Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Hoops To Play Two In Florida Dec. 27-28
December 19, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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GAMES #10 & #11
BGSU AT GATORADE HOLIDAY CLASSIC
THU.-FRI., DEC. 27-28, 2001
KNIGHT SPORTS COMPLEX
CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA
BGSU - LEHIGH - MIAMI - YALE
THE GAME(S): The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after taking some time off for exams and the holidays, heads to Florida for a pair of games ... the Falcons of first-year head coach Curt Miller will end the non-conference portion of the schedule by participating in the Gatorade Holiday Classic ... Miami (Fla.) will host the tournament, which runs from Dec. 27-28 ... BGSU will take on Yale University in the first round (Dec. 27), in a 5:00 p.m. start ... then, the Falcons will face either Lehigh University or the host Hurricanes on the second day ... all games will be played at the Knight Sports Complex (1,200) in Coral Gables, Fla.
Following the tournament, the Brown and Orange will return home to begin the Mid-American Conference schedule ... the Falcons will face defending East Division champion Kent State in a Jan. 2, 2002, game ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (5,000).
GATORADE HOLIDAY CLASSIC SCHEDULE Thursday, December 27: Bowling Green vs. Yale, 5:00 Lehigh at Miami, 7:00Friday, December 28: Consolation, 5:00 Championship, 7:00
ABOUT THE FALCONS: BGSU has an overall record of 2-7 on the season, and the Falcons are looking to snap a three-game losing streak ... in the most recent game (Dec. 15), the Falcons fell to visiting Wright State by an 83-76 result ... BGSU had opened the season with a win at 71-61 win at Youngstown State (Nov. 17), but lost the next four games ... the Brown and Orange faced Detroit, Colorado, Yale and Eastern Kentucky during that stretch ... BG returned to the win column with a 73-57 victory over visiting IPFW (Nov. 29), but the Falcons then fell to Butler (78-73 in OT, Dec. 4) and UW-Milwaukee (77-52, Dec. 8) before the Wright State tilt.
Individually, senior Francine Miller scored 26 points in the season-opening win at YSU, but suffered a knee injury early in the UDM game ... she played just four minutes in that game, and has not played since, due to a knee injury ... she had surgery on Dec. 8 to remove loose cartilage from her kneecap ... Miller is questionable for the games in Florida ... she should be able to return to game action for the Falcons' MAC opener ... Miller has 13.0 points per contest.
Junior Kim Griech has 10.4 points per contest, and she leads the team with 12 three-point field goals on the year ... sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin is averaging 9.7 points, and leads the team in both assists (4.4 apg) and steals (2.6 spg) ... she is second on the squad with 4.4 rebounds ... another sophomore, Stefanie Wenzel, is averaging 8.6 points per game ... Wenzel leads the Falcons in free throws made (26) and FT pct. (.839) ... soph Kelly Kapferer is averaging 8.3 points and has a team-leading field-goal percentage of .492 (29-of-59), while senior Dana Western-Schuka averages 5.8 points, a team-best 5.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown has 7.0 points and a team-best 6.8 rebounds ... Brown has missed the last five contests with a knee injury (torn lateral meniscus) ... Brown had successful surgery on Dec. 6 ... as is the case with Francine Miller, it is hoped that Brown will return for BGSU's MAC-opening contest on Jan. 2.
A total of 10 different players have started at least one game this season ... Griech and Western-Schuka each have been in the starting lineup for all nine games to date, while Austin has made eight starts.
BG finished the 2000-01 season with a record of 11-18, and the Falcons completed Mid-American Conference play with a league ledger of 6-10 ... BGSU ended conference play in fourth place in the MAC's East Division ... the Falcons posted a 78-75 win at Western Michigan in the first round of the 2001 Kraft MAC Tournament, before losing to Toledo in the quarterfinal round ... a total of 11 letterwinners returned from that squad.
