Falcons Host Mid-Major Power SDSU on Monday

Monday, December 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

South Dakota State

Tickets

Ashley Tunstall - Dec 2 2015 v Evansville - Larry Clapper photo

Junior Ashley Tunstall & the Falcons face SDSU on Monday night

Photo by: Larry Clapper

December 20, 2015 | Women's Basketball

BGSU battles Jackrabbits on Dollar Day at the Stroh

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after nearly two weeks between games, returns to the court on Monday evening (Dec. 21). Head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons host perennial mid-major power South Dakota State University, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center (4,347).

LINKS
GAME NOTES: BGSU | SDSU
GET TO KNOW...: Roos | Fleming | Brooks | Nusseibeh | Rosati
2015-16 Women's Basketball Media Central
Buy Tickets | Season Ticket Video
Join the Falcon Club Today!

DOLLAR DAY
Fans can get tickets to Monday's game for just $1 apiece if they purchase tickets before 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Tickets are available in person at the Stroh Center Ticket Office, or online or by phone. Additionally, popcorn, small sodas and hot dogs will be just $1 apiece at Monday night's game.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to the Stroh Center on Monday, you can still follow the Falcons in a veritable plethora of ways. The game will be broadcast by WBGU-FM 88.1, the flagship home of Falcon women's basketball, and will be available over the air or on the web.

Additionally, all BGSU home regular-season men's and women's basketball games will be broadcast on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Live stats for Monday's game will be available through BGSUFalcons.com, and in-game twitter updates can be found at @BGSUwbb on your twitter machine. Log on to BGSUFalcons.com and click the 'calendar' link on the day or the game, or navigate your way to the women's basketball page.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green enters the South Dakota State game with a record of 4-4, and the Falcons are looking to snap a two-game losing streak. BGSU has not played in nearly two weeks, since a Dec. 8 game at Virginia.

• BGSU began the season with a pair of double-digit wins at the Stroh Center, then left Northwest Ohio and played three games that were decided by a total of 10 points.

• All three of the Falcons' home games to date have come against Missouri Valley Conference foes, and the Brown and Orange won those three games by an average of 16.3 points. BG began the season by dispatching both Illinois State and Bradley at the Stroh Center over a three-day span, before losing a narrow 54-51 contest at Cincinnati the following weekend.

• The Falcons headed to Wilmington, N.C., and split a pair of games, dropping a 70-66 decision to Davidson before downing Jacksonville, 72-69 in overtime. Those two contests were part of the UNCW Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic.

• BGSU began the month of December with a 74-56 win over Evansville at the Stroh, but BG then lost to Cleveland State, 69-48, at Quicken Loans Arena. The Falcons' most recent game was a 68-39 setback before more than 10,000 fans at Virginia.

• Just one Falcon, fifth-year senior Lauren Tibbs, has a double-digit scoring average. Tibbs, in her first season at BGSU after transferring from Marquette, has 10.8 points per game, and also leads the Falcons with 7.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game. Tibbs is shooting a BG-best 61.7 percent from the field.

• Senior Miriam Justinger and freshman Sydney Lambert have 8.5 and 8.4 ppg, respectively. Lambert leads BGSU in assists and is tied for the team lead in steals, and she has hit a BG-best 13 three-point field goals to date. Justinger also is tied for the team lead in steals, and the senior is second on the Falcons in rebounding and tied for third in assists. Justinger has hit 11 long-distance shots this year.

• Redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick and true soph Rachel Myers have 6.8 and 5.9 ppg, respectively. Kirkpatrick is second on the Falcons in assists, while Myers has hit 11 three-pointers to tie Justinger for second on the team.

• Freshman Carly Santoro has 5.0 ppg, while juniors Ashley Tunstall and Rachel Konieczki have 3.4 and 2.4 ppg, respectively. Sophomore Sarah Baer has 1.6 ppg, while junior Abby Siefker has 1.5. Siefker is second on the Falcons in blocks.

• Justinger, Lambert, Myers and Tibbs each have started all eight games for the Brown and Orange this season, while Tunstall has joined them in the staritng lineup for each of the last two games.

• The Falcons are shooting 39.9% from the field, 32.0% from three-point land and 71.3% from the free-throw line. The opponents are shooting 37.4% from the floor, 30.3% from the arc and 66.4% from the stripe.

• BGSU has a scoring margin of -0.6 and a rebounding margin of +3.9. The Falcons have blocked 3.1 shots per game after averaging 1.5 bpg a year ago.

• Head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons returned a total of eight letterwinners, all of whom had started at least five games in their BGSU careers entering the season. The returnees were joined by five newcomers, including a pair of transfers (Tibbs and Tunstall) who were eligible to play immediately.

• The 2014-15 Falcons went 9-21 overall after four players on the 12-woman preseason roster suffered season- or career-ending injuries, and a fifth missed the bulk of the conference schedule due to injury as well. The returning players entered the season with a combined total of 203 starts in the Brown and Orange.

LAST TIME OUT: VIRGINIA SILENCES FALCON ATTACK
• Host Virginia turned defense into offense in the second quarter, breaking open a close game en route to a 68-39 win over the Falcons in BGSU's most recent game (Dec. 8), witnessed by a Field Trip Day crowd of over 10,000 fans – mostly elementary- and middle-school-aged kids – at John Paul Jones Arena.

