Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open MAC Play Vs. Kent State Wednesday
January 02, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BGSU (3-8) VS. KENT STATE (4-7)
GAME #12 - WED., JAN. 2, 2002
ANDERSON ARENA
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO
7:00 p.m.
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1
SERIES: BGSU LEADS, 31-22
LAST MEETING: KENT ST. 80, BGSU 64 (FEB. 3, 2001)
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having completed the non-conference portion of the schedule, begins Mid-American Conference action against a perennial league power ... the Falcons of first-year head coach Curt Miller will open the 2002 calendar year, as well as the MAC slate, with a Wednesday (Jan. 2) home game against the defending East Division champion, Kent State University ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (5,000).
Following the KSU contest, the Brown and Orange will head north for a Saturday (Jan. 5) game vs. Central Michigan University ... that game is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. at Rose Arena (5,200).
WBGU RADIO: The BGSU-Kent State game is scheduled to be broadcast by campus station WBGU-FM (88.1) ... the station is scheduled to air 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 3-8 on the season after splitting a pair of games in Florida ... the Falcons lost to Yale, 51-47, in Thursday's (Dec. 27) first round of the Gatorade Holiday Classic in Coral Gables, Fla. ... BGSU rebounded to win the consolation game of the tourney, hosted by the University of Miami, Friday (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 ... host Miami (Fla.) won the tournament.
For BGSU, the victory over Lehigh snapped a four-game losing streak ... BGSU had opened the season with a 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), UW-Milwaukee (77-52, Dec. 8) and Wright State (83-76, Dec. 15) before the Yale rematch.
For the first time since Nov. 20, coach Curt Miller should have the full complement of players at his disposal ... a pair of injured starters have been cleared to play once again, and could see action vs. KSU.
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 has 13.0 points per contest.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown has 7.0 points and a team-best 6.8 rebounds ... Brown has missed the last seven contests with a knee injury (torn lateral meniscus) ... Brown had successful surgery on Dec. 6 ... as is the case with Francine Miller, Brown could get some playing time vs. KSU.
Junior Kim Griech leads the Falcons with 10.7 points per contest, and she also leads the team with 17 three-point field goals on the year ... sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin is averaging 8.7 points, and leads the team in both assists (4.5 apg) and steals (2.4 spg) ... she is second on the squad with 4.7 rebounds ... another sophomore, Kelly Kapferer, also averages 8.7 points per game ... Kapferer also has 4.5 rebounds, and she leads the team with a field-goal percentage of .487.
Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel is averaging 8.6 points per game ... Wenzel leads the Falcons in free-throw percentage (.839) ... senior Dana Western-Schuka averages 6.2 points, a team-best 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 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 11 games to date, while Austin has made 10 starts ... Kapferer has started the last eight games.
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 .344 from the field, while opponents are shooting .388 through the first 11 games ... the Falcons have made 56 three-point field goals and are shooting .243 from beyond the arc, while the foes have 61 treys and a .311 pct. ... BGSU has a free-throw pct. of .711 to the opponents' .683 ... the Falcons have been outrebounded by a 47.5 to 40.4 margin in the first 11 contests.
BG is 1-3 at home, 1-3 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 KENT STATE: Kent State brings a record of 4-7 into the new year, and the Golden Flashes have won four-of-seven contests after an 0-4 start to the season ... KSU, like BGSU, was in the state of Florida last weekend, and the Flashes split a pair of games at the State Farm Classic ... Kent State downed Howard, 96-86, Friday (Dec. 28), but lost to host Florida the next evening by a 73-47 count ... KSU's other wins have come over Duquesne, UAB and Indiana ... the Flashes are 2-1 at home, 0-5 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites ... individually, sophomore center Andrea Csaszar paces three double-digit scorers with 16.7 points per game ... she also leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per contest ... senior guard Kate Miller, a transfer from American University who is in her first playing season with the Flashes, has 12.1 points ... another transfer, junior guard Valerie Zona (West Virginia), averages 10.4 points and a team-high 3.2 assists ... freshman forward Ashley Clark has 8.1 points, while sophomore guard Christi Shibata averages 7.4 points ... Csaszar and Miller each have started every game, while the other three aforementioned players each have made at least eight starts this year ... all of those five players, with the exception of Clark (26.0 mpg), average at least 31 minutes per game ... last year, the Golden Flashes went 21-8 overall and won the MAC's East Division with a 14-2 league record ... head coach Bob Lindsay welcomed six letterwinners, including two starters, back from that squad ... Lindsay has a record of 236-125 in his 13th year as a head coach, all in Kent ... the school's athletic web site is www.kent.edu/athletics.
PUPIL MEETS TEACHER: The Falcons' meeting with Kent State will see BGSU head coach Curt Miller match wits with Bob Lindsay, the dean of MAC coaches ... Miller served as a graduate assistant coach on Lindsay's KSU staff during the 1990-91 season, Lindsay's second year with the Golden Flashes ... KSU finished 17-12 that season and enjoyed the second-best turnaround in the nation, with a 12-game improvement over the previous year ... KSU assistant coach Lori Bodnar also was a member of that coaching staff.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with 11 of the 12 MAC opponents (BG trails Buffalo, 4-2), and BGSU holds a 31-22 lead over Kent State ... the Golden Flashes have won the last seven games, however, including an 80-64 decision at Anderson Arena in the last matchup between the teams (Feb. 3, 2001) ... BGSU is 15-8 all-time in home games against KSU, but the Flashes have won the last three meetings in Anderson ... the Falcons' last overall series win came on Feb. 12, 1997, when BG posted an 87-77 verdict in BG ... KSU has won 12 of the last 13 games between the teams.