BGSU is shooting .346 from the field, while opponents are shooting .404 through the first nine games ... the Falcons have made 47 three-point field goals and are shooting .263 from beyond the arc, while the foes have 52 treys and a .329 pct. ... BGSU has a free-throw pct. of .735 to the opponents' .715... the Falcons have been outrebounded by a 48.0 to 39.6 margin in the first nine contests.
BG is 1-3 at home, 1-3 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site contests in 2001-02 ... the Falcons went 6-5 at Anderson Arena last year ... BGSU was 3-12 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site affairs ... in MAC play, the Brown and Orange went 5-3 at home and 1-7 on the road last year.
SCOUTING YALE: Yale brings a record of 5-3 into the Gatorade Holiday Classic, and the Bulldogs will be looking to extend a two-game winning streak ... Yale will have been idle for two-and-a-half weeks, since a Dec. 11 win over Albany, 80-61 ... after an 0-2 start to the season, Yale has won five of the last six contests ... the team's first win of the year was over BGSU, with other victories coming against Central Connecticut, Hartford and Lafayette ... individually, freshman forward Lindsay Page leads the Bulldogs with 12.2 points per game ... Page set the school record with 35 points vs. Albany ... she also has 6.4 rebounds per contest ... junior forward Helene Schutrumpf has 9.9 points and a team-high 2.4 steals per contest, while sophomore forward Christina Phillips has 6.9 points ... sophomore guard Brynn Gingras has 6.4 points and a team-high 3.1 assists per game ... senior forward Meg Simpson leads Yale with 9.2 rebounds, and has 6.1 points per game ... Gingras, Phillips and Schutrumpf each have started all eight games, while Simpson has made seven starts and senior guard Caitlin Bair (6.0 ppg) six ... last year, the Bulldogs went 9-18 overall and 4-10 in Ivy League play ... head coach Amy Backus welcomed 11 letterwinners, including four starters, back from that squad ... Backus has a record of 25-37 in her third year at the school ... she is 185-134 in her 15th season overall ... the school's athletic web site is www.yale.edu/athletic.
YOU LOOK FAMILIAR...: The Falcons' meeting with Yale on Dec. 27 marks the second contest- both at neutral sites - between BGSU and the Bulldogs in the 2001-02 season ... the teams faced off in Boulder, Colo., on Nov. 24, in the consolation game of the Coors Classic.
SCOUTING LEHIGH: Lehigh has a 4-4 record heading into a Dec. 20 game vs. visiting Virginia Commonwealth ... the Mountain Hawks lost to UMBC, 71-57, on Dec. 8, snapping a two-game winning streak ... the team has wins over Sacred Heart, Elon, Columbia and Binghamton this year ... individually, junior F/C Anne Tierney leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 15.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game ... sophomore forward Jana Ransom and junior guard Cat Nicholson also have double-digit scoring averages, with 12.1 and 10.6 points, respectively ... sophomore guard Carli Toliver has 8.9 points per outing ... junior guard Billi Ford (3.0 ppg), like the aforementioned four players, has started every game this season ... a year ago, the Mountain Hawks went 16-14 overall and finished third in the Patriot League with a 7-5 conference record ... head coach Sue Troyan has nine returning letterwinners, including three starters, from that team ... Troyan has a record of 88-91 in her seventh season as a head coach, all at Lehigh ... the school's athletic web site is www.lehigh.edu/sports.
