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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Buffalo Saturday
January 11, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BGSU (3-11, 0-3)
VS.
BUFFALO (7-7, 2-1)
GAME #15
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2002
ANDERSON ARENA
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO
1:00 p.m.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
SERIES: BUFFALO LEADS, 4-2
LAST MEETING: AT BUFFALO 76, BGSU 66 (FEB. 24, 2001)
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, looking to rebound after a narrow home loss, will continue a three-game Mid-American Conference homestand Saturday (Jan. 12) ... the Falcons of first-year head coach Curt Miller will meet the University at Buffalo, with tipoff set for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (5,000).
Following the UB contest, the Brown and Orange will remain at home for a Monday (Jan. 14) matine‚ against the University of Akron ... that game will begin at 7:00 p.m. ... then, BG will return to the road for a Saturday (Jan. 19) game at Ball State University.
WBGU RADIO: The BGSU-Buffalo game is scheduled to be broadcast by campus station WBGU-FM (88.1) ... the station's broadcast schedule included a total of 15 women's basketball games (plus any postseason contests) this year, including all of the Falcons' home games.
ABOUT THE FALCONS: BGSU has an overall record of 3-11 on the season, and the Falcons are 0-3 in MAC play after Wednesday's (Jan. 9) 56-52 loss to visiting Northern Illinois ... BG also has faced Central Michigan (71-81, Jan. 5) and Kent State (60-74, Jan. 2) in conference action ... prior to the KSU contest, the Brown and Orange split a pair of games in Florida to finish the non-league slate ... the Falcons lost to Yale, 51-47, in the first round of the Gatorade Holiday Classic in Coral Gables, Fla. (Dec. 27) ... BGSU rebounded to win the consolation game of the tourney, hosted by the University of Miami, the next day (Dec. 28) ... the Falcons topped Lehigh by a 63-55 count ... BGSU had a pair of players, junior Kim Griech and sophomore Kelly Kapferer, named to the all-tournament team.
For BGSU, the victory over Lehigh snapped a four-game losing streak ... the Falcons had opened the season with a 71-61 win at Youngstown State (Nov. 17), but lost the next four games ... 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), UW-Milwaukee (77-52, Dec. 8) and Wright State (83-76, Dec. 15) before the Yale rematch.
Senior Francine Miller did not play in the NIU game, and will miss the remainder of the season ... she is in the process of appealing for a medical hardship ... Miller saw action in each of the first two MAC games ... playing for the first time since Nov. 20, she had a game-high 29 points in just 25 minutes vs. KSU ... Miller had 15 points off the bench at CMU ... she was the team's top scorer in the three full games in which she saw action this year ... Miller had 17.5 points per contest in her four games played ... not counting the Detroit game (in which she played four minutes and attempted just one shot), she averaged 23.3 points per game.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown has 5.0 points and 5.6 rebounds ... Brown missed seven consecutive contests with a knee (lateral meniscus) injury ... she had successful surgery on Dec. 6, and - as did Francine Miller - made her return in the KSU game.
Junior Kim Griech is averaging 11.2 points per contest, and she leads the team with 24 three-point field goals on the year ... Griech tied her career high with 19 points in the Northern Illinois contest ... sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin is averaging 8.5 points, and leads the team in both assists (4.8 apg) and steals (2.3 spg) ... she is third on the squad with 4.4 rebounds.
Two other sophomores, Stefanie Wenzel and Kelly Kapferer, have 8.4 and 8.3 points per game, respectively ... senior Dana Western-Schuka averages 6.0 points, a team-best 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.
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 14 games to date, while Austin has made 13 starts ... Kapferer has started the last 11 games, while Wenzel has been in the starting lineup for the last six contests.
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.
On the sidelines, Curt Miller is joined by first-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Roos spent the last eight years as an assistant at Davidson, while Poole was at West Virginia last year.
BGSU is shooting .344 from the field, while opponents are shooting .391 through the first 14 games ... the Falcons have made 78 three-point field goals and are shooting .272 from beyond the arc, while the foes have 73 treys and a .305 pct. ... BGSU has a free-throw pct. of .720 to the opponents' .697 ... the Falcons have been outrebounded by a 46.9 to 39.3 margin in the first 14 contests.
