Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Prepare For Kent State
January 15, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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GAME #16 - BGSU AT KENT STATE
MON., JAN. 22, 2001 - M.A.C. CENTER
KENT, OHIO - 7:00 p.m.
BGSU PROBABLE STARTERS
F 31 Afra Smith 5-9 Sr. Madison, Wis. 9.1 ppg 3.3 rpg F 44 Dana Western 5-11 Jr. Whitestown, Ind. 8.7 ppg 5.7 rpg C 25 Kelly Kapferer 6-2 Fr. Jefferson, Ohio 4.3 ppg 3.4 rpg G 12 Lindsay Austin 5-7 Fr. Cincinnati, Ohio 6.9 ppg 3.9 apg G 22 Francine Miller 5-11 Jr. Kalida, Ohio 13.0 ppg 5.1 rpg
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, off to a 4-0 start in Mid-American Conference play for the first time in three years, will look to continue that success during a tough stretch of upcoming games. The Falcons (8-7 overall, 4-0 MAC), after being idle from competition for over a week, will play at defending league tournament champion Kent State University in a Monday (Jan. 22) contest. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at KSU's M.A.C. Center (6,327).
Following the KSU game, the Falcons will return home for less than 24 hours, before hitting the road for a Wednesday (Jan. 24) game at Northern Illinois University. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m . local time (8:05 p.m. Eastern) at NIU's Chick Evans Field House (6,044).
The KSU contest matches two of the three remaining MAC unbeatens. BGSU and Kent State are joined by Ball State with that distinction as of Mon., Jan. 15.
COACH DEE KNOBLAUCH: Falcon head coach Dee Knoblauch is in her third season at her alma mater, and has a record of 32-38. She has a record of 21-15 in MAC play. 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 14th season as a head coach, has an overall record of 214-157 (.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: BGSU sports a record of 8-7 on the season after opening the MAC campaign with four wins. The Falcons beat visiting Akron, 84-65 (Jan. 3) in the league opener, as sophomore Kim Griech had a career-high 18 points in that game. Then, the Brown and Orange had five players score in double digits in an 82-72 win at Ohio (Jan. 6).
The Falcons did that one better, as six players scored in double figures in a home win over Central Michigan, 82-63 (Jan. 9). Junior Francine Miller led the way with 19 points. Then, the Falcons bested visiting Toledo by a 63-58 count (Jan. 13), as Griech (16 points) and senior Angie Farmer (15) combined for 31 points off the bench.
BGSU has won eight consecutive MAC regular-season games, dating to last February.
Knoblauch has all 14 of her players back in uniform after playing five consecutive December contests without three starters. Two of those starters, Farmer and Miller, returned to active duty for the final December game, while the third, senior Jackie Adlington, saw brief action vs. CMU and returned to the team's rotation against Toledo.
Miller leads the team in scoring, with 13.0 points per game. Miller, an All-Mid-American Conference First-Team selection last year, has hit double digits in four of the five games since her return from injury.
Farmer is second on the team with 11.2 points per outing. Farmer had 16 points in just 14 minutes against UA, and added nine points at OU and 15 in each of the last two games.
Griech is third on the team with 9.4 points per game. Senior Afra Smith and junior Dana Western are fourth and fifth, respectively, with 9.1 and 8.7 points per contest.
Freshman Lindsay Austin is averaging 6.9 points, while redshirt frosh Pam Brown averages 6.0 markers.
The Falcons are 4-2 at Anderson Arena, 2-5 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site contests this year.
From long distance, several Falcons have posted impressive shooting percentages. Farmer is shooting .550 from behind the arc, having made 22 of her 40 three-point field-goal attempts. Griech is shooting .433 (29-of-67) from behind the arc, with a team-high 1.9 treys per game. Western is shooting .429 (21-of-49) from long distance, and sophomore Megan Jerome has made eight of her 15 three-point attempts (.533) on the year.
Overall, Smith is shooting .482 from the field after going 12-of-17 over the last three games. Farmer is second with a .475 field-goal percentage (29-of-61).
