Havel, Steffen lead Falcons past Huskies 60-49

2/17/2013

DeKALB, Ill. — The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team claimed a 60-49 victory at Northern Illinois Saturday.

The Falcons used an impressive first-half shooting performance to earn the win, improving to 16-8 overall and 7-4 in the Mid-American Conference.

Danielle Havel and Chrissy Steffen each scored 14 points to lead BG, with Havel tying her career-best in points.

Amanda Corral finished with 12 points to lead Northern Illinois (7-17, 2-9).

The Falcons made their first five 3-pointers — two by Havel, and one each for Steffen, Miriam Justinger and Jillian Halfhill — and led 19-8 with 13:22 left in the first half.

Back-to-back 3’s by Halfhill and Havel gave Bowling Green a 36-15 lead with 1:30 left in the first period, and the Falcons carried a 36-17 lead into halftime.

BG made 14-of-30 shots in the first half (46.7 percent), including 8-of-15 3-pointers (53.3 percent).

Havel went 3-for-3 from behind the arc and both Halfhill and Steffen went 2-for-3.

The Falcons pushed their lead to 39-19 points early in the second half, only to see Northern Illinois score seven straight points to cut the deficit to 13 just three minutes later.

But the Huskies could not get closer than 12 points by the midway point of the second half, and BG did not allow NIU to cut the deficit to 11 until the game’s final moments.

Bowling Green won the turnover battle, creating 16 turnovers while losing the ball 10 times as Steffen and Justinger each had two steals.

The Falcons were outrebounded 34-30, with Havel grabbing a team-best nine boards while Halfhill had five rebounds and four assists.

Bowling Green’s next game is on Wednesday when the Falcons return to the Stroh Center to host Akron starting at 7 p.m.