Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Basketball On the Road For Final Week Of Regular Season
February 21, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - THIS WEEK: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, riding a two-game winning streak for the first time this season, enters the final week of the regular season with two road Mid-American Conference games on tap. The Falcons (8-16 overall, 6-8 MAC) will head to Northeast Ohio for a Wednesday (Feb. 23) game against the University of Akron. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at UA's James A. Rhodes Arena (5,942).
Following the UA game, the Brown and Orange will head to New York to face the University at Buffalo Friday (Feb. 25). That game, which will be televised as part of the MAC's TV package, is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start at Alumni Arena (8,500). Fox Sports Net Ohio and Empire Sports are among the affiliates scheduled to air the contest, with Bill Needle and Amy Prichard mikeside.
The first round of the MAC Tournament is scheduled for a week from today (Feb. 28).
MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE: Entering the final week of the regular season, there are still a myriad of possibilities for the Falcons. Nothing is certain, as seven teams are within a game of each other from seeds four through 10. Two wins this week, however, would more than likely result in a home game for BG in the tourney's first round. A pair of losses would almost definitely send the Falcons on the road for next Monday's game. BG, currently tied with Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, would win a tiebreaker with CMU, but lose a tiebreaker with EMU.
BGSU PROBABLE STARTERS
F__22__Francine Miller__5-11__So.__Kalida, Ohio_______17.1 ppg__7.2 rpg F__31__Afra Smith________5-9__Jr.__Madison, Wis._______8.3 ppg__3.5 rpg C__30__Sherry Kahle_____5-10__Sr.__Lima, Ohio__________9.5 ppg__7.0 rpg G__24__Angie Farmer______5-9__Jr.__Wayland, Mich._____12.8 ppg__3.3 rpg G__33__Jaymee Wappes_____5-5__Sr.__Kendallville, Ind.__7.3 ppg__6.0 apg
DEE KNOBLAUCH: Falcon head coach Dee Knoblauch is in her second season at her alma mater, and has a record of 21-30. Knoblauch (pronounced: kuh-NOB-low), a 1983 graduate of the University, assumed the reins of the Falcon program on August 21, 1998.
Knoblauch, in her 13th season as a head coach, has an overall record of 203-149 (.577). She came to BGSU after 11 seasons at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. Over her final five years there, she led the Purple Raiders to a 116-32 mark (.784), including three NCAA Tournament appearances and two NCAA Division III "Final Four" berths.
As a player, Knoblauch was a two-time All-MAC Second-Team selection, and she was named to the Academic All-MAC First Team as a senior. She led the league in assists in each of her last two seasons, and still holds all of the school records in that category.
ABOUT THE FALCONS: BG brings an 8-16 overall record into the week, and the Falcons are 6-8 in MAC play heading into the UA game. The Brown and Orange won two home games last week, defeating Ohio, 70-65, Tuesday (Feb. 15) to sweep the season series between the schools before recording an 82-79 win over Miami Saturday (Feb. 19).
The Falcons are 5-5 at home, 2-8 on the road and 1-3 in neutral-site contests.
Sophomore forward Francine Miller leads the Falcons in both scoring and rebounding, with 17.1 points and 7.2 boards per game. She is shooting .468 from the field, .846 from the free-throw line and a whopping .461 from three-point range, leading the team in all three categories. Miller ranks second on the Falcons in both assists (2.5 apg) and steals (1.5 spg).
Junior guard Angie Farmer is second on the team with 12.8 points per game. Farmer has started 16 games, including the last 15, and she leads the Falcons in three-pointers made, with a school-record 72. Farmer is shooting .440 from the floor, .429 from long range and .816 from the free-throw line to place second on the team in each category.
Senior forward Sherry Kahle is third on the team in scoring (9.5) and second in rebounding (7.0).
Junior forward Afra Smith and senior point guard Jaymee Wappes round out the team's top-five in scoring with 8.3 and 7.3 points, respectively. Wappes leads BG in assists (6.0 apg) and steals (1.9 spg).
Sophomore center Dana Western is BG's top scorer off the bench, averaging 6.4 points, while freshman guard Kim Griech has 5.3 points per game.
Kahle, Miller, Smith and Wappes have started all 24 games this year.
BG ended the 1998-99 campaign with a 13-14 overall record, and the Falcons finished third in the MAC's East Division with a 9-7 league slate. BG earned the fifth seed for the MAC Tournament.