SCOUTING MIAMI: Miami will enter tournament play with a 6-2 record, and the Hurricanes are riding a three-game winning streak ... that streak includes a 57-55 win over then 17th-ranked Texas (Dec. 9) ... UM has a 4-0 record at home, with wins over Iona, Northwestern, IUPUI and West Virginia ... the 'Canes have a road win over Florida Atlantic, and the team's two losses have come on the road vs. South Florida and Kentucky ... junior guard Meghan Saake has a team-high 12.8 points per game, and also has 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a team-best 2.6 steals ... sophomore forward Chanivia Broussard averages 11.3 points and a team-best 2.2 blocked shots, while senior guard Sheila James has 11.0 points ... junior forward Alicia Hartlaub has 9.1 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds, while sophomore guard Hutashi Wilson has 8.8 points and paces the team with 3.8 assists ... Saake, Hartlaub and Wilson each have started all eight contests, while sophomore forward Shaquana Wilkins (7.5 ppg) has made seven starts ... last season's team went 13-15 overall and tied for eighth place in the Big East with a 6-10 conference record ... head coach Ferne Labati has nine letterwinners, including four starters, back from that group ... Labati is 237-149 in her 14th year with the Hurricanes ... she has an overall mark of 373-271 in her 23rd season ... the school's athletic web site is www.hurricanesports.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons trail Yale, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Dec. 27 meeting will be the teams' second ever, and the second in just over a month ... Yale posted an 81-69 win on Nov. 24 in the consolation contest of the Coors Classic in Boulder, Colo. ... the Falcons have never met either Lehigh or Miami in women's basketball.
FALCONS IN FLORIDA: The Gatorade Holiday Classic marks the Falcons' second-ever trip to the state of Florida ... BGSU participated in the UCF Turkey Shootout in Orlando during the 1997-98 season ... the Falcons went 2-1 in that eight-team tournament (Nov. 28-30, 1997) ... BGSU beat both Butler and Buffalo, but in between, the Falcons lost a second-round game to eventual tourney champion Syracuse, 71-67 ... that SU squad featured an assistant coach named Curt Miller.
LAST TIME OUT: Visiting Wright State came back from a double-digit deficit to record an 83-76 victory over the Falcons (Dec. 15) ... freshman Tiffany Webb scored a season-high 33 points for WSU, while sophomore Stefanie Wenzel led the Falcons with a career-high 25 points ... BGSU took a 13-0 lead with less than three minutes gone ... BG led by a 21-4 margin before WSU got its first field goal of the afternoon at the 14:12 mark ... but, WSU ended the half by outscoring the Falcons, 38-15, the rest of the way until intermission ... BG trailed by as many as 10 points, but rallied for a 65-64 lead with 8:21 remaining ... that would be BGSU's only lead of the half, however ... the Falcons outrebounded the Raiders by a 48-45 margin, and BGSU had 16 turnovers while forcing the visitors into 23 ... but, the Falcons shot just .284 (21-of-74) on the day, while WSU's .434 FG pct. included a 14-of-26 effort (.538) in the second half ... the Raiders were 31-of-35 at the free-throw line on the day, for a .886 conversion rate ... BGSU made 25 free throws in 36 attempts (.694) ... in addition to Wenzel, junior Kim Griech hit double digits in scoring with 11 points, all coming in the second half.
INJURY REPORT: Senior Francine Miller (knee) left the Detroit game (Nov. 20) after just four minutes, and did not see action the remainder of the night ... she has not played since that time ... Miller had surgery on Dec. 8 to remove loose cartilage from her kneecap ... she is expected to be available for BGSU's MAC opener on Jan. 2.
Another Falcon starter, redshirt sophomore Pam Brown, has missed the last five contests with a knee injury (torn lateral meniscus) ... Brown had successful surgery on Dec. 6, and - like Miller - is expected to be back for the conference-opening contest.
Last year, the Falcons missed a total of 41 player-games due to injury or illness ... a total of seven players, including four who were or would have been starters, were sidelined at one point or another ... all three of last year's seniors - Jackie Adlington, Angie Farmer and Afra Smith - missed at least one game ... Miller missed all of six games and part of several others ... she had a meniscus injury that bothered her for much of the year ... Megan Jerome was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her back last Feb. 2, and missed the remainder of the season.
WENZEL HAS CAREER DAY, AGAIN: Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel had a career-high 25 points in the Wright State game (Dec. 15) ... that marked the second time in the last four contests that she set a career scoring mark ... Wenzel had scored 23 points in the IPFW contest on Nov. 29 ... in the WSU contest, she set new standards for field goals attempted (17), three-point field goals made (three) and attempted (eight), steals (three) and minutes played (33) ... Wenzel made her first collegiate start in that WSU contest.