• The Cavaliers led by a 17-12 score after the first quarter. But, after redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick hit a three-pointer to get the Falcons within three early in the second period, the hosts proceeded to go on a 20-2 run over the remaining nine minutes of the half. The Wahoos held BGSU scoreless over the final 6:42 of the second quarter, opening up a 38-17 halftime lead.

• UVA scored the final 15 points of the second quarter and the first seven of the third, taking a 28-point lead before senior Lauren Tibbs scored with 7:13 to go in the third quarter.

• The Cavaliers forced BGSU into 24 turnovers on the day, and UVA had a 28-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

• Before the largest crowd to see a BGSU women's basketball game in the history of the program, four players scored in double figures for the hosts, Faith Randolph and Aliyah Huland El recorded 14 points apiece, while Lauren Moses had a double-double, with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds as the 'Hoos held a 46-31 advantage on the glass.

• Mikayla Venson added 10 points for UVA.

• Freshman Carly Santoro scored eight points for the Brown and Orange, while junior Ashley Tunstall had seven points, six rebounds and a team-leading three assists. Tibbs and Kirkpatrick scored six points apiece, with Tibbs pulling down a BG-best eight rebounds and Kirkpatrick six.

DONOVAN LEAVES PROGRAM
BGSU women's basketball coach Jennifer Roos announced that senior Erica Donovan has chosen to leave the team for personal reasons. Donovan, a native of San Antonio, Texas, started the Falcons' first six games of the season, averaging 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

"Erica has decided to voluntarily leave the program due to personal reasons," said Roos. "I remain in contact with her and wish her nothing but the best as she finishes her academic career at BGSU."

Donovan played in 49 games for Roos and the Falcons, with totals of 545 points and 298 rebounds. She played her freshman season at North Carolina State University before transferring to BGSU.

FIVE-FIGURE CROWD A FALCON FIRST
The crowd of 10,048 at Virginia was the largest to see a BGSU game in program history, besting a pair of 9,000-plus throngs that saw BG play on back-to-back days in a tournament hosted by New Mexico 11 years ago (Dec. 10-11, 2004).

MORE FALCON FIRSTS
Four of the 11 teams on the 2015-16 non-conference schedule will be facing the Falcons for the first time. BGSU is in the midst of a four-game stretch which sees the Orange and Brown play three first-time foes. The list of first-time opponents on BG's schedule includes Davidson, Virginia, South Dakota State and UTSA.

SCOUTING SDSU
South Dakota State has a 9-2 record this season, heading into a Saturday (Dec. 19) evening game at Green Bay. The Jackrabbits' only two losses have been to nationally-ranked teams, as SDSU fell by 11 points to then-No. 3 Notre Dame at home (Nov. .21) and by just seven points to then-No. 6 Maryland at a neutral site (Nov. 27). The Jacks have posted wins over teams including Marist, Arkansas, Pittsburgh and Creighton, and the team's most recent victory was an 88-79 home win over No. 16 DePaul on Tuesday night (Dec. 15). Nine of the team's 11 games have been decided by single digits. Individually, sophomore point guard Macy Miller leads the team in scoring, with 17.7 points per game, and her total of 195 points ranks her 16th in the country. Miller also leads the Jacks with 2.7 assists per game. Junior guard Kerri Young is also averaging double digits, with 12.0 ppg, and she has 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 apg and a team-leading 20 three-point field goals made. Sophomore forward Ellie Thompson and junior center Clarissa Ober are averaging 9.0 and 8.9 ppg, respectively. Ober leads the team with 8.2 rebounds per outing, while Thompson has 6.2 rpg. Freshman guard Madison Guebert (8.4 ppg) rounds out the probable starting five for head coach Aaron Johnston. Johnston welcomed back eight letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's club. The 2014-15 Jacks went 24-9 overall and 12-4 in Summit League play, winning the conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA Championships.

THE BGSU-SDSU SERIES
The Falcons and South Dakota State are meeting for the first time.

SDSU-NW OHIO TIES
SDSU assistant coach Haylie Linn is familar with Northwest Ohio and the Mid-American Conference. Linn, in her first season as assistant coach and second season overall with the Jackrabbits, played two seasons at the University of Toledo, earning a bachelor's degree from the school in 2010 and a master's degree in 2012. She started 29 games for the Rockets in her senior year, averaging 7.5 points and 2.6 assists per game.

THREE-MARKABLE
The Falcons have made at least five three-point field goals in each of this season's eight games to date. BG has hit four or more triples in 40 of the last 41 games, dating to late in the 2013-14 season. The lone exception during that stretch was last year's MAC Tournament first-round game, when BG made three treys at Western Michigan.

THREE-LIGHTFUL
BGSU will be looking to extend an impressive streak on Monday night vs. SDSU. The Falcons have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 349 games. BG has not been held without a triple in over 10 years – since Feb. 12, 2005, at Akron, when the Falcons won, 61-52, despite going 0-of-13 from long distance.

UP NEXT
Following the South Dakota State game, the Falcons will take a brief break for the Christmas holiday, then will head to San Antonio, Texas, to participate in the UTSA Holiday Classic. The Brown and Orange will face Texas Southern on Dec. 29, before taking on the host school the following day. BG then returns to the Midwest to begin Mid-American Conference play as 2016 begins. The league schedule begins with road games vs. Miami (Jan. 2) and Western Michigan (Jan. 6), before the Falcons start a three-game homestand by facing defending champion Ohio (Jan. 9) at the Stroh.

# B G S U W O M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L #