Falcons Host Broncos as MAC Season Heats Up

BGSU vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN
<><> Wednesday, February 7, 2018 • 7:00 p.m. <><>
<><> Stroh Center (4,347) • Bowling Green, Ohio <><>
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<><> TELEVISION / VIDEO: ESPN3.com <><>
<><> RADIO / AUDIO: BGRSO <><>
<><> LIVE STATS: www.BGSUFalcons.com <><>
<><> TWITTER: @BGSUwbb <><>

all available audio, stats & video links can be found at BGSUFalcons.com on game day

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS...
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team wraps up the cross-divisional portion of the regular-season schedule with this week's two games. Head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons begin the week by hosting Western Michigan University on Wednesday evening (Feb. 7), with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. start at the Stroh Center.

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PLEASE MAKE A NOTE OF IT: BGSU'S REMAINING SCHEDULE
The Falcons, as mentioned, play two games vs. MAC West Division foes this week. BG hosts WMU, then heads to the conference's "West Coast" for a Saturday (Feb. 10) game vs. Northern Illinois.

After the NIU game, BGSU will have a midweek bye before facing Ohio University in Athens the following Saturday (Feb. 17). The Ohio game begins a stretch of five-straight games vs. East Division opponents to end the regular season.

The Falcons have seven regular-season games remaining. All three of the games at the Stroh Center will be played on Wednesday nights, with Buffalo (Feb. 21) and Akron (Feb. 28) scheduled to make trips to Northwest Ohio in late February.

BGSU's four remaining regular-season road games all will be played on Saturday afternoons. In addition to NIU and Ohio, the Falcons will make trips to Miami (Feb. 24) and UB (March 3).

START ME UP
Coach Roos and the Falcons had only used two different starting lineups through the season's first 21 games, but BGSU made two changes prior to Saturday's (Feb. 3) Miami matchup. Sophomore Caterrion Thompson and freshman Angela Perry each made the first start of their respective collegiate careers.

The duo made the most of the opportunity, combining to shoot 53 percent from the floor and score 20 points. Thompson had 14 points, going 7-of-11 from the floor and adding a pair of assists and a steal. She tied her career standard for field goals made, and played a career-high 39 of the game's 40 minutes.

Perry, who missed the entire non-conference schedule due to injury, played 24 minutes, the highest total of her young career, vs. the RedHawks. She scored a career-high six points, going 3-for-6 from the field, and tied her career best with six rebounds. Perry also had a steal and a blocked shot.

LAST TIME OUT: LATE 3'S LIFT MIAMI PAST FALCONS
Leah Purvis hit a pair of three-pointers in the game's final two-plus minutes to help lift visiting Miami to a 66-62 victory over the Falcons at the Stroh Center Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3).

The game featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes, and neither team led by more than five points at any time during the day.

MU's Lauren Dickerson led all players with 24 points on the afternoon, but scored just two points during the second half. She went 0-for-8 from the floor in the final 20 minutes, although she did dish out six of her game-high eight assists in that time.

BGSU's balanced scoring attack saw three Falcons – senior Haley Puk, junior Carly Santoro and sophomore Caterrion Thompson – score 14 points apiece, while junior Sydney Lambert added 10.

Savannah Kluesner scored 12 points, while Purvis added 10 points off the bench for the RedHawks. Both players scored six points in the fourth quarter, with Purvis knocking down a pair of long-distance shots.

After Santoro hit a pair of free throws to tie the game for the 13th and final time, a Purvis three-pointer gave the visitors the lead with 2:11 to go. BG got back-to-back buckets to retake the lead, but Purvis hit a deep three with 51.8 seconds remaining and the shot clock winding down. That trey gave the visitors a 64-62 lead.

The Falcons shot 47.8 percent from the field, while holding the RedHawks to a 38.1% success rate, and BG had a slim 35-32 rebounding advantage. Miami made just two more field goals than the Falcons while taking 17 more shots. And, the Brown and Orange hit 12 free throws to the visitors' eight.

But, the 'Hawks turned the ball over just nine times, while BG had 18 turnovers. Miami had a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers, and the RedHawks enjoyed a 17-5 lead in second-chance points. Additionally, the visitors made 10 three-pointers to the Falcons' six.

