COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Falcons fire up offense over Kent State

Explosion in 2nd half makes up for slow start

1/10/2014

KENT, Ohio — The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team used an improved offensive performance in the second half to claim a 58-39 win at Kent State Thursday.

The Falcons’ 38 second-half points nearly doubled their first-half total of 20 as BG improved to 12-2 overall and 2-0 in the Mid-American Conference.

Senior Jillian Halfhill scored 15 points to lead Bowling Green, while fellow senior Jill Stein posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The double-double was the second in Stein’s career; the first came against Old Dominion on Nov. 23.

Larissa Lurken finished with nine points to lead the Golden Flashes (3-11, 0-2).

Bowling Green now has won 20 of the last 21 meetings of these two schools, including the last seven in a row.

While the Falcons never trailed, they also never led by more than four points for most of the low-scoring first half. BG needed a 7-2 run in the final 6:47 of the period to take a 20-13 halftime lead.

The Falcons led 24-17 at the 17-47 mark of the second half, then used a 13-point run over the next four minutes to extend their advantage to 37-17 with 13:33 to play.

The 13-point run included three 3-pointers, two by Halfhill and one by Deborah Hoekstra.

After that run Kent State came no closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

Bowling Green was aided by an impressive free-throw shooting performance as the Falcons connected on 18-of-20 free throws. The Falcons also forced 21 KSU turnovers, including 15 in the first half, as Stein had four of her team’s 12 steals.

BG, which now has won three in a row and eight of its last nine games, will host MAC East Division preseason favorite Akron at the Stroh Center Sunday at 2 p.m.