Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To IPFW Wednesday
December 10, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BOWLING GREEN (2-3)
at
IPFW (2-5)
Game #6Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002
7:00 p.m.
Hilliard Gates Sports Center (2,800)
Fort Wayne, Ind.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
SERIES: BGSU leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: at BGSU 73, IPFW 57 (Nov. 29, 2001)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, fresh off a runner-up finish in tournament action last weekend, returns to the road for a contest vs. IPFW Wednesday night (Dec. 11). The Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will meet the Mastodons in a 7:00 p.m. game at the Hilliard Gates Events Center (2,800).
Following the IPFW contest, the Brown and Orange will head to the Rock and Roll City for a Saturday (Dec. 14) game vs. Cleveland State University. That game will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Henry J. Goodman Arena (CSU Convocation Center) (13,610). The Falcons' final pre-holiday action will be Dec. 21-22 at the Bearcat Invitational, hosted by Cincinnati.
GRIECH IS GREAT VS. UNCW
Senior Kim Griech had a night to remember in the Falcons' contest vs. UNC-Wilmington Saturday (Dec. 7) ... the Tallmadge, Ohio, native had not only the first 20-point game, but the first 30-point game of her career ... she also tied the school record for three-point field goals in a game, with seven in 10 attempts ... Griech was 8-of-11 from the field overall, and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line ... she was the Falcons' lone representative to the Radisson Suites Roundball Classic All-Tournament team.
BGSU RECORD BOOK: THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE, GAME
* 7, Angie Farmer vs. Ohio, Jan. 20, 1999 * 7, Angie Farmer vs. Mississippi, Nov. 26, 1999 * 7, Kim Griech vs. UNC-Wilmington, Dec. 7, 2002
WBGU RADIO TO BROADCAST AT LEAST 25 GAMES THIS SEASON
WBGU-FM (88.1) is scheduled to air 24 regular-season games, including the IPFW contest, plus any postseason action ... the BGSU department of athletics and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) have reached an agreement to have WBGU serve as the flagship station for both hockey and women's basketball for the 2002-03 academic year ... the broadcasters for women's hoops will vary on a game-to-game basis ... games produced by BGRSO are scheduled to be heard on the Internet at bgrso.org and via the Real One Package available through bgsufalcons.com.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU heads to Fort Wayne with a 2-3 record on the season ... the Falcons split a pair of games at the Radisson Suites Roundball Classic last weekend, defeating host Florida Atlantic, 77-62, in Saturday action (Dec. 6) before falling to UNC-Wilmington by a 72-55 count in the championship game the next evening ... senior Kim Griech was BGSU's lone representative to the all-tournament team.
The Falcons opened the season with a 70-64 loss to Youngstown State (Nov. 22), but rebounded for an 81-62 win over Iona two days later (Nov. 24) ... just prior to leaving for Florida, the Falcons dropped a 61-54 decision to visiting Butler (Dec. 4).
Griech leads the team in scoring, with 14.2 points per game ... she also paces the Falcons in field goal percentage (.595; 22-of-37), three-point field goals made (14), three-point FG pct. (.583; 14-of-24) and free-throw pct. (1.000; 13-of-13) ... senior Francine Miller is second on the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and leads the Brown and Orange in rebounding (7.0 rpg) and steals (2.4 spg).
Junior Stefanie Wenzel has 8.8 points per outing, while senior Megan Jerome has 6.4 points and ranks second on the team in both rebounding (4.6 rpg) and assists (2.8 apg) ... junior Lindsay Austin is averaging 5.7 points, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals in three games, while senior Karen Stocz has 5.4 points per game.
Griech, Miller, Stocz and Wenzel have started all five games to date for the Falcons ... freshman Molly Martin, who leads the team with 3.2 assists per game, started the first four contests at point guard ... Austin, who missed the season's first two games due to a sprained ankle, played the next two games off the bench before starting the UNCW contest.
BG finished the 2001-02 season with a record of 9-19, and the Falcons completed Mid-American Conference play with a league ledger of 6-10 ... the Brown and Orange ended conference play in fourth place in the MAC's East Division ... a total of nine letterwinners return for 2002-03 ... that list includes one player who did not letter last year, Miller ... Miller played in just four of the Falcons' 28 games last winter, and was granted an additional year of eligibility.
In addition to Miller, the senior class includes Griech, Jerome and Stocz ... Griech, one of just two Falcons to start every game last year, was named the team's Impact Player of the Year for the 2001-02 campaign ... she averaged 10.4 points per game, good for second on the team ... Jerome was the Falcons' Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The junior class includes Austin, Pam Brown and Wenzel ... Austin, as mentioned, suffered a sprained ankle in practice the day before the opener (Nov. 21), and missed the first two contests ... Brown, who also had been suffering from an injury, suited up but didn't see action vs. YSU ... she has come off the bench to play in the last four games, and is averaging 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in just 11 minutes of action per game.