BGSU is shooting .415 from the field this year, while the opponents are shooting .418. The Falcons are scoring 72.9 points per contest, but allowing 79.2. BGSU is averaging 36.3 boards per game to the opponents' 43.3. The Falcons have shot .376 from three-point land, making a school-record 228 treys in a school-record 607 attempts. BGSU led the nation with 9.18 three-pointers made per game as of Tuesday morning (Feb. 15), and that figure has ballooned to 9.50 treys per game heading into the UA contest.
SCOUTING UA: Akron is 11-14 overall and 7-7 in MAC action. The Zips are riding a four-game winning streak, and posted a 71-65 road win vs. Ball State yesterday. UA is led by junior center Cheryl Bowles, with 17.8 points and 8.6 rebounds. Head coach Roxanne Allen, 39-45 in her third year at UA, is 154-135 in her 11th overall season.
SCOUTING UB: Buffalo is 17-8 overall and 7-7 in MAC play heading into Wednesday's game at Kent. Last week, the Bulls played just once, losing to visiting Marshall, 89-78, Saturday. Junior center Tiffany Bell leads the team in scoring (19.0) and rebounding (8.6). Cheryl Dozier is 32-20 in her second year at UB and as a collegiate head coach.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with 11 of the 12 MAC opponents, with Buffalo being the one exception. BGSU holds advantages of 27-1 over Akron, while UB has a 2-1 lead in that brief series.
The Falcons are 12-1 in road games vs. UA, but lost the last game at JAR Arena, a 74-56 contest in last year's MAC Tournament quarterfinals (Feb. 26, 1999). The Brown and Orange, after seeing a 26-game win streak against the Zips broken in that contest, downed visiting UA, 94-72, last month (Jan. 26).
UB won the only previous game in Buffalo, handing the Falcons their worst MAC defeat ever, an 84-51, on Jan. 16, 1999. In this year's first meeting, in BG's venerable Anderson Arena, the Bulls overcame a 20-point deficit to record an 85-81 win (Jan. 8).
LAST WEEK: Junior Angie Farmer scored a game-high 23 points as the Falcons downed visiting Ohio, 70-65, Tuesday (Feb. 15) ... Farmer came out like a house afire, scoring the first 11 points of the game ... Farmer hit her first six shots, including five from three-point land, to score 17 points in the game's first 7:07 ... at that point, BG led by a 22-5 score ... the Bobcats rallied, cutting the BG lead to six points at the half ... in the second half, the Falcon margin was 14 points, 53-39, with just over 12 minutes left when the Bobcats went to work ... over the next six minutes, OU outscored BG, 17-4, to cut the Falcon lead to a single point ... BG's Afra Smith split a pair of free throws at the 5:32 mark, but a Khisha Asubuhi three-pointer gave the Bobcats a 59-58 lead with five minutes left ... on the play, Jaymee Wappes suffered a shoulder injury and was forced to leave the game briefly ... Kim Griech replaced Wappes, and hit a three-pointer to give the Falcons the lead for good ... with 1:45 remaining, Dana Western hit a big trey to give the hosts a seven-point lead, 66-59 ... BG was not out of the woods yet, however ... after an OU free throw, Cathy Szall hit her only trey of the night, bringing the 'Cats within 66-63 with 54 seconds left ... but, they would draw no closer ... Francine Miller, who joined Farmer in double digits with 17 points, hit some big free throws down the stretch to salt away the victory ... Sherry Kahle had a game-high nine rebounds to go with seven points, five assists and three steals ... Wappes had seven markers and five assists, while Miller dished out a game-best six helpers ... Heather Laughlin and Beckie Fischer each had 15 points for the visitors ... BGSU made 12 three-pointers and 11 two-point shots on the night ... Saturday (Feb. 19), in possibly their last home appearance, Kahle and Wappes combined for 31 points as the Falcons rallied to defeat Miami, 82-79 ... the co-captains, honored prior to the game as part of "senior day" festivities, shot a combined 11-for-18 from the field, making nine three-point shots between them, as the Falcons won back-to-back games for the first time all season ... Wappes had a career-high 17 points, including a career-best five three pointers ... she added five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals ... Kahle had 14 points and six rebounds, and made four treys of her own ... Miller had game highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds to go along with a team-best six assists ... the Redhawks hit the first three shots of the game, all from three-point range, to take a 9-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest ... the Falcons battled back to tie the game at 12-12 ... the Brown and Orange led for the final eight minutes of the half, taking a 41-37 edge into the intermission ... the second stanza featured three ties and 11 lead changes ... the Falcons led by four points after a Megan Jerome three-pointer with 5:46 remaining, but back-to-back triples by Valerie Jones gave the visitors a two-point edge ... neither team would lead by more than three points the rest of the way ... a Kahle trey with exactly four minutes left put BG on top by one, but Hollie Nelsen hit a trey at the 2:58 mark ... a Miller layup just 14 seconds later tied the game at 73-all, but Jones split a pair of free throws with 2:20 left ... another Miller layup gave BG the lead again, but another Nelsen trey made the score 77-75, MU, with 1:55 left ... that set the stage for two big plays by Wappes ... the senior hit a three-point shot at the 1:38 mark to give the hosts the lead for good ... then, after a defensive stop, Wappes drove the baseline with under a minute to play ... she was knocked from her feet, but managed to shovel a short pass to a waiting Smith under the basket ... Smith's layup gave BG an 80-77 edge with 47 seconds left ... MU's AuBree Hamilton made a pair of charity tosses with 21 seconds left, but Miller returned the favor with two successful free throws six seconds later. A pair of Miami three-point tries in the final seconds could not find the mark, and Kahle gathered in the final rebound as the horn sounded ... Miami hit 15 treys in the contest and shot .455 from long distance ... the Falcons, however, made 14 treys of their own.