Western currently leads the team in rebounding (5.7 rpg), followed by Miller (5.1 rpg) and Brown (5.0 rpg). Austin leads the team with 3.9 assists and has 1.6 steals per game, while Miller has averaged 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals in her 10 games to date. Western averages 1.3 steals and paces the team with 19 blocks on the year (1.3 bpg).
BGSU is shooting .418 from the floor, while the opponents have a field-goal percentage of .415. The Falcons are sinking free throws at a .736 rate, while the opponents are shooting .722 from the stripe. BG is shooting .405 from three-point range and averaging 7.53 triples per game, while the foes have shot .299 from behind the arc.
In MAC games only, the Falcons are shooting .448 from three-point land, averaging 9.75 treys per game, and .794 from the charity stripe. BG leads the MAC in the first two categories.
BGSU finished the 1999-2000 season with an 11-17 overall record, and the Falcons ended MAC play with an 8-8 record after winning the last four games. The Brown and Orange saw a five-game winning streak come to an end with a loss to Western Michigan in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament.
SCOUTING KENT STATE: Kent State has an overall record of 9-5, and the Golden Flashes are tied with the Falcons at the top of the MAC's East Division with a 4-0 league ledger ... KSU will host Miami Wednesday (Jan. 17) and play at Toledo Saturday (Jan. 20) before hosting the Falcons ... the Flashes won at Buffalo, 68-60, Wednesday (Jan. 10), before shutting down visiting Akron by a 69-37 final Saturday (Jan. 13) ... Kent enters the Miami contest with a 37-game home winning streak, the second longest in the nation ... individually, senior center Julie Studer leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 16.4 points and 7.9 boards per game ... senior guard Carrie Nance averages 13.9 points and 4.8 assists, while senior forward Liz Beggs has 10.1 points and 7.8 caroms ... freshman forward Christi Shibata is fourth with 9.9 points, while classmate Lori Krezeczowski (6.1 ppg, 4.9 apg) rounds out a starting five that has remained intact through all 14 games this season ... last year, Kent won the MAC's East Division with a 15-1 record, and the Flashes finished 25-6 overall ... KSU won the MAC Tournament and advanced to NCAA Tournament action ... head coach Bob Lindsay has a record of 220-115 in his 12th year as a head coach, all at Kent.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with 11 of the 12 MAC opponents (BG and Buffalo are tied, 2-2), and BGSU holds a 31-20 advantage over Kent State ... the Falcons are 12-11 all-time in road games vs. the Golden Flashes, but KSU has won the last six games at the M.A.C. Center, including last year's 106-84 decision (Jan. 17, 2000) ... overall, Kent has captured the last five series meetings since BGSU's last win, 87-77, at Anderson Arena (Feb. 12, 1997).
LAST TIME OUT: Sophomore Kim Griech and senior Angie Farmer combined for 31 points off the bench to lead the Falcons to a 63-58 victory over arch-rival Toledo (Jan. 13) ... Griech had a team-high 16 points, while Farmer had 15 ... the two combined to made seven three-pointers in nine attempts as the BG bench outscored UT's subs, 33-13 ... BG led by as many as seven points in the first half, but the Rockets got the Falcon lead down to three points, 27-24, at halftime ... BG held the Rockets to a field-goal percentage of just .278 (8-for-29) in the half en route to a 20-of-55 performance (.364) on the day ... Toledo tied the game early in the second half, but Griech scored the next six points to give BGSU the lead for good ... she made six of her seven shots on the day and was 3-of-4 from long range ... Farmer was 4-of-5 from three-point land ... joining Griech and Farmer in double digits were senior Afra Smith and junior Francine Miller, with 10 points apiece ... Smith added a game-high six assists ... the Falcons held UT's top-two scorers, Kahli Carter and Courtney Risinger, to a combined 7-of-23 from the field ... for UT, Carter had 15 points, while Melantha Herron had 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds ... the Falcons shot .407 from the field on the day, and hit eight three-pointers in 18 attempts (.444) ... UT was just 2-of-16 (.125) from long range.
4-0 IN THE MAC: The Falcons are 4-0 in MAC play for the first time in three years ... the last team to win the first four conference games was the 1997-98 squad ... that team burst out to a 5-0 league start en route to a final MAC mark of 15-3 ... this year's team is averaging 9.75 three-point field goals and shooting .450 (109-of-242) overall, .448 (39-of-87) from long range and .794 (54-of-68) from the free-throw line over the first four MAC contests.