Last winter, Wenzel was named the BGSU Player of the Year after leading the Falcons in scoring with 11.6 points per game ... Austin was named the team's Playmaker of the Year after leading the team and ranking among the MAC leaders in assists and assist/turnover ratio ... Brown was named the Power Player of the Year, given to the top post player ... despite missing 10 games due to injury, she averaged 7.3 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds.
The 2002-03 roster also includes two sophomores, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith ... Lewis was named the Most Improved Player of the Year last season ... she played in 24 games, making three starts.
The freshman class includes four players, from four different states ... Britt Anderson (Fort Collins, Colo.), Jill Lause (Dublin, Ohio), Martin (Noblesville, Ind.) and Marisa Smith (Arnold, Pa.) join the squad ... Anderson and Martin have seen action in all five games, while Lause and Smith played in each of the first four contests ... additionally, Casey McDowell (Hudson, Ohio), a transfer from Indiana State University, is on campus, but will sit out the 2002-03 season per NCAA transfer rules ... McDowell will have three years of eligibility remaining.
On the sidelines, Curt Miller is joined by second-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert, who spent the last four seasons at the University at Buffalo, is in his first season on the staff.
The Falcons are 1-2 at home, 1-0 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU went 5-7 at home last winter, and the Falcons were 3-10 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site contests in 2001-02 ... BG went 4-4 at home and 2-6 on the road in MAC games.
The Falcons are shooting .380 from the field through the first five games, to the opponents' .377 FG pct. ... the Falcons have made 33 three-point field goals and are shooting .333 from behind the arc ... but, the foes have made 37 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .385 ... the Brown and Orange converted 76 free throws to the foes' 50 over the first five contests ... BGSU is shooting .800 from the stripe, compared to just .581 for the opponents.
SCOUTING IPFW
IPFW (full name: Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne) brings an overall record of 2-5 into Wednesday's game against the Falcons ... the Mastodons have lost the last two matches, both on the road ... IPFW suffered a narrow, seven-point loss at Toledo last Wednesday (64-57; Dec. 4) before falling to Detroit by a 77-65 score two days later ... the team is 0-1 at home, having suffered a one-point loss to Ferris State (85-84; Nov. 27) ... the Mastodons picked up wins over Savannah State (96-46; Nov. 24) and Arkansas-Little Rock (76-62; Dec. 1), with the other losses coming to Minnesota and Texas A&M ... individually, junior forward Amy Gearlds leads the team with 16.1 points per game ... she also paces the Mastodons in assists, with 4.1 per outing ... freshman guard Hillary O'Connell has 8.7 points and a team-high 1.4 steals per game, while another frosh, center Ashley Elmore, has 7.7 points per game ... sophomore center Verea Bibbs and senior forward Teeara Dudley, both Ohio natives, have 6.9 and 6.3 ppg, respectively ... Dudley leads the team with 6.0 rebounds, with Bibbs a close second (5.7 rpg) ... a total of eight different players have made at least two starts this season, with Gearlds and Dudley the lone players to start all seven games ... Elmore, O'Connell and freshman guard Jessica Ramey joined those two in the starting lineup at UDM ... head coach Bruce Patterson has a record of 6-28 in his second year in Fort Wayne ... he is 252-129 in his 13th season overall ... Patterson welcomed back just three letterwinners, including three returning starters, from last year's team which went 4-23 overall ... the school's athletic web site is www.ipfw.edu/athletics.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Mastodons have met once previously, and that encounter came last season at Anderson Arena (Nov. 29, 2001) ... the Falcons captured a 73-57 decision, as Stefanie Wenzel came off the bench to score 23 points, a career high at the time.
IPFW A BREAKOUT GAME FOR WENZEL
Junior Stefanie Wenzel had scored 36 points during her freshman year and 12 more through five games last season ... but, she had a breakout game vs. IPFW last Nov. 29 ... Wenzel more than tripled her previous career-best scoring effort with 23 points vs. the Mastodons ... her previous best had been a seven-point game ... she also shattered her then-career bests in a mere eight additional categories vs. IPFW ... Wenzel moved into the starting lineup several games later, and has started 25 consecutive contests to date ... she went on to have a team-best six games of 20 points or more (including one 30-point game) last year, and she led the team in scoring with 11.6 ppg on the season ... Wenzel was named the Falcons' Player of the Year for 2001-02.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE: MILLER ON BGSU CAREER CHARTS
Senior Francine Miller continues her climb up the BGSU career scoring chart ... with a team-high 11 points vs. Florida Atlantic, Miller moved past Jacki Raterman (1,213 points from 1995-99) into 11th place in school history ... entering the IPFW game, Miller has 1,218 career points ... she needs just 16 points to move up two more spots on the list ... she has 10th-place Melissa Chase (1,223 pts.; 1979-83) and ninth-place Michelle Shade (1,233 pts.; 1991-95) in her sights ... Miller has averaged 14.00 points per game over the first 87 contests of her career, the third-best average in BGSU annals.