NATIONAL LEADERS: The NCAA released the latest women's basketball statistics last Tuesday (Feb. 15), and the Falcons were listed in several categories ... as a team, the Falcons continued to lead the nation in three-pointers made per game, with 9.18, and BG was sixth in free-throw pct. (.761) ... individually, junior Angie Farmer was 10th in the nation in three-point field-goals per game, with a 2.9 average, while senior Jaymee Wappes was 19th in the country with 6.14 assists per game ... sophomore Francine Miller's three-point field-goal pct. of .446 was 25th in the country ... through the Miami game, Farmer is averaging exactly 3.0 treys, while Wappes is averaging 6.04 and Miller is shooting .461 from long range ... BGSU is now draining 9.50 triples per game and shooting .761 from the charity stripe ... the next NCAA stats are scheduled to be released late Tuesday (Feb. 22) or early Wednesday (Feb. 23).
NCAA SEASON RECORDS
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game
Team (year)_______________G__3FG___Avg.
BGSU ('99-2000)__________24__228___9.50
South Carolina ('93-94)__27__248___9.19
Cleveland St. ('95-96)___27__229___8.48
Kent ('93-94)____________28__234___8.36
Alabama ('91-92)_________30__248___8.27
THE MICROWAVE: BGSU junior Angie Farmer certainly seems to enjoy playing against Ohio ... last year, in the teams' lone meeting, she set a career high with 21 points, including a school record seven three-pointers ... a month ago, Farmer broke that career standard, with 24 points in a win in Athens ... in that game, she exploded for 21 second-half points ... Farmer scored 11 points in a 1:20 span, including three triples in 50 seconds ... Tuesday (Feb. 15), Farmer scored the first 11 points of the game, and had BG's first 14 markers en route to a 23-point night ... she made six treys for the second-straight game against OU ... in her last three games against the Bobcats, Farmer is averaging 22.7 points and 6.7 three-pointers per game ... she went 24-of-40 (.600) from the field in those games, and 20-of-32 (.625) from three-point land.
MICROWAVE II - MORE ON FARMER: In Tuesday's (Feb. 15) win over Ohio, Angie Farmer set the BGSU single-season records for three-pointers made and attempted in MAC games only ... the old seasonal records of 37 treys made and 89 attempted in conference contests were held by Sara Puthoff ... Farmer added to her BG seasonal records for all games as well ... after the Miami win, she now has made 72 triples in 168 attempts on the season, and is 43-for-102 in MAC play.
WEARY WAPPES: Senior point guard Jaymee Wappes leads the Falcons with an average of 35.6 minutes played per game ... over the last 17 contests, Wappes has played 643 of the 680 minutes, an average of 37.8 per game ... Wappes has played all 40 minutes six times during that stretch, including Saturday vs. Miami ... during that time, she has dished out 113 assists (6.6 apg) while committing 69 turnovers ... she also has had 149 points, an average of 8.8 per game ... in the 100th game of her Falcon tenure, Wappes had a career-high 16 points vs. Northern Illinois (Feb. 7) ... she topped that with 17 points, including five three-pointers, vs. Miami.