INJURY REPORT: The Kent State game likely will mark the return of a pair of Falcon starters in senior Francine Miller and redshirt sophomore Pam Brown ... both players have missed multiple games due to knee injuries, but have been cleared to play, and could see some minutes vs. the Golden Flashes.
Miller 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, missing nine games ... Miller had surgery on Dec. 8 to remove loose cartilage from her kneecap.
Brown has missed the last seven contests with a torn lateral meniscus ... she had successful surgery on Dec. 6.
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.
TWO TABBED TO TOURNEY TEAM: The Falcons had a pair of players named to the all-tournament team at the Gatorade Holiday Classic ... both junior Kim Griech and sophomore Kelly Kapferer earned the honor ... Griech averaged 12.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the two games, while Kapferer had 10.5 points and 6.5 boards ... Miami's Meghan Saake was named the tourney's MVP.
FIRST TIME IN A WHILE ...: As mentioned, both junior Kim Griech and sophomore Kelly Kapferer were named to the all-tournament team at the Gatorade Holiday Classic ... it marked the first time BGSU has had two representatives on an in-season all-tourney team in over eight years ... Talita Scott and Michelle Shade each earned all-tourney honors at the Lady Techster Dial Soap Classic on Dec. 3-4, 1993.
60 ON "D" IS (USUALLY) KEY: The Falcons' loss to Yale 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 came early in the 1983-84 season, in a 59-47 loss at Indiana.
STARTING A NEW STREAK: The night after losing to Yale, snapping the Falcons' win streak when holding opponents below 60 points, BG immediately began a new streak ... the Falcons held Lehigh to 55 points in an eight-point BGSU victory ... 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 have a record of 167-11 when holding the opponent to less than 60 points ... nine of those 11 losses came prior to the 1980-81 season ... BG is 113-2 (.983) in such games over the last 21-plus seasons.
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE: The Falcons have given up fewer than 55 points in each of the last two games ... BGSU has surrendered 70 points or less on four occasions this season, posting a 3-1 record in those contests ... the Brown and Orange held opponents under 70 points five times during all of last year.
DANA DAZZLES ON DEFENSE: Senior Dana Western-Schuka had a whopping eight steals in the Yale game ... that total was just one away from the school record, set by Melissa Chase in 1980 ... Western-Schuka's steal total more than doubled her previous career standard of three ... against the Bulldogs, she had four steals in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second half ... she also had 10 rebounds in the contest.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES: Through 11 games, the Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .336 (115-of-342) in the first half ... when the Colorado game is taken out, BG has limited the foes to a .305 rate (92-of-302) before the intermission ... in the second half, however, the opponents have made 146-of-338 shots from the floor (.432) in the first nine games ... BGSU has shown signs of reversing the negative second-half trend, however ... in the two games in Florida, the Falcons held the opponents to a combined 16-of-60 (.267) in the second stanza ... BGSU limited Lehigh to a .212 FG pct. and just 20 points in the final 20 minutes of that game.
THE TEN-MINUTE MARK: In the Yale game, the Falcons lost for the first time this year after holding a lead with 10 minutes left in the second half ... the following night, vs. Lehigh, BG won for the first time in 2001-02 when trailing with 10 minutes remaining.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Sophomore Kelly Kapferer led the Falcons with 12 points vs. Yale, and tied her career best with 10 rebounds ... for Kapferer, the double-double was her second of the year, and the second of her BG career ... she is the lone Falcon player to record a double-double this season.
LOW-SCORING AFFAIR: The total of 98 points in the BGSU-Yale game marked the lowest two-team total in nearly 11 years, and that other game was played at Miami as well (albeit a different Miami) ... the 51-47 loss to the Bulldogs was the lowest two-team output since a 50-44 Falcon win at MAC foe Miami University ... that game was played at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio, on Jan. 2, 1991.
96 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 96 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.
NICE DEFENSE: The Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .303 or lower in a half five times this season ... last year, BG limited the opponent to a FG pct. of .300 or less just five times in 58 halves.
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.
STOCZ STRIKES: 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 eight games, however, she has scored a total of 51 points, for an average of 6.4 points over that span.
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.
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.
NOTING THE FALCONS:
* The Falcons' meeting with Yale on Dec. 27 marked 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.
* BGSU held Yale to just a .321 shooting effort from the field (18-of-56) ... the Falcon defense held Lehigh to a .306 (19-of-62) FG pct., including just a 7-of-32 performance (.219) in the second half.
* BGSU held Lehigh's Anne Tierney to six points on 2-of-11 shooting ... Tierney entered the game with a team-best 16.4 ppg scoring average.
* The only two players on the 13-woman active roster who have yet to hit a three-point field goal this year are sophomore Pam Brown (who has played in just four games due to injury) and junior Rachal Hamilton (who has hit 2-of-7 triple tries in her career, but has yet to attempt one this season).
* The Falcons competed against five of the nine Horizon League (formerly the Midwestern Collegiate Conference) institutions this season ... BGSU opened the season with games at HL members Youngstown State and Detroit ... the WSU contest marked the last of three-straight games vs. Horizon teams for BGSU, who also played Butler (Dec. 4) and UW-Milwaukee (Dec. 8) during that stretch.
* On Nov. 20, senior Francine Miller was named the MAC's East Division Player of the Week ... Miller earned the honor after pumping in a game-high 26 points in the Falcons' win at Youngstown State (Nov. 17) ... Miller's 9-of-20 shooting effort in that contest included a 5-of-9 performance from three-point range ... she had six rebounds and a pair of steals in the win.