CHARITY BEGINS AT THE STRIPE
Bowling Green has had success at the free-throw line in the early part of the season ... through five games, the Falcons have a FT pct. of .800, best in the MAC ... in the UNC Wilmington game, the Falcons were a perfect 11-for-11 at the line ... the best single-game performance in school history is the Falcons' 12-for-12 effort vs. Northern Illinois on Feb. 23, 1999.
CHARITY BEGINS AT THE STRIPE, PART DEUX
The Falcons' free-throw shooting performance was a big key to winning the Iona game (Nov. 24) ... BGSU went 23-of-25 from the line in the second half (.920), while IC was just 1-of-8 after the intermission ... for the game, the Falcons made 25-of-30 free-throw attempts (.833) to the Gaels' 7-of-15 (.467) performance.
BIG WIN ON THE ROAD
Believe it or not, the Falcons' 15-point margin of victory in the Florida Atlantic game was the team's biggest road win in nearly six years ... the last time the Falcons posted a win of 15 points or greater on an opponent's home court was Feb. 1, 1997, when the Brown and Orange won at Western Michigan, 68-44.
AUSTIN MAKES HER RETURN...
The Falcons played the first two games of the year without starting point guard Lindsay Austin ... the junior suffered a sprained ankle in practice the day before the season opener (Nov. 21), and did not suit up for the YSU or IC contests ... Austin, who had played in all 57 of BGSU's games - starting 55 - over her first two seasons, returned for the Butler contest ... she had six points in just 10 minutes, going 3-of-4 from the field ... in Florida, Austin had five points and four steals vs. FAU ... she made her first start of the season in the UNCW game, and had six points and four assists.
...BUT MARTIN DOES WELL IN HER INITIAL COLLEGIATE ACTION
In Lindsay Austin's absence, freshman Molly Martin was forced to make a quick adjustment to the collegiate game ... Martin drew the start at point guard in each of the first four games of her BGSU career ... she had seven assists in her collegiate debut, vs. YSU, and added six more against Iona ... Martin currently has 3.2 assists per game, and is tied for 11th in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.23).
GRIECH ON HOT STREAK
Senior Kim Griech's name is all over the MAC statistical lists in the season's early going ... Griech currently leads the league in free-throw pct. (13-of-13; 1.000) and is second in both field-goal pct. (.595; 22-of-37) and three-point pct. (.583; 14-of-24) ... she is third in three-pointers made (2.80 per game) and 10th in scoring (14.2 ppg) ... Griech leads the Falcons in all five categories.
LEWIS PROVIDES A SPARK
Sophomore Tene Lewis has provided a spark off the bench in the last few games ... one of the Falcons' top defenders, Lewis had one of the better games of her brief Falcon career in the Butler contest (Dec. 4) ... Lewis came off the bench to grab a career-high seven rebounds in just 16 minutes of action ... she also scored three points and had three steals -- just one off her career best -- vs. the Bulldogs ... then, she had five more rebounds and a career-best four assists in only 15 minutes in the win over FAU ... Lewis led the team in assists in that game.
THAT'S A BIG LEAD
The Falcons led by as many as 32 points in the Florida Atlantic game, before the Lady Owl starters made a late run against BG lineups comprised of freshmen and sophomores ... the game marked the first time in almost three years that the Falcons had a lead of 30 points or more ... the last such occasion came on Feb. 7, 2000, when BG built a 40-point lead (86-46) late in a 36-point win (86-50) over Northern Illinois.
TRIPLE YOUR FUN
Several players on the 2002-03 Falcon roster are ranked among the BGSU career three-point leaders ... Francine Miller is third on the all-time school list for career three-point percentage (.414, 135-of-326) ... senior Kim Griech (.351; 129-of-367) has vaulted to eighth on that list on the strength of a 10-for-15 long-range performance over the last three games ... junior Stefanie Wenzel (.338, 46-of-136) is 11th on that list, with senior Megan Jerome (.330, 30-of-91) threatening to add her name as well ... Miller is third all-time in three-pointers made, while Griech is fourth and Wenzel 11th ... Griech is third and Miller fourth in career three-point attempts, with Wenzel 11th on that list.
