Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Off To Northern Illinois
January 23, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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GAME #17 - BGSU AT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
WED., JANUARY 24, 2001 - EVANS FIELD HOUSE
DeKALB, ILLINOIS * 7:05 P.M. CT
BGSU PROBABLE STARTERS
F 22 Francine Miller 5-11 Jr. Kalida, Ohio 12.0 ppg 4.7 rpg F 31 Afra Smith 5-9 Sr. Madison, Wis. 8.8 ppg 3.1 rpg C 25 Kelly Kapferer 6-2 Fr. Jefferson, Ohio 4.2 ppg 3.3 rpg G 12 Lindsay Austin 5-7 Fr. Cincinnati, Ohio 6.7 ppg 3.8 apg G 20 Kim Griech 5-7 So. Tallmadge, Ohio 9.0 ppg 1.9 rpg
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after falling from the ranks of the Mid-American Conference unbeaten, will look to bounce back. The Falcons (8-8 overall, 4-1 MAC), in the midst of a tough six-game stretch, will play at Northern Illinois University in a Wednesday (Jan. 24) contest. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. locally (8:05 p.m. Eastern) at NIU's Chick Evans Field House (6,044).
Following the NIU game, the Falcons will return home for a Saturday (Jan. 27) game against the University at Buffalo. That game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (5,000).
COACH DEE KNOBLAUCH: Falcon head coach Dee Knoblauch is in her third season at her alma mater, and has a record of 32-39. She has a 21-16 ledger 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 214-158 (.575). 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 8-8 on the season, and the Falcons are 4-1 in MAC play. 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 travelled to Kent State Monday (Jan. 22) and suffered a 92-55 defeat. That loss broke the Falcons' eight-game MAC regular-season win streak which dated 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 12.0 points per game. Miller, an All-Mid-American Conference First-Team selection last year, has hit double digits in four of the six games since her return from injury.
Farmer is second on the team with 10.7 points per outing, and leads the Falcons with a 12.2 average in MAC games.
Griech is third on the team with 9.0 points per game. Senior Afra Smith and junior Dana Western are fourth and fifth, respectively, with 8.8 and 8.4 points per contest.
Freshman Lindsay Austin is averaging 6.7 points, while redshirt frosh Pam Brown averages 6.6 markers.
The Falcons are 4-2 at Anderson Arena, 2-6 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 .511 from behind the arc, having made 23 of her 45 three-point field-goal attempts. Griech is shooting .441 (30-of-68) from behind the arc, with a team-high 2.0 treys per game. Western is shooting .420 (21-of-50) from long distance, and sophomore Megan Jerome has made eight of her 15 three-point attempts (.533) on the year.
Overall, Smith is shooting .462 from the field, while freshman Kelly Kapferer is second with a .455 field-goal percentage (25-of-55).
Western currently leads the team in rebounding (5.6 rpg), followed by Brown (5.1 rpg) and Miller (4.7 rpg). Austin leads the team with 3.8 assists and has 1.6 steals per game, while Miller has averaged 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals in her 11 games to date. Western averages 1.4 steals and paces the team with 20 blocks on the year (1.3 bpg).
BGSU is shooting .410 from the floor, while the opponents have a field-goal percentage of .422. The Falcons are sinking free throws at a .734 rate, while the opponents are shooting .712 from the stripe. BG is shooting .396 from three-point range and averaging 7.25 triples per game, while the foes have shot .299 from behind the arc.
In MAC games only, the Falcons are shooting .416 from three-point land, averaging 8.40 treys per game, and .773 from the charity stripe. BG leads the MAC in the latter category.
