Friday's Scoreboard
San Francisco 64, Bowling Green 56
Northern Illinois 82, Tennessee Tech 74
Ohio 72, Pitt 50
UTEP 76, Western Michigan 46
Liberty 65, Miami 53
Wisconsin 67, Ball State 56
Stories Courtesy Of MAC Sports Info.
San Francisco 64, Bowling Green 56
Box Score
VICTORIA, B.C. -- Sophomore Kadie Hempfling and junior Madisen Parker combined for 30 points and 16 rebounds on Friday (Nov. 29), but it was not enough as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team fell, 64-56, to the University of San Francisco. The game, part of second-day action at the Greater Victoria Invitational, was held at CARSA Performance Gym.
Hempfling had a team-leading 16 points for the Falcons (3-3), while Parker scored 14 on the day. Both players had eight rebounds vs. the Dons (3-4). But, USF's Makayla Williams had game-high totals of 18 points and 17 rebounds.
Williams also had five blocked shots, tying for game honors. Junior Angela Perry had a career-high five blocks for the Falcons, just two shy of matching the school record.
Hempfling's point total was a season high, and was three points shy of her career best.
Ioanna Krimili scored 17 points and Dolapo Balogun 14 for the Dons, who held a 44-38 advantage on the boards. USF had 17 offensive rebounds, with Williams (seven) and Lucie Hoskova (five) combining for 12 boards at the offensive end.
Northern Illinois 82, Tennessee Tech 74
Box Score
LAS VEGAS, NV – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team shot 53.8 percent in the second half Friday afternoon to break a 34-34 halftime tie and defeat the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 82-74 in the South Point Shootout at South Point Arena.
"There were moments on both ends of the court where we did some really nice things," said head coach Lisa Carlsen following the win. "When it came down to it, we got stops and rebounded the basketball. We shot the ball well, but we need to be consistent with that and continue to learn and grow."
Five Huskies scored in double-figures led by Courtney Woods' (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) 23 points. Woods made four threes and added six rebounds and three assists. She now has 274 career three-pointers to put her four away from tying the NIU career three-pointers record held by Kylie York, who made 278 from 2006 to 2010.
Riley Blackwell (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) and Gabby Nikitinaite (Orpington, Kent, UK/Coopers School) both had 14 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Chelby Koker (Racine, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) also had 14 points, a season-high, and added three steals. Myia Starks (Plainfield, Ill./Nequa Valley) scored 10 points with five rebounds and three assists.
Tennessee Tech (3-3) opened the game with an 8-0 run with three-pointers from Jordan Brock and Mackenzie Coleman. NIU responded with threes from Blackwell and Woods to start a 12-3 run over 4:31 seconds, with a Mikayla Brandon (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) layup giving the Huskies their first lead at 12-11 with 3:29 left in the first quarter. Koker then scored NIU's next seven points, putting NIU ahead 19-18 with 2:09 to go. The Golden Eagles took a 21-19 lead with a Kesha Brady three-pointer with 0:58 left in the first, but NIU tied the game at 21 with a Blackwell layup in the final seconds.
NIU's (3-3) defense came alive in the second quarter, holding Tennessee Tech without a field goal for the first 7:11. The Huskies opened the period with an 11-2 run over the first 4:35, capped by an Abby Woollacott (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) layup that put NIU up 32-23. The Golden Eagles made three three-pointers over 1:28 seconds late in the quarter to take a 34-32 lead. Just as in the first quarter, Blackwell came up with a layup in the final 10 seconds to tie the game at 34 heading into halftime.
Nikitinaite and Woods combined to score the first six points of the third quarter to put NIU ahead 40-34 with 8:10 to play. The Golden Eagles used a 7-0 run, capped by a Jordan Brock three-pointer, to take a 43-42 lead at the 4:47 mark. NIU answered that with back-to-back triples from Woods and Brandon to go up by five, 48-43, with under four minutes to play in the third. Tennessee Tech had another run in them, going on an 8-0 run sparked by an Akia Harris three to go up 51-48 with 1:43 left in the quarter. Koker scored the final four points of the frame, putting in a layup before the buzzer to put NIU ahead 52-51 heading into the fourth.
