Three-Point Barrage Not Enough as Falcons Fall, 64-52, at EMU

Saturday, January 17

Ypsilanti, MI

2:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

8-8, 1-4MAC

Eastern Michigan

8-7, 1-3MAC

Bowling Green

Eastern Michigan

EMU's Tory Verdi defends Deborah Hoekstra - Jan 17 2015 - Larry Clapper

EMU head coach Tory Verdi unsuccessfully defends Deborah Hoekstra as she hits a 3-pointer

Photo by: Larry Clapper

January 17, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Hoekstra records third double-double in last four games

By: YPSILANTI, Mich. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team hit a season-high 11 three-point field goals and got yet another double-double from senior Deborah Hoekstra, but it was not enough to overcome a relentless rebounding performance by host Eastern Michigan University on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 17). The Eagles pulled away in the late stages of the game for a 64-52 win at the Convocation Center.

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With the victory, the Eagles improve to 8-7 overall and 1-3 in Mid-American Conference action. BGSU drops to 8-8 and 1-4, respectively.

Hoekstra had the third double-double of her career (and her third in the last four games), and totaled 14 points and 10 rebounds for the second-straight contest. She had identical numbers in Wednesday's (Jan. 14) win over Northern Illinois University.

Junior Miriam Justinger scored 12 points and freshman Rachel Myers 10 for the Falcons on Saturday. For the second-straight game, six different Falcons made at least one three-point hoop.

Hoekstra led the long-range attack, with three triples on the day. Justinger, Myers and freshman Haley Puk each hit two treys, with Puk a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc en route to eight points.

BGSU shot better than 40 percent from the arc, going 11-of-27 (40.7%), and the Falcons were 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.

"Our percentage was good from the foul line and the arc as well," said BGSU head coach Jennifer Roos. "I thought, if we made 10 threes, this game would be close, and it was. But, when Eastern Michigan has 23 more shot attempts than we do, it turns into a math problem, and we wound up on the short end of that equation.

"We cleared up the turnover problem in the second half, but we weren't able to get consecutive stops, or if we did get a stop, we weren't always able to get the defensive rebound. At the end of the day, we shot the ball well, but as I said, it just turned into that math problem and we fell on the wrong side of the equation."

The Eagles, however, forced BGSU into 21 turnovers, including 16 in the first half. At the other end of the court, Eastern had 19 offensive rebounds en route to an overall 39-29 advantage on the boards.

Cha Sweeney wound up with a game-high 15 points to lead three double-figure scorers for the Eagles. She hit three triple tries on the afternoon, the last coming at the final buzzer to provide the 12-point final margin, the largest of the game.

Justinger played all 40 minutes for the first time in her career, while Hoekstra and Myers each were on the court for 35 minutes. Each of the three played all 20 minutes of the second half.

BGSU got off to a strong-shooting start on Saturday. The Falcons' first shot attempt of the day was off the mark, but BG then hit seven-straight shots, including four three-pointers. Then, however, the Brown and Orange went over eight minutes without a point and nearly 12 minutes without hitting a field goal. BG missed six shots and committed 11 turnovers before hitting a bucket with 2:25 left in the first half.

When that shot, by freshman Sarah Baer, went through the hoop, however, BG trailed by only four points, and the Falcons' deficit was still just four points at the intermission.

In the second period, the EMU lead was four points before redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick and Hoekstra hit treys less than a minute apart. Eastern regained the lead before a Myers triple put the Falcons ahead, 42-41, with 11:23 to go. But, the Eagles scored the game's next six points to retake the lead for good.

BG got back within two, and it was still a four-point game when Hoekstra hit a three out of the day's final media timeout, but the Eagles scored six-straight points to take control.

Eastern broke on top on a Janay Morton jumper, but the Falcons took the lead when Myers took a pass from sophomore Rachel Konieczki and drained a right-side triple try. That Myers bucket began BG's 7-of-7 shooting streak, and gave the visitors a 3-2 lead just over two minutes in.

Hoekstra knocked down a jumper from the right baseline, but Morton hit a three with the shot clock winding down, tying the game at 5-all. But, Konieczki's left-wing trey gave the Falcons the lead once again.

