TicketsKnoch Leads Bearcats to Comeback Win
Bearcats Trailed by 14 with Nine Minutes to Play
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
11/24/2004
Leslie Knoch set a career-high for the second straight game. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? Cincinnati came back from a 14-point deficit with less than nine minutes to play to defeat Ball State, 62-58, in women?s basketball action on Wednesday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena.
Leslie Knoch scored a career-high 20 points and Karen Twehues added 17 to key the win. The two combined for eight of UC?s 10 three-pointers.
?Leslie was our backbone tonight,? said head coach Laurie Pirtle. ?She came through when we needed it.?
Trailing 51-37 with 8:34 to go, Knoch hit her third triple to spark the UC comeback. Twehues would make treys for the next three Bearcat baskets as UC held the Cardinals to one field goal between 8:54 and 10 seconds left in the game.
After Twehues? third three-pointer cut the margin to 52-49, Bellva May made a free throw and Toni Slaughter followed with a jumper to tie the game. Knoch then made a jumper as the shot clock expired to give the Bearcats their first lead since 16:05 remained, 56-54, with 2:10 to go.
May then made a jumper and Knoch a driving lay-up to put the game out of reach.
UC shot .480 for the game and made 10-of-26 three-pointers, but was outscored from the foul line, 11-4. The Bearcats committed 25 turnovers, but made just two in the final nine minutes and forced Ball State into 23 of its own.
Slaughter had a game-high seven rebounds and Anne Stephens grabbed six to go with two blocked shots.
Kelsey Corbin scored 18 for BSU, while Kate Endress added 14 and Dana Collins 12. Collins also had five assists and four steals.
The comeback win came just five days after the Bearcats lost a 15-point lead in the season opener.
?[The difference between Toledo and Ball State] is that when the team got down, they listened to the changes we made and they made the adjustments,? said Pirtle. ?This game showed what we have inside. Now we have to work to get better and get tougher.?
The first half was marked by a combined 30 turnovers by the teams. The Bearcats used a 12-4 run to take a 17-10 lead with 9:12 left in the half. May scored the last two baskets of the run.
UC then went five minutes without a score as the Cardinals answered with a 15-3 run to take a 25-20 advantage. Collins made two three-pointers in the stretch.
The Bearcats were able to even the score at the half thanks to a Micah Harvey triple and a running lay-up by Knoch as the buzzer sounded.
After trading the lead back and forth to start the second half, BSU held UC to one field goal over an almost six minute span and five players scored in a 16-2 run that gave the Cardinals a 45-32 lead with 10:58 left.
Knoch made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 10, but Collins and Corbin pushed the lead to 14, setting up the UC comeback.
The Bearcats are in the midst of a six-game homestand which will see them host Indiana State on Sunday, November 28 at 2 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.