DOUBLE DIGITS: Freshman Kelly Kapferer scored a season-high 10 points in the win at Ohio (Jan. 6), and matched that total in the CMU game three days later ... Kapferer became the 11th different Falcon player to hit double figures in scoring on at least one occasion this year ... eight different players hit double digits in that category during all of last year.
DOUBLE DIGITS II: The Falcons had not had five players hit double digits in scoring in the same game in over a year (since the Hampton game of Dec. 30, 1999) before turning the trick in the Ohio game ... then, the Falcons had six double-digit scorers in the next game, against CMU ... that had not happened in nearly three years, since a Jan. 14, 1998, game at Kent.
THREE BALL, CORNER POCKET: In Mid-American Conference play last season, the Falcons averaged almost 10 three-point field goals made per game, with 159 successful triples in 16 games ... the Brown and Orange sank a season-high 12 against Akron, and added 10 at Ohio, nine vs. CMU and eight vs. Toledo ... that gives the team a total of 198 successful triples in the last 20 MAC regular-season contests (9.9 per game).
ANDER-RIFFIC! In eight home conference games last 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 ... this year, the Falcons have made 12 treys vs. Akron (Jan. 3), nine against CMU (Jan. 9) and eight vs. Toledo (Jan. 13) ... adding in the MAC Tournament first-round game vs. Ohio last February, BGSU is averaging 10.9 treys and shooting .446 (131-of-294) over the last 12 home games vs. MAC teams ... the Falcons have made at least eight triples in every one of those games.
ADLINGTON IS BACK: Senior Jackie Adlington suited up for the Central Michigan game (Jan. 9), marking the first time since the season opener that she was in uniform ... Adlington, who had not played since breaking her foot vs. Youngstown State (Nov. 18), had a blocked shot in one minute of action vs. Central ... she played 13 minutes in the Toledo game (Jan. 13), scoring two points and setting a BGSU best with seven rebounds.
KAPFERER KONNECTS: Freshman Kelly Kapferer made five of her six shots from the field en route to a season-high 10 points in the win at Ohio (Jan. 6) ... for her efforts, she was rewarded with her first collegiate start vs. CMU ... in that game, Kapferer again scored 10 points, going 5-of-8 from the floor ... she started vs. UT and had four points ... Kapferer is shooting .571 (12-of-21) over the last three games, after shooting 12-of-31 (.387) during the first 12 contests of the year.
FALCONS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: The Falcons were listed in several team categories when the NCAA released the latest national statistics ... as a team, BGSU was ranked ninth in the nation in three-point field goals per game, with an average of 7.38 ... the Falcons were 14th in the country in three-point field-goal percentage, at .403 through games of Jan. 8 ... after last week's two wins, the Falcons are now shooting .405 from three-point range and averaging 7.53 treys per contest.
SMART, VERY SMART: The grades have been announced for the fall, 2000, semester, and the BGSU women's basketball team has had a great deal of success in the classroom ... as a team, the Falcons have a grade-point average of 3.13 through the fall semester ... eight of the team's 14 players have a cumulative GPA of 3.28 or better, led by sophomore Megan Jerome at a perfect 4.00 through her first three semesters at the University ... senior Angie Farmer has a 3.78 GPA.
SMART, VERY SMART II (OR, "FOUR-POINT GUARDS"): The Falcons' four true freshmen seem to have successfully made the transition to college life ... in addition to receiving regular playing time on the court, all four had a GPA of 3.45 or better during their first semester on campus ... point guards Lindsay Austin and Emily Pohl each had a perfect 4.00 GPA in the fall, while Stefanie Wenzel had a GPA of 3.76 ... Kelly Kapferer had a 3.45 GPA in the fall ... on the hardwood, Austin, Kapferer and Pohl all have played in every game this year, while Wenzel has seen action in 11 of the 14 contests.