BG is 1-5 at home, 1-4 on the road and 1-2 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 BUFFALO: Buffalo will enter Anderson Arena with an overall record of 7-7, and the Bulls are 2-1 in MAC play ... UB, 2-4 on the road this year, dropped its conference opener at Miami, 66-60 (Jan. 2), but rebounded to win the last two games ... the Bulls won at Akron Saturday (Jan. 5), 73-47, and posted a 55-45 home win over Central Michigan Tuesday (Jan. 8) ... UB is scoring just 52.9 points per game, but allowing only 55.4 points on the year ... individually, sophomore forward Jessica Kochendorfer leads the team in both scoring and rebounding ... she averages 13.3 points and 6.6 boards per game ... Kochendorfer also paces the squad with 19 blocked shots (1.4 bpg) ... junior guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe averages 11.6 points per game, and leads the Bulls with 2.4 steals per contest ... sophomore forward Kim Kilpela, who became eligible at the end of UB's fall semester, has 9.4 points and 5.9 boards per game, while sophomore guard Virginia Jennings has 7.6 points and a team-best 4.6 assists ... freshman guard Allison Bennett (4.5 ppg) joins the aforementioned four players in UB's probable starting lineup ... last year, the Bulls went 19-9 overall and had a 10-6 MAC mark ... Cheryl Dozier has a record of 59-39 in her fourth season as a head coach, all with UB ... Buffalo's athletic web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents (BG and NIU are tied, 9-9, after Wednesday's game), but Buffalo is the one conference team that holds a lead over the Falcons in the all-time series ... UB has a 4-2 advantage in a series that began in November of 1997 ... the Bulls have a two-game winning streak vs. the Falcons, and UB has a 2-0 record at Anderson Arena ... the last four games have been decided by 10 points or fewer, including three games settled by four points or less ... in the last meeting, the host Bulls posted a 76-66 win (Feb. 24, 2001) to complete a season sweep ... UB captured a 77-74 overtime win in last year's game in BG (Jan. 27, 2001).
LAST TIME OUT: Lindsay Secrest hit a pair of free throws with 14.9 seconds left as visiting Northern Illinois held off the Falcons, 56-52, Wednesday (Jan. 9) ... the Huskies had a nine-point lead (54-45) and the ball with 2:14 remaining in the contest, but back-to-back steals and layups by sophomore Lindsay Austin cut the lead to five points, and a three-pointer by junior Kim Griech with 48 seconds left made it a 54-52 game ... Sechrist missed a free throw with 42 seconds left, and the Falcons had a chance to tie or take the lead ... but, BGSU turned the ball over on the ensuing possession ... then, the Falcons were forced to foul, and Secrest's two charity tosses gave the Huskies the final margin of victory ... the teams combined for 47 turnovers in the game, including 25 in the first half ... Griech, who tied her career high with 19 points in the game, made all four of her field-goal attempts in the first half, including three from beyond the arc ... BGSU shot just 23.3 percent in the second half and 29.1 for the game ... NIU shot 36.8 percent from the floor ... sophomore Stefanie Wenzel joined Griech in double digits for the Falcons, with 10 points and seven boards ... Austin had eight points, six assists and four steals to lead the Falcons in the latter two categories, while senior Dana Western-Schuka had eight rebounds ... NIU had just one player score in double digits, as Jennifer Youngblood had 11 points ... the Huskies held a 44-35 advantage on the boards, including a 29-16 margin in the second half.
MILLER TO MISS REMAINDER OF SEASON: Senior Francine Miller will appeal to the Mid-American Conference office for a medical hardship, and will miss the remainder of the 2001-02 season ... if the appeal is accepted, Miller will be granted an additional year of eligibility, and will return to the Falcon team for the 2002-03 season ... the MAC office will not rule on the appeal before the end of the 2001-02 season ... for Miller to be eligible to receive the hardship waiver, she can not play in any of the Falcons' remaining games ... Miller saw action in four games this season, starting the first two contests of the year.
INJURY REPORT: Once again, the Falcons are without a key contributor, as senior Francine Miller is sidelined ... Miller, who has played in just four games this year, will miss the remainder of the season while appealing for a medical hardship ... Miller was injured early in the season's second game, and missed the next nine contests ... she returned to play in the first two MAC games.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown has returned to active duty ... Brown, who missed seven consecutive contests with a lateral meniscus injury, had successful surgery on Dec. 6, and has come off the bench to play in the last three games.
Redshirt junior Rachal Hamilton is sidelined with a recurrence of her plantar fascia injury ... the injury, which she suffered in the summer, forced her to miss the first game of the season ... she will be in a cast for the next three weeks.
