Horne was fouled near midcourt and hit both ends of her one-and-one opportunity. A Horne steal led to another foul call on the Irish. Achter went to the line and hit one of her two tosses, and the Falcons had an 11-0 run and a 27-14 lead.
A Gaines layup stopped that run, and the hosts got the crowd back into the game with two more layups in traffic, cutting BG's edge to seven points.
Out of the final media timeout of the half, Allen hit a three, and suddenly, the Falcons' lead was just four points, at 27-23. But, the Brown and Orange stopped that run and scored seven of the game's next nine points. Mann worked inside for a pair of layups of her own, one off a McCall feed and the second from Achter on a nice entry pass. Those layups were sandwiched around a Honegger trey from the left corner, with a defender in her face.
Achter hit four free throws in the final minute of the half, and a Gaines layup with three seconds left brought the Irish within seven points, 38-31, at the intermission.
The Falcons shot 56.5 percent from the field in that opening half, including a 5-for-9 effort from three-point range. Thorburn hit all three of her triple-tries in the first 20 minutes. The teams combined for 23 turnovers, with 12 by BG, in the first half.
In the second stanza, Achter took a charge by Allen on the opening possession, then made a steal and fed Thorburn for a layup on a 2-on-1 break several minutes later.
Then, Achter's drive and dish found a wide-open Amber Flynn for an easy layup, putting the Falcons ahead by a 44-33 margin and prompting the third timeout of the game for the Irish at the 16:19 mark.
Thorburn hit yet another three-ball out of the first media break of the half, but Notre Dame followed a three-point play with a quick steal and a pull-up J, cutting the lead to 47-42. Honegger hit another trey with a defender in her face, and yet another Thorburn trey gave BG a 53-44 advantage at the 12:52 mark.
After a three-pointer by the home team, Flynn kicked the ball out to Horne for a right-elbow trey. Honegger hit a long-range shot from nearly the same spot on the floor, but the home team got a pair of `and-one' opportunities within seconds. On the first, a missed free throw led to an offensive rebound and another layup and foul, and BG's lead was suddenly just six points, 61-55, just over midway through the half.
Another free throw got the home team's deficit to five points, but with the home crowd ready to get loud, Mann took a Thorburn pass and hit a long jumper from the right baseline.
Two Barlow charity tosses cut BG's lead to just 64-61 at the 7:36 mark, and the Falcons were forced to call time against the ensuing pressure by the Irish defense. Out of that timeout, however, the Falcons worked the ball inside to Mann, who drew a foul and hit both free throws. With 5:14 on the clock, though, Crystal Erwin grabbed a rebound after a Mann blocked shot, and Erwin hit a layup while drawing a BG foul. The free throw tied the game at 68-68.
Mann restored the Falcons' lead, taking an Achter inbounds pass and laying the ball in, but Gaines got inside for a layup to tie the score once again with four minutes left.
Horne grabbed a teammate's miss and laid the ball in, all in one motion, and a Notre Dame foul on the next possession led to a Falcon free throw and a 73-70 lead with 3:07 on the clock.
After two offensive rebounds, Allen's layup cut the lead to one point, and the Irish got a stop at the other end. Gaines hit a free throw with 1:15 left to tie the game, but the hosts were called for a lane violation on what would have been the second free-throw attempt, and the teams were deadlocked at 73-all.
Achter drove the lane and was hip-checked just 10 seconds later, hitting both free throws to give BG the lead. After a UND timeout, Gaines was fouled at the other end and hit both of her charity tosses, deadlocking the game once again with 55.3 seconds left.
Notre Dame trapped the Falcons and got a steal, and Allen hit a foul-line jumper with 26.7 seconds left. The Irish led by a 77-75 score, for their first lead since the game was 8-6 early in the first half.
A long three-point try by Horne hit off the iron, and Gaines grabbed the rebound for the Irish and was quickly fouled. With 7.3 seconds left, she missed the first free throw, but hit the second, for a 78-75 lead.
The Falcons hurried upcourt, and Achter got the ball to Honegger, who took a three-point try from the right elbow, in front of the BGSU bench. The shot found nothing but net as the buzzer went off. After 40 minutes of tournament-type atmosphere, the teams would play five more.
The OT session started off well for the Brown and Orange, as the Falcon defense forced the Irish to miss badly on a shot attempt with the 30-second clock winding down. Achter got the rebound, was fouled and hit one of her two free-throw tries, giving BG a one-point lead at the 4:26 mark.
The Falcons got another stop, as Horne's defensive pressure forced a UND player to dribble the ball out of bounds. Neither team could score for nearly two minutes, as three more fruitless possessions resulted in the same 79-78 score with under three minutes left.
Finally, Barlow's putback gave the hosts the lead, 80-79, at the 2:29 mark, before the teams exchanged several more defensive stops. The Falcons forced a Notre Dame miss on a long three-point try at the shot-clock buzzer with 90 seconds left, but a BG miss gave the ball back to the Irish.
Allen missed on a reverse layup try with just over a minute on the clock, but the ball went out of bounds to the Irish with a new shot clock. With 40 seconds left, Honegger swatted a UND shot attempt out of play, and - after a BG timeout - Mann blocked Gaines' driving layup attempt, leading to a 30-second violation.
The Falcons got the ball inside, but a Horne layup try in traffic would not drop, and the Irish got the rebound as BG quickly fouled. Barlow made both tosses for an 82-79 lead with 22.9 seconds left.
Achter quickly drove down the court for a layup, and the Falcons fouled almost immediately. This time, Gaines went to the line, making the first free throw but missing the second. Honegger got the rebound and the Falcons headed downcourt, but BG turned the ball over and committed a foul in a desperate attempt to steal it back. Barlow made both free throws to give the Irish a four-point lead and the win.
The Falcons shot 43.9% from the field for the game, while the Irish had a field-goal percentage of 43.3%. BGSU went 11-for-23 from three-point land (47.8%), while the home team had four triples in 14 tries.
Each team had 19 turnovers, and each team had 28 free-throw attempts, with Notre Dame making 23 to BG's 20. The Irish had a 32-17 rebounding advantage after halftime for a game margin of 45-33 on the boards. Achter was 12-of-14 from the free-throw line on the night.
The Falcons now prepare for a trip to Orlando, Fla., to participate in this weekend's UCF Golden Knights Tournament. BGSU will face Albany on Friday (Nov. 17), and will meet either Fairleigh Dickinson or the host school the following day.
NOTE
* It was only a matter of time before senior Liz Honegger became the Falcons' career leader in blocked shots. And, for the Lafayette, Ind., native, the record came in her home state. Honegger had a game-high four blocked shots on Monday night, giving her 157 for her career and moving her past Angie Bonner (155) into first place on the all-time list. Honegger now holds the single-game, single-season and career records for the Falcons.
