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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Heads To Central
January 04, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BOWLING GREEN (3-9, 0-1)
AT
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (8-4, 0-1)
GAME #13
SAT., JAN. 5, 2002
ROSE ARENA
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH.
1:00 p.m.
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after opening the Mid-American Conference slate at home, prepares for the first conference road game of the season ... the Falcons of first-year head coach Curt Miller will head to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a Saturday (Jan. 5) game against Central Michigan University ... tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Rose Arena (5,200).
Following the CMU contest, the Brown and Orange will return home to begin a three-game homestand Wednesday (Jan. 9) against Northern Illinois University ... that game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (5,000).
ABOUT THE FALCONS: BGSU has an overall record of 3-9 on the season, and the Falcons are 0-1 in MAC play after Wednesday's (Jan. 2) 74-60 loss to visiting Kent State ... senior Francine Miller, playing for the first time since Nov. 20, had a game-high 29 points in just 25 minutes ... prior to that contest, the Brown and Orange split a pair of games in Florida ... 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 ... 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 had the full complement of players at his disposal ... a pair of injured starters have been cleared to play once again, and both came off the bench to 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 ... she had surgery on Dec. 8 to remove loose cartilage from her kneecap, and made her return on Wednesday (Jan. 2) ... Miller has 18.3 points per contest ... not counting the Detroit game (in which she played four minutes and attempted just one shot), she is averaging 27.5 points per game.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown has 6.0 points and 6.2 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 10.3 points per contest, and she leads the team with 19 three-point field goals on the year ... sophomore Stefanie Wenzel has 8.4 points per game, while classmate Kelly Kapferer has 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin is averaging 8.2 points, and leads the team in both assists (4.8 apg) and steals (2.3 spg) ... she is third on the squad with 4.6 rebounds ... senior Dana Western-Schuka averages 6.1 points, a team-best 5.5 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 12 games to date, while Austin has made 11 starts ... Kapferer has started the last nine 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.
The returnees include a pair of seniors, Miller and Western-Schuka ... Miller, who earned All-MAC Second-Team honors last year, led the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) ... she was named to the Preseason All-MAC Team by the MAC News Media Association for the second consecutive year ... Western-Schuka averaged 6.8 points and led the Falcons with 4.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocked shots per game a year ago.
Other returnees include Griech, who averaged 7.8 points and made 46 three-point field goals a year ago ... Austin started 28 of BG's 29 games last winter, and averaged 6.8 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per outing ... Brown started 18 games, including the last seven, in her first playing season ... Brown averaged 6.3 points and 4.9 boards.
Juniors Rachal Hamilton, Megan Jerome and Karen Stocz also return, and are joined by sophomores Kapferer, Emily Pohl and Wenzel ... BGSU's two freshmen, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith, were teammates at Detroit's Communication & Media Arts H.S. ... another newcomer, Giani Bowles, came to BG after three years at St. John's University ... Bowles will sit out the 2001-02 season and retain one season of eligibility.
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 .341 from the field, while opponents are shooting .388 through the first 12 games ... the Falcons have made 65 three-point field goals and are shooting .250 from beyond the arc, while the foes have 67 treys and a .309 pct. ... BGSU has a free-throw pct. of .714 to the opponents' .683 ... the Falcons have been outrebounded by a 47.5 to 40.2 margin in the first 12 contests.
BG is 1-4 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 CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Central Michigan brings a record of 8-4 into Saturday's contest, and the Chippewas lost to Ball State Wednesday (Jan. 2), 90-81, to open the MAC campaign ... CMU, 4-2 at home this season, already has doubled the team's overall win total for all of last year ... individually, junior forward Desiree Eidson leads the Chippewas with 16.1 points per game ... she ranks second on the squad with 7.1 rebounds per contest ... junior guard Kendra Martin, who had a game-high 27 points vs. BSU, averages 12.6 points per contest ... senior forward Vershaun Jones has 9.1 points and a team-high 10.2 rebounds ... senior guard Molli Munz and junior guard Laurie Henderson average 6.8 and 6.0 points per game, respectively ... the two are tied for the team lead with 3.3 assists apiece ... the aforementioned five players comprise the probable CMU starting lineup ... Henderson, Jones and Munz each have started all 12 games, while Martin has made 10 starts and Eidson nine ... last year, the Chippewas went 4-24 overall and had a 1-15 MAC record ... first-year coach Eileen Kleinfelter has eight returning letterwinners from that squad (a ninth, sophomore Beth Kindel, left the team just before Christmas) ... Kleinfelter has an overall record of 230-85 in her 11th year as a collegiate head coach ... she spent the last seven years as the head coach at Findlay ... CMU's athletic web site is www.cmuchippewas.com.
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 32-10 lead over Central Michigan ... the Falcons are 14-4 all-time in games in Mount Pleasant ... BGSU has won the last five overall series meetings, and the Falcons hav captured the last two meetings at Rose Arena ... in last year's only matchup, the host Falcons won an 82-63 decision (Jan. 9, 2001) ... the last meeting in Michigan also went to the Falcons, 80-69 on Jan. 6, 2000 ... BG has won eight of the last nine series meetings.
