Rogers, Falcons Pull Away From EMU, 71-57

Thursday, January 23

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Eastern Michigan

January 23, 2014 | Women's Basketball

Senior scores 24, surpasses 1,000-point mark for her BGSU career

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team began the second half with a 15-0 run, pulling away from visiting Eastern Michigan University Thursday night (Jan. 23). The Falcons downed the Eagles, 71-57, in Mid-American Conference action at the Stroh Center.

FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
BGSU-EMU HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy WBGU-TV
POSTGAME AUDIO: Alexis Rogers | Jennifer Roos
POSTGAME VIDEO: Rogers & Roos
PHOTO GALLERY: Brad Phalin, BGSU Mkt. & Comm.

With the win, the Falcons are now 15-3 overall and 5-1 in MAC play. EMU drops to 12-5 and 2-4, respectively.

Senior Alexis Rogers had a game-high 24 points, and became the 26th player in BGSU history to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career.

Junior Deborah Hoekstra scored 16 points off the bench, while senior Jillian Halfhill had 14 points for the Brown and Orange. Hoekstra scored 11-straight BGSU points during a span midway through the second half.

Janay Morton and Cha Sweeney had 18 points apiece for the Eagles.

Rogers made 7-of-10 shots from the field, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, and she hit all nine of her free-throw tries.

The Falcons never trailed, but the first half was close throughout. BGSU's biggest lead in the opening period was seven points, and the Brown and Orange led by five, 28-23, at the intermission.

Rogers scored on the opening possession of the second half, for the first two of 15-straight points for the home side. Rogers scored seven of the 15 points, and when redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan capped the run with a jumper at the 15:27 mark, the Falcons' lead was 20 points, at 43-23.

That lead grew as large as 25 points on a pair of Rogers free throws with just under nine minutes to go, and BG still led by 22 with under five minutes to go, before a late EMU run cut the final margin to 14.

BG shot 55.6 percent from the field in the second half, with that 10-of-18 performance including a 3-of-6 effort from three-point land after the intermission. After shooting just three free throws in the first half, the Falcons were 20-of-23 from the stripe (87.0%) in the second period.

Senior Jill Stein led the Falcons with 11 rebounds, but it was a team effort as the home team had a 43-31 advantage on the boards. Five players had at least five rebounds for the Brown and Orange, including Halfhill (eight), Rogers (seven), Donovan (six) and Hoekstra (five). Olivia Fouty led the Eagles with eight rebounds on the night.

The game was tied at 2-2 in the early going, but Rogers put back her own miss, and Donovan then assisted on three-straight BG baskets. Two of those passes found a wide-open Halfhill under the hoop, and Stein also was the beneficiary of a Donovan dime during that stretch. At the other end of the court, however, the Eagles got three-pointers from Morton and Sweeney, making it a 10-8 BG lead at the under-16 media timeout.

After a jumper by Stein gave the hosts a four-point lead, Morton canned a pair of jumpers. The freshman had nine of her team's first 12 points, and the game was tied at 12. But, after a BG miss, Rogers picked Fouty's pocket near midcourt and sailed in for a layup that gave the Falcons the lead for good.

That layup began a 7-0 run for the hosts, which included a driving layup by Halfhill at the 10:22 mark. That bucket broke a scoreless spell of 2:02, and it would be exactly two more minutes before the game's next basket. That hoop came from Hoekstra, who stepped outside the arc to take a pass from freshman Rachel Konieczki and hit the Falcons' first three-pointer of the night. BG led, 19-12, with 8:22 left in the half.

The Eagles chipped away at that lead, though, and got within two points after a 5-0 run. Morton scored the first three points, and Fouty's jumper at the 6:18 mark made it a 19-17 game. But, junior Jasmine Matthews curled around the top of the arc and hit a triple, and two tosses by sophomore Miriam Justinger gave the Falcons a 24-17 lead heading into the final media timeout of the period.

Eastern responded with the next four points but Hoekstra executed a nifty shot fake in three-point land, drove toward the baseline and whipped a pass underneath the hoop to Halfhill for a short left-side jumper and a 26-21 lead. The teams traded buckets, with Desyree Thomas scoring for the visitors and Hoekstra finding Rogers for a layup for the Falcons.

After the teams exchanged turnovers in the final 10 seconds of the half, a halfcourt shot from Hoekstra hit the rim and bounced away as the horn sounded. The Falcons shot an even 40 percent in that opening period, while holding the Eagles to a 33.3% success rate.

Rogers, as mentioned, scored the first five points of the second period, with her three-pointer from the top of the arc giving the Falcons the first double-digit lead of the night and prompting a quick EMU timeout. Halfhill scored on back-to-back possessions, though, and Rogers and Stein each hit two free throws before Donovan's left-side jumper made it a 20-point game with 15:27 to go.

BG began the second half by making 5-of-7 shots from the floor, and the Falcon defense forced Eastern to go 0-of-9 from the field to start the half.

EMU's first hoop of the period, which came with 15:07 left, was an off-balance jumper by Jamaica Bucknor that bounced around the rim, caromed off the backboard and finally fell through the net. Hoekstra, however, wandered out to the corner to take a Matthews pass and knock down another of her game-high three triples. Then, on the next BG possession, the junior hit two free throws. After Sweeney struck from three-point range, Hoekstra answered with another three-ball, again from the left side.

A Thomas three began a 4-0 mini-run for the Eagles, but Hoekstra got back to the line twice within a 41-second span, going 3-of-4 from the stripe. Her last of those tosses gave her 11 consecutive BG points, and the Falcons had a 54-32 lead.

After a Sweeney layup, five-straight points by Rogers gave BG a game-high 25-point lead. The senior drew the fourth foul on Thomas en route to a three-point play with 9:22 to go, and she drove and was fouled by Fouty just 27 seconds later, hitting both tosses for a 59-34 advantage.

EMU got a pair of hoops from Natachia Watkins, but Rogers hit two ore free throws out of the under-eight-minute timeout, and with 7:08 left in the game, she blew past her would-be defender for a driving layup and points number 999 and 1,000 in her BGSU career. The lead was 22 points, and after Rogers hit two more tosses from the line with 5:30 on the clock, she checked out of the game for good.

Rogers had her 24 points in 30 minutes of action, and she has scored 1,002 points in 83 games in her BGSU career.

Sweeney scored 10 of her team's last 16 points, helping EMU trim that 22-point deficit down to 14, but it was too little, too late as the Falcons won for the seventh time in as many home games this season.

Freshman Leah Bolton checked into the game with 1:39 to go. Bolton, who has been slowed by injuries this season, played in just her second game for the Falcons, and her first-ever home contest.

BGSU shot 45.8% from the field for the game, while holding EMU to a 35.5% rate. Rogers' 9-for-9 effort from the free-throw line led the way as the Falcons went 22-of-26 (84.6%) on the night. BG made three more free throws than EMU attempted, as the Eagles were 9-of-19 from the stripe.

The Falcons are home again on Sunday (Jan. 26), facing Northern Illinois University in a 2:07 p.m. start at the Stroh Center. That game, part of the MAC's television package, is scheduled to be aired by Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, as well as ESPN3 and WatchESPN.