MILLER'S BRIEF RETURN: Senior Francine Miller missed nine-plus games due to her knee injury ... after scoring 26 points in the season-opening game, she played only four minutes vs. Detroit (Nov. 20), then did not see game action for over a month ... Miller came off the bench to score a game-high 29 markers vs. Kent State Wednesday (Jan. 2), though ... she went 8-of-14 from the floor, and sank half of her six three-point field-goal attempts ... she also was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line ... she added a team-high 15 points at CMU ... Miller averaged 17.5 points per game this year ... but, when the Detroit game is factored out (she played just four minutes and attempted only one shot), she averaged 23.3 points per contest this season.
MILLER MOVING UP SCORING CHARTS: Before being sidelined for the remainder of the season, Francine Miller continued her move up the BGSU career scoring chart ... with 1,149 career points, Miller now ranks 13th in school history ... she scored her 1,000th career point in a win over Marshall last Jan. 17 (as part of a school record-tying 35-point game) ... in that game, she became just the fifth player in BGSU annals to reach 1,000 career points as a junior ... Miller is ranked third all-time on the BGSU career scoring average list, with a points-per-game average of 14.01.
ANDER-RIFFIC! The Falcons have made at least six three-pointers in every home conference game in the last two-plus years ... the Falcons tied a season high with nine triples in the KSU game (Jan. 2), and BG drained six treys ... BGSU made a total of 68 treys in eight home MAC games last year ... in 1999-2000, the Falcons made an average of 11.75 three-point field goals per contest ... adding in the 2000 MAC Tournament first-round contest vs. Ohio, BGSU is averaging 9.7 treys and shooting .426 (185-of-434) over the last 19 home games vs. MAC teams.
60 ON "D" IS (USUALLY) KEY: The Falcons' loss to Yale (Dec. 27) ended a long, long trend ... BGSU fell to the Bulldogs despite allowing just 51 points ... that loss ended a streak of 93 consecutive wins for the Falcons when holding the opposition under 60 points ... the last BG loss in such a situation had come early in the 1983-84 season, in a 59-47 loss at Indiana.
60 ON "D" IS ... NEVER MIND: The Falcons, after winning those 93 consecutive games when limiting the opponents to fewer than 60 points, now have lost two of the last three such games ... Northern Illinois scored just 56 points Wednesday (Jan. 9), but held BG to 52.
DEFENSE STARTS TO MAKE ITS CASE: The Falcons held Yale and Lehigh to 51 and 55 points, respectively, on consecutive nights in late December ... the Falcons had not held back-to-back opponents to under 60 points since January of 1997 ... in the decade of the 1990s, the Falcons went a perfect 46-0 when holding foes to 60 points or less ... in the history of the program, the Falcons now have a record of 167-12 when holding the opponent to less than 60 points ... nine of those 12 losses came prior to the 1980-81 season ... BG is 113-3 (.974) in such games over the last 21-plus seasons.
NICE DEFENSE: The Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .303 or lower in a half six times this season ... last year, BG limited the opponent to a FG pct. of .300 or less just five times in 58 halves ... in an entire game, BGSU has held five opponents to .350 shooting or worse this year, after doing so only once during the entire 29-game campaign last winter.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES: Through 14 games, the Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .341 (148-of-434) in the first half ... when the Colorado game is taken out, BG has limited the foes to a .317 rate (125-of-394) before the intermission ... in the second half, however, the opponents have made 186-of-427 shots from the floor (.436).
99 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 99 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.
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 players on the 2001-02 Falcon roster are ranked among the BGSU career three-point leaders ... Francine Miller is second on the all-time school list for career three-point percentage (.425, 128-of-301) ... junior Kim Griech is in eighth place (.3491, 96-of-275), while senior Dana Western-Schuka is ninth (.3487, 68-of-195) ... Miller is third all-time in three-pointers made, while Griech is fifth and Western-Schuka ninth ... Miller is third in three-point attempts, with Griech now fourth 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-and-a-half years, the Falcons have surpassed each of those totals for the first 12 years ... since the beginning of the 1998-99 season, Falcon teams have made 674 treys in 1,934 tries.
STILL SHOOTING (AND MAKING) THE TREY: The three-point shot has been a staple of Falcon teams over the past few years ... two years ago, 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 ... last season, the Falcons averaged 6.97 three-pointers made per contest ... Bowling Green made at least five treys in 25 of the 29 games last season ... BGSU is averaging "only" 5.57 triples per game through this season's first 14 contests.