Back came the Eagles, as Sweeney's jumper was followed by a Jamaica Bucknor layup out of a timeout. But, Puk took a Kirkpatrick pass and drilled a three-pointer, and Hoekstra's nifty spin move and scoop shot in the paint resulted in a three-point play and a 14-9 BG lead. Hoekstra, however, was called for an offensive foul on BG's next possession, her second foul of the game.

After a Myers steal, however, the freshman dribbled past several Eagle defenders and found an open Justinger. The junior's left-wing three-point try barely moved the net, giving the Falcons a 17-11 lead with 13:21 left in the half.

But, Sweeney responded by hitting a three-pointer of her own, and after a BG turnover, Puk was whistled for her second foul of the day at the 12:17 mark.

EMU split the resulting free throws, but Justinger's jumper at the other end was BG's seventh-straight make, and gave the visitors in orange a 19-15 lead with exactly 12 minutes left in the period.

BG's next points, though, would not come until Myers hit a pair of shots at the line with 3:50 left in the half, and the Falcons' next successful field goal came when Baer banked home a turnaround jumper at the 2:25 mark.

To their credit, the Falcons held Eastern to only 10 points in the eight-minute-plus span between Justinger's jumper and Myers' tosses. A pair of putbacks by KaBria Walker capped that 10-0 run before Myers hit the two shots to cut EMU's lead to 25-21.

Brianna Puni scored inside, but Justinger's entry pass found Baer for a bucket. The Eagles split a pair of charity tosses with 52.2 seconds left in the half, and a long three-pointer by Justinger cut Eastern's lead to 32-28 at the break.

The Eagles had twice as many field-goal attempts as the Falcons in the opening half. Eastern was 13-of-34 (38.2%) from the field in the first 20 minutes, while BG went 9-for-17 (52.9%). It marked the second consecutive half in which the Falcons had shot better than 50 percent from the floor, and the Brown and Orange went 5-of-11 from three-point range in the first period.

The second half saw Hoekstra dive to the floor for a defensive rebound after the Falcons forced a missed shot on EMU's first possession. Then, Justinger found Hoekstra in the right corner for a three-pointer that cut the BG deficit to a single point.

Morton canned a jumper, but moments later, Puk grabbed a defensive board and led a break the other way. She was fouled by Bucknor and hit two free throws, cutting the EMU lead to 34-33 with 16:46 left.

A turnover resulted in a three-point play by Shannise Heady, but Kirkpatrick knocked down a three-ball from the left corner, then fed Hoekstra for a triple from the opposite corner. BG led, 39-37, with just under 13 minutes remaining.

Puni's offensive rebound and layup tied the score, and Sasha Dailey's transition jumper gave EMU the lead once again, but Kirkpatrick found an open Myers, and the freshman hit another BG three-pointer -- the Falcons' ninth of the day -- for a 42-41 Falcon lead with 11:23 remaining.

The visitors then went over five minutes without scoring, and Sweeney hit a triple as part of a 6-0 run that gave the hosts a five-point lead. Kirkpatrick found Puk for another three-pointer from the wing, cutting that EMU lead to two points, but the Eagles then scored the next five points, including a crazy runner by Phillis Webb and a fast-break layup by Sweeney after a steal. Eastern's lead was seven points, 52-45, with 4:13 remaining.

Out of the last media timeout, Puk took a pass in the paint, then kicked it out to Hoekstra for the three-pointer that made it a four-point game with 3:48 on the clock. But, Heady hit a driving layup, the Falcons missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and Puni's layup gave Eastern a 56-48 lead with 1:55 to go. The latter bucket came after the Eagles used nearly all of the 30-second shot clock.

A Myers three-point try was halfway through the hoop before rattling out, and the Falcons fouled Sweeney with 1:21 to go. She hit both free throws to give her team a 10-point lead.

Justinger made two free throws at the 1:12 mark, and the junior hit a jumper in the late stages of the game, but it was not enough. With her team leading by nine points, Sweeney fired a three-pointer that beat the buzzer and was on target, giving the Eagles a 12-point win. That 12-point margin was the largest lead for either team on the afternoon.

BGSU now leads the series with EMU by a 50-15 margin, and the Falcons are now 20-10 all-time in road games vs. the Hurons/Eagles.

The Falcons' road odyssey continues as BGSU travels to Kalamazoo, Mich., for a midweek matchup with Western Michigan University. BG battles the Broncos on Wednesday (Jan. 21), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.