FARMER'S FREE THROWS: Senior Angie Farmer entered the season with a career free-throw percentage of .813, and has done nothing to hurt that stat this year ... this season, she has missed just one free throw in 33 attempts, for a .970 success rate ... she has gone a perfect 21-of-21 in the four MAC games, including sinking all 10 charity tosses in the win over Akron ... Farmer enters the KSU game having made her last 21 free throws.
BENCH PROVIDES A LIFT: Not surprisingly, BGSU's injury woes in December seem to have translated into greater experience and depth in January ... the Falcons got tremendous production from the bench players in the win at Ohio (Jan. 6), outscoring the Bobcats by a 41-14 margin ... the BG bench players outpointed their Toledo counterparts, 33-13 (Jan. 13) ... over the last four games, the Falcons have gotten 148 points from the bench players to the opponents' 92.
FARMER, GRIECH HEAT UP: Senior Angie Farmer and sophomore Kim Griech have scored a lot of points in very little time in recent games ... the two combined for 34 points in 34 minutes vs. Akron (Jan. 3) ... Griech came off the bench for a career-high 18 points in 20 minutes ... Farmer had 16 points in 14 minutes ... against Toledo, the two came off the bench for a total of 31 points in 38 minutes ... Griech had 16 points in 20 minutes, while Farmer had 15 markers in 18 minutes ... they went a collective 7-of-9 from three-point range against UT.
"THE MICROWAVE": With apologies to former Detroit Piston Vinnie Johnson for use of his nickname, Falcon senior Angie Farmer has heated up in the last few weeks ... after missing five contests due to injury, Farmer has scored 61 points in 76 minutes off the bench over the last five contests ... she is averaging 32.1 points per 40 minutes during that time.
60 ON "D" IS KEY: Not surprisingly, BGSU has been quite successful when limiting the opposition to 60 points or less over the years ... the Falcons held Toledo to 58 points in the Jan. 13 win, the second time BG had kept the opponent under 60 markers this season ... the Falcons have won 21 consecutive games when holding the opposition under 60 points ... since 1991-92, the Brown and Orange is 45-3 when holding foes to 60 points or less.
SEE, KIDS, THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE...: The Falcons' win over Toledo broke a four-game losing streak to the Rockets ... BG had not beaten UT since Jan. 31, 1998 ... senior Angie Farmer is the only member of the Falcons (player or coach) who was on the team for that win three years ago.
DEFENSE! BGSU did not hold an opponent to less than 73 points in any game over the first nine contests ... since then, however, the Falcons have kept foes under that mark in every contest ... the Falcons have allowed an average of just 63.0 points over those six games, after surrendering 88.3 per game in the first nine.
MORE DEFENSE: BGSU has held the opponents to a field-goal percentage of .400 or less on six occasions this season, including in four of the last six games ... over that six-game span, the opponents are shooting just .376 (136-for-362) after making shots at a .437 rate over the first nine games.
INJURY REPORT: Of the many facts and figures contained in this set of game notes, the following sentence is most likely to bring a smile to head coach Dee Knoblauch's face ... all 14 players on the Falcon roster are relatively injury-free (other than the usual bumps and bruises) ... Knoblauch's team played five December games without three starters -- seniors Jackie Adlington and Angie Farmer and junior Francine Miller -- but all three have returned to active duty.
TAKING BETTER CARE OF THE BALL: BGSU had as many or more turnovers as the opponent in each of the first 11 games this season ... over the last four contests, though, the Falcons have had fewer turnovers than the opposition three times ... during the four-game stretch, which coincided with the beginning of MAC play, the Falcons are averaging 18.25 turnovers to the opponents' 20.00.
BLOCK PARTY: By the 12th game of the season, the Falcons had surpassed the blocked-shots total for all of last season ... after posting a total of 39 blocks (1.39 per game) last winter, the Falcons now have blocked 49 shots this season ... BG is averaging 3.27 rejections per contest this season.
BLOCK PARTY II: Junior Dana Western entered the season with a career total of eight blocked shots ... through 15 games this year, she already has a total of 19 rejections to her credit.
WHO'S STARTING NOW? Last year, only seven different players started at least one game ... this year, a total of 10 different players have made at least one start .. only two players, freshman Lindsay Austin and senior Afra Smith, have started all 15 games this year ... coach Dee Knoblauch has utilized six different starting lineups this season ... she used only three different combinations during all of last season, and used the same lineup for the last 19 games of 1999-2000.