HOME COOKING FOR WENZEL: Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel has had solid efforts in each of the Falcons' last three home games ... she entered the IPFW contest (Nov. 29) with a total of 48 career points in 21 games at BG ... in the last three home games, Wenzel has totalled 63 points (21.0 per game) ... she has 65 points in the last four games overall ... in those four games, Wenzel has had the first three double-digit scoring efforts of her career, including the two 20-point outings.
ONE MORE NOTE ABOUT WENZEL: To say that sophomore Stefanie Wenzel had a breakout game vs. IPFW (Nov. 29) would be a tremendous understatement ... Wenzel came off the bench to score a career-high 23 points in that Falcon win ... she more than tripled her previous career-best scoring effort (seven points) ... a native of Sussex, Wis., Wenzel also shattered her then-career bests in a mere eight additional categories - rebounds (eight), field goals made (six) and attempted (13), free throws made (nine) and attempted (nine), assists (two), three-point field goals made (two) and minutes (28) ... she has matched or bettered a number of those marks in the subsequent games.
STOCZ STRIKES: Junior Karen Stocz has set a number of career best totals over the last few games ... Stocz celebrated her 21st birthday on Dec. 8 ... on that date, the junior hit the first three-point field goal of her career, and set a career best with two blocked shots vs. UWM ... she tied her career best with three steals, and also had four rebounds in the contest ... Stocz played 17 minutes, just three shy of her then-career standard ... in BG's next game, against Wright State, she played a career-high 21 minutes and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds.
STOCZ II: Junior Karen Stocz entered the season with a career scoring average of 1.7 points per game ... and, she scored a total of just two points in the Falcons' first three games this year ... over the last six games, however, she has scored a total of 38 points, for an average of 6.3 points over that span.
94 GAMES AND COUNTING: The Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in every game during the past three-plus years ... in fact, BGSU has drained a triple in each of the last 94 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: A total of 11 different Falcons made at least one three-point field goal last season ... 10 of those players had drained a "three" by the fifth game of the season ... this year, that trend is continuing, as 11 different players have hit at least one trey to date ... junior Karen Stocz hit the first trey of her career vs. UWM (Dec. 8), four days after freshman Tene Lewis made her first collegiate trey at Butler (Dec. 4) ... also at Butler, junior Megan Jerome hit her first two triples of the year ... a total of 10 different players hit a trey in 1999-2000, as well as in 1998-99 ... prior to that time, the most players to hit a trey in the same season was seven.
DOUBLE DIGITS: Freshman Tene Lewis and junior Megan Jerome each had 10 points in the game at Butler (Dec. 4) ... Lewis and Jerome became the ninth and 10th different Falcon players to hit double figures in scoring on at least one occasion this year ... a total of 12 different players hit double digits in that category during all of last season, after eight players did so in 1999-2000.
GO WEST: The 2001-02 season marks the final campaign for the Falcons as a member of the MAC's East Division ... in October, the MAC welcomed the University of Central Florida as a member for the sport of football only, beginning in 2002 ... the league placed UCF in the East Division ... BGSU is being moved to the West Division for all sports, beginning in the 2002-03 academic year.
TRIPLE YOUR FUN: Several 2001-02 Falcon team members are ranked among the BGSU career three-point leaders ... senior Francine Miller is third on the all-time school list for career three-point percentage (.421, 122-of-290) ... junior Kim Griech is in eighth place (.354, 84-of-237) on that list, while senior Dana Western-Schuka is ninth (.352, 62-of-176) ... Miller is third all-time in three-pointers made, while Griech has moved into fifth ... Western-Schuka is ninth on that list ... Miller is third in three-point attempts, with Griech sixth and Western-Schuka ninth.
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 three years (plus nine games), BGSU's totals are over 96 percent of the totals during those first 12 years ... during that time, Falcon teams have made 643 treys in 1,826 tries.