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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS: Northern Illinois has an overall record of 7-11, and the Huskies have a 3-2 MAC mark after a Saturday (Jan. 20) home win over Miami, 63-50 ... NIU also has a road win against Eastern Michigan to its credit this year ... the win over Miami snapped a two-game losing streak ... the Huskies are 4-4 at home this season, and have won both MAC contests at Evans Field House ... individually, sophomore guard Kristen Knake leads the team with 11.5 points per game ... she also paces the squad in assists, with a 2.8 average ... senior center Michelle Johnson is second with 10.5 points per contest, and leads the team with 22 blocked shots ... freshman forward Lindsay Secrest averages 10.1 points and a team-high 2.4 steals per game ... a pair of freshman forwards, Jennifer Youngblood (9.7 ppg) and Monique Davis (1.7 ppg), join Johnson, Knake and Secrest in the probable starting five ... the Huskies are one of just seven teams in the nation that have either a freshman or sophomore leading the team in scoring, rebounding, steals and assists ... last year, NIU went 6-22 overall and 5-11 in league action ... head coach Carol Hammerle is 23-49 in her third season in DeKalb ... she is 479-275 in her 29th season overall.
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 9-7 advantage over Northern Illinois ... the Falcons are just 2-5 all-time in road games vs. the Huskies, and host NIU won the last game in DeKalb, 64-61, on a buzzer-beater by Charbea Haller (Feb. 23, 1999) ... the Falcons won last year's only meeting, 86-50, at Anderson Arena (Feb. 7, 2000).
LAST TIME OUT: Six Kent State players scored in double digits as the Golden Flashes posted a 92-55 victory over the Falcons Monday (Jan. 22) ... BGSU shot just .281 in the first half to fall behind by 17 points, 44-27, at the break ... the Flashes scored the first eight points of the second stanza, sparking a 32-6 run that gave the hosts a 76-33 lead midway through that half ... KSU won for the 39th consecutive time at home, tying the team with Texas Tech for the longest current streak in the nation ... Andrea Csaszar and Carrie Nance each had 15 points for the Flashes, while three teammates had 14 points apiece ... redshirt freshman Pam Brown was the lone Falcon in double digits, with 15 points on the night ... no other BG player had more than six points ... KSU went to the free-throw line 43 times on the night, making 27 ... from the field, the Flashes shot .554 for the game to the Falcons' .302.
NO LONGER UNBEATEN: The Falcons won the first four MAC games 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 averaged 9.75 three-point field goals and shot .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 ... the Falcons were held to a .302 field-goal percentage, a .700 free-throw rate and a 3-of-14 (.214) performance from three-point land at Kent State.
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 ... BG has made a total of 201 successful triples in the last 21 MAC regular-season contests (9.6 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 ... she had three points and again led the team with seven boards at Kent State.
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 .542 (13-of-24) over the last four 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 and individual categories when the NCAA released the latest national statistics ... as a team, BGSU was ranked seventh in the nation in three-point field goals per game, with an average of 7.53 ... the Falcons were 11th in the country in three-point field-goal percentage, at .405, through games of Jan. 15 ... individually, sophomore Kim Griech is tied for 25th in the country with a three-point field-goal pct. of .433 ... after the KSU game, the Falcons are now shooting treys at a .396 rate and making 7.25 per game, while Griech has improved her long-range rate to .441.
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 12 of the 16 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 two free throws in 37 attempts, for a .946 success rate ... she made her first 22 free-throw attempts of the MAC campaign, including sinking all 10 charity tosses in the win over Akron ... Farmer enters the NIU game with a .960 conversion rate (24-of-25) in league play.
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 five games, the Falcons have gotten 188 points from the bench players to the opponents' 125.
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 scored 61 points in 76 minutes off the bench over the next five contests ... she averaged 32.1 points per 40 minutes during that time ... Farmer was held to six points in 23 minutes at KSU.
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.
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 50 shots this season ... BG is averaging 3.13 rejections per contest this season.
BLOCK PARTY II: Junior Dana Western entered the season with a career total of eight blocked shots ... through 16 games this year, she already has a total of 20 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 16 games this year ... coach Dee Knoblauch has utilized seven 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.
72 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 72 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 16 games this season, the Falcons are averaging 7.25 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 .734 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 .773 (68-of-88) from the free-throw line over the last five games.
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 (.435, 134-of-308), while junior Francine Miller is third (.405, 90-of-222) ... sophomore Kim Griech is now fourth on that list (.403, 56-of-139), while junior Dana Western is in ninth place (.363, 45-of-124) ... 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 eighth, while Western is now tied for 10th.
CAPTAIN'S LOG: BGSU seniors Angie Farmer and Afra Smith are the team captains for the 2000-2001 season.