YOU MAY FIRE WHEN READY, MA'AM: With at least three games remaining in the 1999-2000 season, the Falcons have shattered the school seasonal records for three-point shots attempted and made ... the "old" records, set just last year, were 135 treys made in 400 attempts ... prior to the Dee Knoblauch Era, the BG school records were 97 triples made and 296 attempted, set by the 1994-95 squad ... this year, through 24 games, BGSU has attempted 607 treys, making 228 ... that is an average of 9.50 three-pointers made and 25.3 attempted per game ... those numbers project to 257 successful "threes" in 683 attempts over a 27-game schedule ... currently, the MAC record for successful "threes" in a season is 234, set by the 1993-94 teams at both Kent (28 games) and Toledo (32 games) ... the NCAA record for three-pointers in a season is 289, set by Colorado State (in 36 games) last year ... in MAC games this year, the Falcons have made 10.43 treys per contest, with 146 in 14 MAC outings.
THEY'RE FIRING AWAY, TOO: Believe it or not, opponents have hoisted a total of 613 shots from behind the arc, an average of 25.5 per game ... BG foes have made 222 treys this year ... the opponents have taken at least 15 three-point shots in all but two games (Kent tried just 13 in the first meeting, while Ohio shot 14 Tuesday), and have shot 20 or more treys 15 times ... the foes have taken 41 three-point attempts three times this year.
ANDER-RIFFIC!: In eight home conference games this season, the Falcons made an average of 11.75 three-point field goals per contest ... BGSU shot an eye-popping .461 from three-point range in those games, having made 94 treys in 204 attempts ... the Falcons made at least eight triples in each of those games, and made 67 in the last five home contests combined.
ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER RECORD: In the first Akron meeting (Jan. 26), BGSU set school single-game records for three-pointers made (16) and attempted (38) ... setting records is nothing new for this year's edition of the Brown and Orange ... in fact, BG's totals broke records that had been set just nine days earlier ... entering the season, the school record for three-point shots made in a game was 12 ... BG has hit double digits in that area 10 times this year ... BG's single-game record for three-pointers attempted was 29 heading into the 1999-2000 campaign ... the Falcons have surpassed that total seven times.
TRIPLE YOUR FUN: A number of current Falcons already are ranked among the BGSU career three-point leaders ... sophomore Francine Miller is ranked first on the all-time BGSU list for career three-point percentage, while junior Angie Farmer is fifth ... senior Jaymee Wappes is eighth on that list ... Farmer is third all-time with her 105 three-pointers made, while Miller is fourth with 75 ... Wappes and Sherry Kahle are close behind with 72 and 70, respectively ... Farmer is now third all-time with 245 three-point attempts ... on the single-season lists, Farmer owns the school records with 72 treys made and 168 attempts this season ... Miller has made 41 treys, good for fifth-most all-time, and is shooting .461 from long range this year ... that pct., if she can maintain it, would set a school seasonal record ... the lists follow.
BGSU THREE-POINT LISTS
CAREER3-PT. FG ATTEMPTS___________Att. 1-Sara Puthoff (1994-98)____453 2-Susie Cassell (1990-94)___274 3-ANGIE FARMER (1997- )_____245 4-SHERRY KAHLE (1996- )_____229 5-Jenny Kulics (1992-95)____228 6-JAYMEE WAPPES (1996- )____196 7-FRANCINE MILLER (1998- )__168SINGLE-SEASON3-PT. FG MADE_______________3's 1-Sara Puthoff (1994-98)____173 2-Susie Cassell (1990-94)___107 3-ANGIE FARMER (1997- )_____105 4-FRANCINE MILLER (1998- )___75 5-Jenny Kulics (1992-95)_____73 6-JAYMEE WAPPES (1996- )_____72 7-SHERRY KAHLE (1996- )______70
3-PT. FG PCT.*______________Pct. (3's-Att.) 1-FRAN. MILLER (1998- )_____.446 (75-168) 2-Cathy Koch (1988-92)______.435 (50-115) 3-ANGIE FARMER (1997- )_____.429 (105-245) 4-Susie Cassell (1990-94)___.391 (107-274) 5-Megan McGuire (1986-89)___.387 (24-62) 6-Sara Puthoff (1994-98)____.382 (173-453) 7-JAYMEE WAPPES (1996- )____.367 (72-196) * minimum 60 career attempts