NIU rode the momentum from the end of the third quarter into the fourth, scoring the first seven points to take a 59-51 lead at the 8:47 mark to force a Tennessee Tech timeout. The Golden Eagles cut the Huskies lead to three, but back-to-back Woods threes capped a 10-4 NIU run that gave NIU a nine-point advantage, 69-60, with 6:08 to play. The Golden Eagles chipped away at the Huskies lead and eventually got within three, 75-72, on an Anacia Wilkinson jumper with 0:59 left in the game. That was as close as the Golden Eagles got. NIU made seven of its last 10 free throws in the final minute to come away with the 82-74 win.
"This team is never going to be a team that panics," Carlsen said. "They know how to handle close games and end-of-game situations. They know they have to step up to the line in the end of games and knock down free throws. They definitely have a next-play mentality and I thought we did a good job down the stretch of understanding that."
NIU shot 44.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from long distance. After shooting 42 percent in the first quarter, Tennessee Tech shot 34.2 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles held a slim 39-38 rebounding edge while NIU outscored Tennessee Tech in the paint 34-28. Brady led Tennessee Tech with 24 points.
The Huskies take on South Dakota on Saturday at 3:15 pm central in their final game of the South Point Shootout.
Ohio 72, Pitt 50
Box Score
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Ohio women's basketball team (5-1, 0-0 MAC) picked up its second Power Five win of the season after defeating Pittsburgh (2-4, 0-0 ACC), 72-50, on Friday afternoon at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
"It feels good to win because we did a lot of things right," head coach Bob Boldon said. "It's not because someone had a spectacular shooting night, it feels good because this was a group effort. It took all of us to get (this win). We played a lot of kids, and the kids came in and gave a good effort. The kids sometimes made mistakes, but then they came out, went back in and didn't make the same mistake. Those are the kind of things you like to see in November. Pitt ran a couple of things we hadn't seen before, so it was good to see that and learn how to guard that for the future. That's all part of playing in November."
Ohio was led by junior forward Gabby Burris (Baltimore, Ohio) who posted a season-high 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Burris knocked down two three-pointers and pulled in six rebounds.
Redshirt junior guard Katie Barker (Cary, Ill.) and senior guard Amani Burke (Columbus, Ohio) also had double-digit points in the win. Burke had 13 points and was 3-of-7 from behind the arc while Barker knocked down four from deep and finished with 12 points. Barker pulled down six boards, tying her career high, while Burke also had six rebounds.
"Against big, athletic kids (Gabby) finished really well around the rim and made a couple three's for us," Boldon added. "The one's she missed she was right on, so she had a good day of shooting the ball. She put herself in the right spots today and as usual her teammates did a good job of finding her. It was a good, collaborative night to get her the numbers that she had."
UTEP 76, Western Michigan 46
Box Score
EL PASO, Tex. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team opened the Thanksgiving Classic with a 76-46 loss versus the University of Texas at El Paso on Friday, Nov. 29 inside the Don Haskins Center.
The Broncos struggled on shooting from the field, converting a season-low 18 field goals off 64 attempts. Both teams were troubled by turnovers, the Broncos accumulating 18 and the Miners 21 total. WMU scored 14 points off UTEP turnovers and tallied 12 steals. The Miners out-rebounded Western Michigan 47-32 while shooting 49.2 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Breanna Mobley led WMU with 11 points, shooting 4-for-12 from the field with 10 rebounds, good for her fourth straight double-double. Leighah-Amori Wool assisted for the Broncos with six rebounds and 11 points. Fellow starter Jordan Walker tied the two with 11 points plus four rebounds.
Despite WMU drawing first with a layup from Wool, UTEP led 18-7 after a tough first quarter in which the Broncos and the Miners accumulated seven fouls and five turnovers each.
UTEP opened the second stanza on a 10-0 run to take a 30-9 lead, broken up by a layup from Mobley. The Miners led by as many as 23 in the first half while taking a 38-15 advantage into the halftime break. The Broncos closed out the half with a buzzer-beating three from Maddie Watters, the team's first of the contest.
The Broncos doubled their second quarter total and then some in the third frame, outscoring the Miners 19-18. Walker and Kamrin Reed came out of the gate with back-to-back threes on the way to a 6-0 run for the Brown & Gold. Assisted by seven points from Wool and six from Mobley, WMU held the Miners to their lowest scoring frame of the contest.
UTEP opened the fourth quarter on a 4-0 run. A jumper from Walker and layups from Reed and Jillian Fletcher narrowed the gap, but the Miners responded and outscored the Broncos 14-7 as time ran out to secure the 76-46 win.