SYD THE KID
BGSU guard Sydney Lambert is averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game over the last three contests, and has rapidly moved up the BGSU list for career three-point field goals made in that time. Lambert has hit 10 triples in that time, knocking down four against both Toledo (Jan. 27) and Kent State (Jan. 31) before hitting two more against Miami on Saturday.

In the KSU game alone, Lambert moved up three spots on the career three-point list. Then, she jumped up another spot in the Miami melee. Lambert – just a junior – now has hit 173 long-distance shots, tying her for fifth place in school history. Lambert has tied Sara Puthoff (1994-98), on that list, and she is 11 shy of fourth-place Chrissy Steffen (2009-13).

Lambert scored a career-high 24 points in the UT game, then led the Falcons in scoring for the second-straight outing, with 16 points at KSU. She added 10 vs. MU.

Lambert surpassed the 800-point mark for her career in Saturday's Miami matchup. She now has 809 points as a Falcon, almost exactly 10.0 points per contest (9.987654 ppg, to be exact). Lambert has played in every BGSU game since arriving on campus, and has started all 81 of those games.

HALE-STORM (also titled, "CHUCK-A-PUK")
Senior Haley Puk has shot the ball well, to say the least, over the last three home games. Puk is shooting 64.7% from the field, including a blistering 85.7% from three-point range, during that time. She had 14 points in the Ohio game on Jan. 20, then was perfect from both the floor and the free-throw line against Toledo seven days later.

In that UT matchup, Puk battled foul trouble, but was 2-for-2 from both the field and the stripe. She hit her only three-point try vs. the Rockets.

On Saturday (Feb. 3), Puk went 4-for-5 from the floor vs. Miami, including a perfect 2-of-2 from the arc and 4-for-4 from the line. Puk has averaged 11.7 points per game over the last three home games.

"CS" IS SHORT FOR BOTH "Carly Santoro" AND "CHARITY STRIPE"
Junior Carly Santoro has had a knack for getting to the foul line this season. Through 22 games, Santoro leads the Falcons with 92 free throws made and 139 attempts. The FTM total is the highest by a BG player in four years (since Alexis Rogers made 124 and Jillian Halfhill 101 shots at the line in 2013-14).

Santoro is currently averaging 4.18 free throws made and 6.32 attempts per game. No BG player has come close to those averages since the legendary Lauren Prochaska went 204-for-224 at the stripe in the 2010-11 campaign. That season, Prochaska averaged 6.18 FTM and 6.79 FTA.

LAMTORO (SAMBERT?)
Juniors Sydney Lambert and Carly Santoro have been constants in the BGSU lineup. Lambert, as mentioned, has started all 81 of the Falcons' games since she arrived on campus. Santoro, one of the Falcons' top players off the bench as a freshman, has started all 53 contests since the beginning of her sophomore year.

Lambert and Santoro rank 1-2 among active Falcons in multiple categories. Santoro has 39 career double-digit scoring games, including six games of 20 or more points. Lambert also has 39 career games with 10 or more points, and she has five 20-point games as a Falcon.

Lambert leads all current Falcons with 809 career points, while Santoro has scored 778 points since joining the Orange and Brown. They are averaging 10.0 and 9.6 points per game, respectively, since coming to BG.

THE FALCONS: A QUICK OVERVIEW
BGSU is 10-12 on the season, and the Falcons are 2-9 in Mid-American Conference play. BG is 5-6 at the Stroh Center, 4-6 in true road games and 1-0 in neutral-site contests, and the Orange and Brown will enter the WMU game looking to snap a five-game losing streak.

The Falcons opened the season with seven games in a 19-day span. BGSU went 6-1 during that time, then began December by downing Xavier before a large School Day crowd at the Stroh. But, BG then dropped six of the next seven games.

BG snapped a five-game slide with a 66-64 win at Akron (Jan. 13), and the Falcons returned home and topped Kent State, 60-50, four days later. But, BGSU then suffered narrow home setbacks to Ohio and Toledo, sandwiched around a road loss against Ball State. Most recently, BG dropped the KSU rematch along with a four-point decision vs. Miami.