LAST TIME OUT: Kent State rallied from a double-digit deficit for a 74-60 win over the host Falcons in the MAC opener for both teams Wednesday (Jan. 2) ... the game marked the return of senior Francine Miller, who scored a game-high 29 points in 25 minutes off the bench ... BG scored 13-straight points early in the game to take a 13-1 lead, and the Falcons led by as many as 15 before the Golden Flashes cut the lead to nine points at the half ... the Falcon defense held KSU without a field goal for the game's first 9:12 ... KSU scored the final 12 points of the stanza to get the deficit to single digits, 36-27, at the intermission ... then, the Flashes scored the first 11 points of the second half to take the lead ... sophomore Pam Brown, like Francine Miller returning from an injury, sank a basket to tie the score at 38-38 ... the game was tied twice more in the next few minutes before a Christi Shibata trey gave the Flashes the lead for good with 12:03 remaining ... that three-pointer began a 14-0 run which sealed the deal ... Kate Miller, who played all 40 minutes, led the visitors with 19 points, while Shibata had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds ... Francine Miller went 8-of-14 from the floor, including a 3-of-6 performance from beyond the arc, and made 10 of her 11 free-throw attempts ... Miller was the lone Falcon with more than six points on the night.
INJURY REPORT: The Kent State game marked the return of a pair of Falcon starters in senior Francine Miller and redshirt sophomore Pam Brown ... both players missed multiple games due to knee injuries, but were cleared to play and saw time 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 had not played since that time, missing nine games before returning for Wednesday's (Jan. 2) game ... Miller had surgery on Dec. 8 to remove loose cartilage from her kneecap.
Brown missed seven consecutive contests with a lateral meniscus injury ... she had successful surgery on Dec. 6, and returned for the KSU 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.
MILLER RETURNS IN A BIG WAY: 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 ... Miller is averaging 18.3 points per game this year ... but, when the Detroit game is factored out (she played just four minutes and attempted only one shot), she is averaging 27.5 points per contest this season.
MILLER MOVING UP SCORING CHARTS: Francine Miller looks to continue her move up the BGSU career scoring chart ... with 1,134 career points, Miller 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 14.00 ... her next target on the BGSU points list is 12th-place Andrea Nordmann (1,164 points, 1989-93).
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 Wednesday (Jan. 2) ... 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 9.9 treys and shooting .425 (179-of-421) over the last 18 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 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.
MORE ON THE BGSU DEFENSE: The Falcons have stepped up their defensive play this season ... BGSU, while looking to display such prowess for the entire 40 minutes, has had some solid stretches at the defensive end of the court this year:
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.
DANA DAZZLES ON DEFENSE: Senior Dana Western-Schuka had a whopping eight steals in the Yale game (Dec. 27) ... 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.
TWO TABBED TO TOURNEY TEAM: The Falcons had a pair of players named to the all-tournament team at the Gatorade Holiday Classic (Dec. 27-28) ... 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.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES: Through 12 games, the Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .328 (122-of-372) in the first half ... when the Colorado game is taken out, BG has limited the foes to a .298 rate (99-of-332) before the intermission ... in the second half, however, the opponents have made 162-of-367 shots from the floor (.441).
THE TEN-MINUTE MARK: In the Yale game (Dec. 27), 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.
97 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 97 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.
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 nine games, however, she has scored a total of 53 points, for an average of 5.9 points over that span.
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.
THE FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG (a.k.a., NOTING THE FALCONS): The Falcons gave up fewer than 55 points in each of the two games at the Gatorade Holiday Classic (Dec. 27-28) ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 five 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 ... sophomore Stefanie Wenzel played against a sibling in that UWM game ... Wenzel's sister, Angela, is a member of the UWM squad ... Angela, a junior in eligibility, is in her second playing season at UWM after transferring from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) ... Stefanie was the lone Falcon in double digits in the game, with 15 points ... she also led the Brown and Orange in rebounding (seven) and minutes played (a career-high 32) ... Angela came off the bench to score six points and grab four rebounds for the Panthers ... the Falcons' game vs. IPFW concluded a stretch in which BGSU played four times in seven days ... that IPFW game also ended a season-opening stretch in which the Brown and Orange played six contests in a 13-day span ... 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 ... the Falcons suffered an 83-63 loss to Eastern Kentucky in the home opener (Nov. 27) ... the setback marks only the second loss for BGSU in the last 14 home openers ... the only loss among the previous 13 home-opening contests came to nationally-ranked Notre Dame, an eventual national semifinalist, in 1996 ... overall, the Falcons now have a record of 20-9 (.690) in home openers.
FRANCINE MILLER ON PRESEASON ALL-MAC TEAM: Senior Francine Miller was named to the Preseason All-MAC Team for the second consecutive year ... Miller, despite missing all of six games and parts of several others due to injuries last year, averaged 14.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals ... she was an all-league second-team pick ... the Preseason All-MAC Team also consisted of Ball State's Tamara Bowie, Western Michigan's Kristin Koetsier, Miami's Kim Lancaster and Eastern Michigan's Stephanie Smiley.
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 (.422, 125-of-296) ... senior Dana Western-Schuka is in ninth place (.349, 66-of-189), while junior Kim Griech has a career three-point pct. of .342 (91-of-266) ... 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 sixth and Western-Schuka ninth ... the complete lists can be found elsewhere in these notes.
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 12 games), BGSU's totals are over 99 percent of the totals during those first 12 years ... during that time, Falcon teams have made 661 treys in 1,907 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" 5.42 treys per game through this season's first 12 contests.
DOWN THE ROAD: After the CMU and NIU games, the Falcons remain at home for contests vs. Buffalo (Jan. 12, 1:00 p.m.) and Akron (Jan. 14, 7:00 p.m.) ... then, BGSU travels to Ball State for a Jan. 19 game.