Western Michigan, now 2-3 overall, concludes competition at the Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow, Nov. 30. Tip-off against New Mexico State University is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at UTEP.
Liberty 65, Miami 53
Box Score
Coral Gables, Fla. – The Miami University women's basketball team (4-3) opened play at the Miami (FL) Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday with a 65-53 loss against Liberty.
Savannah Kluesner led Miami with 15 points and 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double in the last five games. Lauren Dickerson and Kelly McLaughlin also scored in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
After being tied at two following the first two minutes of the game, Liberty scored the next nine points to take an 11-2 lead midway through the first quarter. The Flames opened up their largest lead of the first half with two minutes to play in the quarter as they led 18-4.
Miami scored the final four points of the first quarter to close the gap to 10 points following the first 10 minutes of play. Liberty led 18-8 as the Flames shot 57 percent from the floor during the first quarter, compared to the RedHawks 25 percent.
The second quarter started slowly for both teams as the score was 22-11 in favor of Liberty as the game neared the midway point of the second quarter. Over the next two minutes of play, Miami put together a 10-2 run, beginning with a three-pointer by Dickerson. A long-range shot from Vannessa Garrelts cut Liberty's lead to 24-21 with three minutes to play in the first half.
The Flames responded with six-straight points on the floor to increase their lead to 30-21 before Kluesner ended the half with two more shots. Liberty led 30-25 at halftime as Kluesner led Miami with eight points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Miami's defense held Liberty without a basket for almost six minutes in the middle of the third quarter but eight free throws helped the Flames outscore the RedHawks 17-15 in the third quarter. The RedHawks scored their first basket of the second half midway through the third quarter, the second three-pointer of the game by Dickerson. This basket cut Liberty's lead to 37-31 at the media timeout with 4:16 to play in the quarter.
Kluesner was the first RedHawk to reach double figures, doing so with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter to record a double-double as she already had 11 rebounds on the game. Dickerson also reached double figures before the end of the third quarter with her third long-range shot of the game.
Miami trailed by a 47-40 margin after 30 minutes of play.
Liberty opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to match its largest lead of the game thus far, leading 54-40 with 7:44 to play. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the game but Miami could not cut the lead back down to single digits. McLaughlin was the third RedHawk to score in double figures, reaching 10 in the final seconds of the game.
The RedHawks face No. 19 Miami on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. to conclude play in the Miami (FL) Thanksgiving Tournament.
Wisconsin 67, Ball State 56
Box Score
NASSAU, The Bahamas - Oshlynn Brown had a game-high 18 points, but it was not enough as Ball State lost to Big Ten foe Wisconsin 67-56 Friday night in its last game at The Bahamas Hoopfest.
The Cardinals (4-3) came out on the losing end of a streaky game that saw 14 lead changes and seven ties. Wisconsin (5-1) had the advantage in the paint, out-rebounding Ball State 47-33.
Ball State had four players in double figures. Brown led the Cardinals with 18 points, Thelma Dis Agustsdottir scored 11, and Jasmin Samz along with teammate Anna Clephane each added 10 apiece. Brown also led the Cardinals defensively with eight rebounds.
The first quarter was highlighted by inside play, as Ball State made all of its baskets in the paint. The Cardinals shot 48 percent around the rim and only attempted three from behind the arc. Ball State would take a 15-13 lead over the Badgers at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams were on heels of one another in the second frame of action. Wisconsin raised its defense intensity towards the end of the first half, holding the Cardinals without a field goal over the last three minutes. The Badgers had taking a slim four-point (29-25) advantage with under a minute left but Brown hit a last second jump shot that would make the score 29-27 at intermission.
Agustsdottir opened the third stanza with a jumpsuit for the Cardinals to tie the game, 29-29. But Wisconsin then answered with a quick 4-0 run which put the Badgers back on top. Although both teams would go back and forth, the Badgers used a late 8-2 scoring surge to regain a seven-point advantage heading into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, Ball State was unable to slow Wisconsin, as the Badgers dominated both ends of the court outscoring the Cardinals 19-15. Wisconsin did not look back the rest of the way, closing out the final six minutes on a 14-8 run to seal tonight's victory.
The Ball State women's basketball team returns to Worthen Arena on Saturday, Dec. 7 when the Cardinals host Western Kentucky at 3:30 p.m.
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State women's basketball team, please follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateWBB.
