Mann hits 28 in win by Falcons

3/1/2004

MUNCIE, Ind. - Freshman Ali Mann scored 28 points yesterday afternoon as the Bowling Green State University women took an 84-79 Mid-American Conference basketball victory over Ball State in overtime.

Megan Thorburn added 17 points and Stefanie Wenzel had 11 for the Falcons (17-9, 10-5).

Lindsay Austin had 11 rebounds and nine assists to go with nine points, and Liz Honegger had nine points and 10 rebounds.

Kate Endress led Ball State (12-14, 7-8) with 18 points and 17 rebounds.

“This was a big gut-check win for us,” BG coach Kurt Miller said. “I ve said that many times this year. But with seven or eight minutes left, we had a chance to roll over and die against a very good offensive team.

“Our kids never rolled over though, and they really played hard down the stretch and made enough plays to win. We certainly did not make it easy, missing all those foul shots, but we played well enough to win.”

The Falcons hit just 12 of 24 foul shots to Ball State s 11 of 14. Ball State won on the boards 53-50. Ball State shot 39 percent from the field to BG s 39.7 percent.

Mann hit 9 of 16 shots from the field, including all 3 treys. However, she was one of the biggest culprits at the line, hitting 7 of 13.

“Ali Mann had a great game,” Miller said. “She is normally a better foul shooter than that, and could really have had a monster game if she had made her foul shots.

“But my hat s off to this team. This is one of the toughest places in the league to win, and we are playing for a higher seed in the MAC tournament.

“We have secured no worse than the fifth seed, and we still control our own destiny for the fourth seed.”