71 GAMES AND COUNTING: The Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in every game during the Dee Knoblauch Era ... in fact, BGSU has drained a triple in each of the last 71 games, a school record ... the last time the Falcons were held without a trey was on March 1, 1998 ... 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.
EVERYONE'S A THREAT: Redshirt freshman Pam Brown hit a three-pointer in the Detroit contest, the Falcons' fifth game of the year ... Brown became the 10th different Falcon to hit a trey this season ... 10 different players hit a "three" last year, as well as in 1998-99 ... prior to the Dee Knoblauch Era, the most players to hit a trey in the same season was seven.
STILL SHOOTING (AND MAKING) THE "THREE": The three-point shot is a staple of a Dee Knoblauch-coached team ... last winter, the Brown and Orange set a new NCAA Division I record for three-point field goals made per game ... BGSU sank 259 treys in 28 contests, for an average of 9.25 per game ... through 15 games this season, the Falcons are averaging 7.53 three-pointers made per contest ... Bowling Green has made at least five treys in every game but one this season.
FREE-THROW SUCCESS, TOO: Nearly lost in all the three-point hoopla last season was the fact that the 1999-2000 Falcons also led the nation in free-throw percentage ... BGSU converted charity tosses at a school-record .773 rate, making 340 free throws in 440 attempts ... this season, the Falcons are sinking free throws at a .736 clip ... BGSU shot .769 or better from the line in each of the first five games this year, shooting .803 (106-of-132) during that time ... then, with two of the team's top shooters injured (Angie Farmer and Francine Miller), the Brown and Orange shot just .571 (44-of-77) over the next six contests ... bolstered by a 10-for-10 effort from Farmer, the Falcons shot .818 (18-of-22) vs. Akron (Jan. 3) ... BG did even better at Ohio (Jan. 6), going 14-of-15 (.933) ... the Falcons have shot .794 (54-of-68) from the free-throw line over the last four games.
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME: In the first 12 seasons after the three-point shot was adopted (1986-87 to 1997-98), Bowling Green teams made a total of 666 three-pointers in 1,890 attempts ... over the last two-plus years, BGSU's totals are over 75 percent of the totals during those first 12 years ... through the Toledo game, Knoblauch's teams have made 507 treys in 1,389 tries since she became head coach of her alma mater.
TRIPLE YOUR FUN: Four current Falcons are ranked among the BGSU career three-point leaders ... senior Angie Farmer has moved into first place on the all-time school list for career three-point percentage (.439, 133-of-303), while junior Francine Miller is third (.407, 90-of-221) ... sophomore Kim Griech is now fourth on that list (.399, 55-of-138), while junior Dana Western is in eighth place (.366, 45-of-123) ... Farmer is second all-time in three-pointers made, while Miller is fourth ... Griech is eighth and Western 10th on that list ... Farmer is second in three-point attempts, while Miller is sixth ... Griech is tied for eighth, while Western is 11th.
RADIO: WBGU Radio (88.1 FM), one of the campus stations, is scheduled to broadcast a total of 13 BGSU women's basketball contests this year ... the remaining schedule follows:
Jan. 22 at Kent State Feb. 3 Kent State Feb. 7 Ohio Feb. 10 at Akron Feb. 12 at Miami Feb. 17 Marshall Feb. 21 at Eastern Michigan Feb. 28 Miami
MAC TOURNEY TICKETS ON SALE JAN. 29: The 2001 MAC Women's Basketball Tournament returns to Cleveland for a second consecutive year, but will have a new location and title sponsor ... the tournament, sponsored by Kraft, will be held at Gund Arena, with quarterfinal action scheduled for Tuesday, March 6, and the semifinals and championship slated for that Friday and Saturday (March 9-10), respectively ... five first-round games are slated for Saturday, March 3, at campus sites ... the two division winners and the team with the next best overall record and winning percentage will receive byes into the quarterfinals ... individual game tickets for action at Gund Arena will go on sale Jan. 29 ... general admission tickets for adults will be $10, while student general admission seating is $5.