3-PT. FG ATTEMPTS____________Att. 1-ANGIE FARMER (1999-2000)___168 2-Sara Puthoff (1995-96)_____137 3-Sara Puthoff (1994-95)_____124 4-SHERRY KAHLE (1999-2000)___114 5-Sara Puthoff (1997-98)_____113 6-Susie Cassell (1993-94)____111 7-Jenny Kulics (1994-95)_____105 8-Wanda Lyle (1990-91)________92 9-F. MILLER (1999-2000)_______893-PT. FG MADE________________3's 1-ANGIE FARMER (1999-2000)___72 2-Sara Puthoff (1994-95)_____53 3-Sara Puthoff (1995-96)_____51 4-Sara Puthoff (1997-98)_____45 5-F. MILLER (1999-2000)______41 6-Susie Cassell (1993-94)____40 7-Susie Cassell (1991-92)____34 Francine Miller (1998-99)__34 SHERRY KAHLE (1999-2000)___34 10-Wanda Lyle (1990-91)_______33
3-PT. FG PCT.%_______________Pct. (3's-Att.) 1-F. MILLER (1999-2000)______.461 (41-89) 2-Angie Farmer (1998-99)_____.439 (29-66) 3-Susie Cassell (1991-92)____.436 (34-78) 4-F. Miller (1998-99)________.430 (34-79) 5-A. FARMER (1999-2000)______.429 (72-168) 6-Sara Puthoff (1994-95)_____.427 (53-124) 7-Susie Cassell (1992-93)____.405 (32-79) 8-J. WAPPES (1999-2000)______.395 (32-81) % minimum 1.0 made per game
FALCON NOTES: Sophomore Francine Miller had a successful freshman campaign last winter, and has blossomed into a bonafide All-MAC candidate as a sophomore ... she tied the school record with 35 points in the second Kent meeting ... over the last 13 games, Miller has averaged 18.5 points per contest ... that average includes efforts of 29 points vs. Akron and 28 at Central Michigan ... Saturday marked the last home regular-season contest for senior co-captains Sherry Kahle and Jaymee Wappes ... in that game, against Miami, the Brown and Orange made 14 three-point field goals, hitting double digits for the fourth consecutive game and the 11th time this season ... the Falcons committed just nine turnovers in that game, and only one in the entire second half ... by contrast, the Falcons forced the RedHawks into 17 turnovers ... junior Jackie Adlington, playing in just her fourth game as a Falcon, came off the bench and grabbed a game-high four steals in 14 minutes of action ... the Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in each of the last 52 games, a school record ... the last time BGSU was held without a triple was on March 1, 1998, vs. Toledo ... the previous school record was 29-straight games on two occasions - most recently, in the 1993-94 (last five games) and 1994-95 (first 24 games) seasons ... Wappes is moving up the BGSU career assists list ... with four assists in the win over NIU (Feb. 7), Wappes moved into fourth place in school annals ... she now has 368 helpers in her career, and will end her career in fourth place ... Paulette Backstrom is in third place with 559 career assists ... Dee Knoblauch holds the school record, with 673 ... four of the NCAA's top five three-point totals of the season, and six of the top nine, have come in games involving Bowling Green.
FALCON QUICK FACTS
THIS WEEK BGSU at Akron Wednesday, February 23 * 7:00 p.m. James A. Rhodes Arena (5,942) * Akron, OhioBGSU at Buffalo Friday, February 25 * 8:00 p.m. Alumni Arena (8,500) * Buffalo, New York
LAST WEEK at BGSU 70, Ohio 65 Tue., Feb. 15 * Anderson Arena
at BGSU 82, Miami 79 Sat., Feb. 19 * Anderson Arena
1999-2000 BGSU RECORDS Overall: 8-16 Mid-American Conference: 6-8
HEAD COACH - Dee Knoblauch (BGSU, 1983) at BGSU: 21-30 (second season) Career: 203-149 (13th season)
BOWLING GREEN RECORDS All-Time: 420-266 (.612) (1973-present / 27th season) MAC: 219-96 (.695) (1981-present / 19th season)
MAC STANDINGS East Division Team (Overall)_________MAC Kent (20-5)___________13-1 Buffalo (17-8)_________7-7 Miami (13-11)__________7-7 Akron (11-14)__________7-7 Bowling Green (8-16)___6-8 Ohio (10-15)___________5-9 Marshall (8-18)_______2-13
West Division Western Mich. (16-9)__13-1 Toledo (11-12)_________8-5 Ball State (14-11)_____7-7 Central Mich. (9-16)___6-8 Eastern Mich. (12-13)__6-8 Northern Ill. (5-20)__4-10