Head coach Jennifer Roos and her staff – which is comprised of assistant coaches Jacey Brooks, Nick Moore and Jessie Ivey, director of operations Monique Rosati and video coordinator Amanda Cutcher – welcomed back a total of nine returning players, including three starters, from a year ago. The list of returnees includes two seniors, three juniors and four second-year Falcons.

Senior Haley Puk and juniors Sydney Lambert and Carly Santoro each have started all 22 games this season, while soph Andrea Cecil has made 21 starts, classmate Jane Uecker 13 and redshirt freshman Clare Glowniak eight. Freshman Angela Perry and sophomore Caterrion Thompson each were in the starting lineup for the first time on Saturday vs. Miami.

Heading into the WMU wingding, two Falcons are scoring in double figures, and two more are not far off that pace. Santoro leads the way with 13.1 ppg, and is nearly averaging a double-double, with a team-leading 9.5 rpg. She ranks second in the MAC in rebounds.

Lambert has 10.3 ppg, while Puk and Cecil averaging 9.0 and 8.9 ppg, respectively. Caterrion Thompson (5.8 ppg) and Uecker (4.9) are ranked fifth and sixth on the team in scoring.

Lambert leads the team in assists, with 2.2 per game, while Santoro has 1.6 helpers per contest. Santoro (1.8) and Lambert (1.6) are ranked 1-2 on the team in steals per game. Lambert has knocked down 46 three-point field goals this year, while Puk has hit 35.

In MAC play, Santoro has BG-best averages of 11.5 ppg and 8.6 rpg, while Lambert has 9.7 ppg, Caterrion Thompson 8.2 and Puk 7.7. Puk is shooting 46.9 percent from three-point range in league contests, having gone 15-of-32 from the arc, and Thompson has shot 45.0% (18-of-40) from downtown. They rank third and fifth, respectively, in the conference in that category.

FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering the WMU contest, BGSU has an all-time record of 404-204 (.664) in MAC regular-season games, for the most wins and highest winning percentage of all league institutions.

And, BG leads the series with all 11 MAC foes, making the Falcons the only team in the league with a winning series record against every other school. BG also has the most overall victories and highest overall winning pct. of any league institution.

SCOUTING WMU
Western Michigan is 13-10 on the year, and the Broncos are 6-5 in the MAC. WMU snapped a two-game losing streak with a 76-60 win over Akron on Saturday. The Broncos are 8-2 at home, 4-6 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site matchups this season. In the MAC, Western is 4-2 in Kalamazoo and 2-3 in hostile venues. Breanna Mobley leads the team in scoring and rebounding, with 15.8 points and 8.5 boards per contest. Deja Wimby (10.8 ppg) and Marley Hill (10.3) are also scoring in double digits. Last year, WMU was 19-13 overall and 8-10 in the MAC. Head coach Shane Clipfell welcomed back 11 letterwinners, including four starters, from that club.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead WMU, 35-30, in the all-time series between the teams, but Western has won each of the last seven meetings, including a 67-58 verdict in this year's first matchup (Dec. 30, 2017). In the last get-together at the Stroh Center, the Broncos picked up a 74-53 win (Feb. 15, 2017). BG's last victory over WMU came on Feb. 5, 2014 (72-50 at the Stroh). The Falcons are 18-12 at home, 14-17 on the road and 3-1 at neutral sites vs. the Broncos over the years.

UP NEXT
BGSU will play road games on back-to-back Saturdays, facing Northern Illinois (Feb. 10) and Ohio (Feb. 17). The matchup in DeKalb is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. Eastern). As mentioned, the Falcons' final seven regular-season games include three Wednesday-night matches at the Stroh and four Saturday-afternoon tilts on the road.

BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
REMAINING REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE
Wed., Feb. 7 – WESTERN MICHIGAN, 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 10 – at Northern Illinois, 2:00 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 17 – at Ohio, 1:00 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 21 – BUFFALO, 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 24 – at Miami, 2:00 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 28 – AKRON, 7:00 p.m. (Senior Night)
Sat., March 3 – at Buffalo, 2:00 p.m.

HOME games at the Stroh Center
All times Eastern unless noted

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